Saturday, August 19, 2006

Benedict's Rule

I've just started reading Joan Chittister's commentary on the The Rule of Benedict, after hearing/reading about it 3 times within one day a few weeks ago I ordered this book in.

So expect to hear some stuff from it over the coming weeks.

p20 "Obedience, Benedict says - the willingness to listen for the voice of God in life - is what will wrench us out of the limitations of our own landscape. We are being called to something outside of ourselves, something greater than ourselves, something beyond ourselves."

p22 "Benedict is begging us here to realize that God is the only lifeline that life guarantees us."

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dying well

A friend is in her last days at the moment and of course that raises all sorts of questions.

In particular, I've been asking: what does it mean to die well? And what does it mean to let go?

I'm sure these are related to: what does it mean to live well?

Which reminds me of the balence I've been thinking about recently: I've been really conscious of how building the Kingdom of God is God's business, yet what we do really does matter. How hard is for us to live in a healthy, balenced place with regard to that - not thinking that it is our job or business to build the kingdom in our own strength and effort BUT knowing and acting as if what we do really does matter.