Rating: 
Summary: Day by day...
Review: `Daily life is the stuff of which high sanctity can be made.' Near the beginning of Joan Chittister's wonderful treatment of the Rule of St. Benedict, she makes this statement, something that is agreed upon by most who are serious about the spiritual life. The old phrase 'little things mean a lot' is very true with regard to spirituality. After all, it is not the big crises that cause the most problems in life -- in fact, it is often a crisis that brings people together and deepens spiritual feeling and commitment. It is in the day-to-day struggle to maintain sanity and security that the spirit can be ignore most easily, unless paying attention to spiritual things is made intentional. This is part of what Benedict was driving at so many centuries ago. Beyond the specific rules for his community, which are variously applicable and irrelevant toward living in today's world, is the overarching idea that some kind of rule, some kind of daily intentionality, some sort of deliberate pattern that puts us in community with each other and with the divine is very necessary for today's people. `After years of monastic life I have discovered that unlike spiritual fads, which come and go with the teachers or cultures that spawned them, the Rule of Benedict looks at the world through interior eyes and lasts. Here, regardless of who we are or what we are, life and purpose meet.' Spirituality of this sort is far more than ritual action. It is far more than churchiness or how often one does any particular thing, including prayer. This spirituality calls upon the individual to incorporate a way of life on top of daily life, a defining context of life that puts all things, prayer, church, family, work, play, study, sleep, indeed all parts of life, in connection and community with God. There are interior practices and exterior reflections of these practices. Listening is described as the key virtue toward spiritual growth. Listening has to be more than a passive hearing of what is being said, but an active incorporation into life. Prayer is a central practice, but care must be taken that this not become routine in the sense of being done mindlessly, by rote, but an active listening for the will of God should always be part of this. Also connected to prayer is the practice of lectio, a reading that inspires and feeds the soul, a reading that is different from academic study or informational and entertaining reading. Chittister highlights many monastic practices and shows ways in which these can be incorporated into daily life for anyone. Monastic mindfulness -- the blending of the day together in harmony and balance -- can be a principle applied as easily outside the monastery as within the cloister. Certainly the ideas of obedience (to the will of God, if nothing else), stability (which means more than living in the same place), hospitality, humility, and community all are applicable beyond the monastery walls, and in many ways antithetical to prevailing Western cultural ideas. These have the potential of feeding the soul and enriching the lives of those who practice even without the support of a monastic community. Many have been surprised that their conversion of life, to use Benedictine language, can lead to subtle, and often not-so-subtle, changes in those around them. The seeker asked, 'How does one seek union with God?' The Wise One said, 'The harder you seek, the more distance you create between God and you.' 'So what does one do about the distance?' the seeker asked. The elder replied simply, 'Just understand that it isn't there.' The Rule of Benedict is not a mystical text. It is not a spiritual catalogue or occult-ic manual. It was intended, and continues to serve, as a simple guide to help make people more conscious of their already present relationship with God. It is realistic, and makes no promises of spiritual gifts accruing to those who follow it. Yet the riches that do become present can be very great to those open to receiving them. And in receiving these gifts, they become a gift themselves to the world. Perhaps this is the meaning of the strange biblical dictum (which often seems unfair upon straight reading) For to those who have, more will be given,
and they will have an abundance;
but from those who have nothing,
even what they have will be taken away.
- Matthew 13:12 This is a book that definitely fills a need for those seeking a more wholistic way of life.
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