Living With Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality by Esther de Waal

Life does not add up:  the longer I live, the more that is brought home to me.



     This book is recommended reading for Benedictine oblates at the Mt Angel abbey near my home. It speaks of our deep need to be healed and whole in life. Indeed, the world gives us many books, classes, and ways in which we can be healed once and for all. The Benedictine way shows us how to find balance and rhythm in living with the contradictions, unresolved issues, and paradoxes of life.

The greatest paradox of all is the paschal mystery; Christ's death and resurrection.

The Christ on the cross is the ultimate contradiction, holding together the vertical, pointing towards the Father, and the horizontal arms stretching out to the world. This is the Christ to whom St. Benedict is pointing.

     We need not be caught between naive hope and meaningless despair. This book emphasizes contemplation, service for others, and balance within myself and my relationships. Listening rather than imposing our own agendas helps us to love and appreciate others.

     Another aspect of Benedictine spirituality is humility. Humility is facing the truth rather than hiding behind illusions and self-deceptions. Humility is letting God be God. Shedding false ambition and pride and other destructive tendencies is the beginning of real communion with God.

     This is the first book I have read on Benedictine spirituality and found it quite liberating. It does not deny the tough stuff, try to gloss over pain, or give simple answers to life's often agonizing questions. So much of the Christian healing seems steeped in denial and it was refreshing to see St. Benedictine's way does not go down this same tiresome road. I am looking forward to reading A Guide to Living in the Truth: St. Benedict's Teaching on Humility by Michael Casey.

Saved In Hope: Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI

"... it is the great hope based upon God's promises that gives us courage and directs our action in good times and bad."

     Saved in Hope is Pope Benedict's second encyclical to the Catholic Church. For those who don't know, a Papal Encyclical is a letter addressed to the bishops or a wider audience regarding a matter of doctrine or significant issue.

     The title is taken from Saint Paul who wrote "in hope we have been saved" and speaks of the courage to face the challenges of life with the hope that comes from knowing God.

     But it goes much farther than that. Pope Benedict talks about our responsibility to be a community as opposed to having a individualistic faith. He speaks of how individualism is prevailing with the help of "reason" and "progress" brought about by enlightenment theories starting several centuries ago. Faith in God turns into faith in progress which can lead to terrifying consequences which he calls "the perverse end".

If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth, then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.

   The Pope is not opposed to progress. In fact, he encourages Christians to use technology for the purpose of doing good. Benedict answered questions online during a Good Friday service and will be calling the Endeavor, led by mission commander Mark Kelly, while it is in space. However he feels that moral growth must match that of progress in order to truly differentiate good and evil.

All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.

     Absolute love exists with absolute certainty. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Hope survives our own personal failures and even a "breakdown of historical significance."

Only the great certitude of hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can them give the courage to act and to persevere.

     I cannot say enough good things about this inspiring book. I highly recommend it to my fellow Catholics and Christians from other faith traditions.