Day 28 : 28 March

Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love.

Lectionary readings (Click the links to see the readings):
| Jeremiah 11.18-20 | Psalm 7.6-12 | John 7 .40-52 |

Day 28
Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

Humility (cont.) extracted from: Joan Chittister. The monastery of the heart: an invitation to a meaningful life. Blue Bridge, 2011, ch. 21, pp. 169-186

… continued from yesterday


Finally,
the twelfth step of humility teaches
"that we always manifest humility
in our bearing no less than in our hearts."

A humble person is not haughty;
does not strut;
does not shout or bully or command
or impose.

The humble person is simple
and quiet
and serene
walking and sitting,
standing and talking,
"or anywhere elseā€¦,"
Always aware of their own guilt
and so judging no one else's.

It is, in essence, in humility—
in the sense of our place
in the universe—
that the spiritual life
must both begin and end.

Humility speaks of our relationship to God,
our relationship to the spiritual teachers around us,
to the development of the self
beyond self-centeredness,
and finally to what it means to cultivate
humble relationships with others.

Humility teaches us,
ultimately,
that personal growth is a process,
not an event,
and that self-love,
the narcissism that makes us
the centre of our own universe,
is destructive
of the self.

In the end, the twelve steps are simple ones.
Humility leads us:
1. To recognise that God is God.
2. To know that God's will is best for us.
3. To be willing to receive direction.
4. To endure and don't grow weary.
5. To acknowledge faults.
6. To be content with less than the best.
7. To let go of image making.
8. To learn from the community.
9. To listen to others.
10. To abandon the urge to ridicule.
11. To speak kindly.
12. To be simple; to be serene.

Then Benedict makes the only promise
in the entire Rule.
"After ascending all the steps of humility,
we will quickly arrive
at the 'perfect love' of God
which 'casts out fear.'"

And that is a guarantee
deeply
to be desired.


"Before Thy Cross", Orthodox Singers Male Choir, dir. Georgy Smirnov.
Before Thy cross we bow down in worship,
O, our master, and thy holy resurrection we glorify.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.
And thy Holy Resurrection we glorify—

Photographs of the ancient city of Pskov.

May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love. Amen.



St Philip's Anglican Church, cnr Moorhouse and Macpherson Streets, O'Connor, ACT 2602
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