The spiritual life is not something that is gotten for the wishing or assumed by affectation. The spiritual life takes discipline. It is something to be learned, to be internalized. It’s not a set of daily exercises; it’s a way of life, an attitude of mind, an orientation of soul. And it is gotten by being schooled until no rules are necessary.
Among the ancients there is a story told that confirms this insight to this day: “What action shall I perform to attain God?” the disciple asked the elder.
“If you wish to attain God,” the elder said, “there are two things you must know. The first is that all efforts to attain God are of no avail.”
“And the second?” the disciple insisted.
“The second is that you must act as if you did not know the first,” the elder said.
Clearly, great pursuers of the spiritual life know that that secret of the spiritual life is to live it until it becomes real.
The difference between St. Benedict and other spiritual masters of his time lies in the fact that Benedict believed that the spiritual life was not an exercise in spiritual gymnastics. It was to be “nothing harsh or burdensome.” And it was not a private process. It was to be done in community with others. It was to be a “school” dedicated to “the good of all concerned.” It was to be lived with “patience.”
The private preserves of the spiritual life are far from dead, however. It is so much easier to go to daily Mass and feel good about it than it is to serve a meal at a soup kitchen. It is so much more comfortable to say bedtime prayers than it is to speak peace in a warring world. It is so much more satisfying to contribute to the building of a new church than it is to advocate fair trade over free trade. It is so much more heroic to fast than it is to be patient with a noisy neighbor. It is so much easier to give the handshake of peace to an acquaintance in church than it is to speak gently in the family. And yet one without the other is surely fraud if life with God in community is truly the essence of real spiritual growth.
The messages of the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict are clear: life is very short. To get the most out of it, we must begin to attend to its spiritual dimensions without which life is only half lived. Holiness is in the now, but we go through life only half conscious of it, asleep or intent on being some place other than where we are now. We need to open our eyes and see things as they exist around us: what is valuable and what is not, what is of God and what is not.
God is calling us to more than the material level of life and God is waiting to bring us to it. All we have to do is to live well with others and live totally in God. All we have to do is to learn to listen to the voice of God in life. And we have to do it heart, soul, and body. The spiritual life demands all of us.
—from The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (Crossroad) by Joan Chittister
