St. Romuald's Brief Rule For Camaldolese Monks
Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms - never leave it.
If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.
And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.
Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.
Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.
I love these words, especially the final paragraph. It's strange, but all my Christian life I have found in the Psalms such depths and such comfort - and of course my own Office as a Tertiary is based around the Psalms - that all the Bibles I have used have worn out at the middle first!
I just can't stop thinking about that image of the one who prays sitting waiting, like a chick for his mother, for the grace of God. It would make a perfect description of what happens when one prays the Jesus Prayer - and of course the one who prays receives these morsels of grace somehow on behalf of all creation. This is why in my understanding it is so important - for me anyway - to end the Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" with that acknowledgement not only of my own innate sinfulness, but of my indissoluble identity with the fallenness of all my sisters and brothers, and with the brokenness that is now the condition (Romans 8.19-23) of all that is made.
5 comments:
The image of the chick reminds me of one of my favorite Psalms, which I'm sure you know—Psalm 131:
PSALM 131
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
Good connection, Ruth! I know the Psalm very well - one of my favourites - but somehow I hadn't seen the parallel. Thank you!
Mike
I sit here restless and ill-at-ease today, I do not know why.
Anything I wanted to write about today seems to evaporate as I begin to type.
And then I come here and the image of the chick and how it is fed enlivens my heart.
This is a beautiful post Mike.
When I was away from any kind of regular spiritual practice, adrift and lost, the only texts that I could read were the Psalms.
I love them still.
Ruth has added some particularly lovely verses too.
I like what I have been reading here on the blog.
Inspiring,uplifting, encouraging.
Blessings to you Mike.
A little different take on the chicks and hen....
What about chicks and blogging?!
Have you ever noticed that pronounced difference when you sit at your computer to blog something and there are many of your own thoughts buzzing around in your head. But 1 particular thought..God Given...comes to your mind from....somewhere...and you say "Aha! That's it!". And all the other ideas and topics pale and fade in comparison to that God-given nugget.
Great blog you have here. Linked from tausigns's comments and recent post.
I'm glad that image helped, Fran - extraordinary to think of that patience, that accepting. It heals my restlessness too!
Teresa, good to meet you! Yes, I know that one-particular-thought bit so very well... and I can see it all over your own blog, which I was very glad to find!
Chicks and blogging? "Chicks rock!" as Discombobula says... there are probably more good blogs by women than by men, at least spiritual blogs!
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