WEEK THREE
WEDNESDAY
Isaiah 45:6-8.18. 21-25
Luke 7:19-23
Today our anticipation of the coming of the Messiah gains momentum as Isaiah contrasts God’s powers with those of the popular Babylonian gods:
Apart from me all is nothing.
I am the Lord, unrivalled,
I form the light and create the dark.
I make good fortune and create calamity,
it is I, the Lord, who do all this.
Throughout the story of salvation what distinguishes the God of the Israelites from the gods of the surrounding cultures is action. The God of the Israelites makes things happen. When the Israelites found themselves in Exile they began to lose heart and to wonder if God would act again on their behalf. God’s message is clear: if the people turn to him, then they will be saved.
‘I am the Lord, unrivalled:
there is no other god besides me.
A God of integrity, and a saviour:
there is none apart from me.
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth,
for I am God unrivalled.’
The God of integrity longs for the integrity of the People of God.
‘The twelfth step of humility is that a monk always manifests humility in his bearing no less than in his heart, so that it is evident at the Work of God, in the oratory, the monastery or the garden, on a journey or in the field or anywhere else.‘
Chapter 7, Humility
The life of a nun or monk is one continuous turning towards God. Benedictines take vows of Stability, Obedience and Fidelity to Monastic Life (Latin: conversatio morum). Implicit in each vow is the desire to grow and to change. In Chapter Seven of the Rule you’ll find 12 steps of Humility. It’s not an easy read for a monastic. Perhaps one of the most helpful insights I have had into St Benedict’s seemingly uncompromising teaching is from Dom Gregory van de Kleij, the former prior of the monks at Turvey. He suggests that growing in humility is a journey and our goal is to be able to live in perfect love. We won’t achieve this overnight, but we can reasonably expect to have made some progress by the time of our monastic Golden Jubilee. This gives me hope.
Above is the last step of humility. It’s a portrait of a nun or monk who is fully integrated. It’s very much like the image of the stone made smooth by years of rubbing alongside other stones. It’s daily faithfulness, over years and years, that gets you to this last rung of the ladder. Cistercian, Michael Casey, explains the 12th Step of Humility like this:
‘The integration presented by Benedict is not high integration- the monk transfigured into some superior being. No, it is low integration. The monk is wedded to his earthliness, and rid of the pervasive temptation to get above himself.
He is at home with his limitations and so he is content to number himself among those who rely on the mercy of God. ‘
How can you turn to God this Advent?