Do you have a “rule of life”? What have you learned from adapting or forming a rule of life? In the 9th chp of Robert Webber’s The Divine Embrace we are treated to three groups of three teachings, each of which emerges from learning to live the Christian life out of a rule of life.
Webber, adapting Rule of St. Benedict, proposes:
Three Vows
1. Stability: our baptism by dying to sin and living to Christ.
2. Fidelity: the commitment to remain in our baptism.
3. Obedience: servanthood, humility, etc..
Three Disciplines
1. Prayer: a constant activity. [One of the worst questions we can ask of one another is “How much time do you spend in prayer?” because it assumes prayer is something we do away from everything else, while the NT teaches that prayer is not something we withdraw to do but something we always are doing. This does not mean special times set aside.]
2. Study: not just examination but lectio divina.
3. Work: Very important and I’ll be doing something on this topic soon.
Three Means to Encounter Christ:
1. In daily life: Brother Lawrence
2. In material things: we care for what we have as a gift from God.
3. In encounters with people: reality not idealism; seeing all as made as Eikons.