I just ran across a truly wonderful practical description of life following Jesus, and had to share it with you.
You may know of my admiration for the monastic approaches to Christian life and mission. I especially love to learn from the early and eastern forms of the movement, because they honed and shaped the holiness and leadership of my great life hero, St. Patrick. Today I ran across the following pithy description of what it means to follow Jesus by obeying his commands, as exemplified by the earliest and most widely shared approach to the monastic life - the 'Rule of St. Benedict.' I think you're gonna love this:
"The basis of (practicing our faith) is the 'keeping of the commandments.' These 'commandments' in the ancient church refer less to the Decalogue (ten commandments)... than to the injunctions and the actions of Christ, and above all the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. For the Beatitudes describe Christ himself, his beauty - and through him the very mystery of the God... of love. To obey Christ's commandments is to love him, to beseech him, aided by our very weakness, to take possession of us and transform our life with his..."
"We can see the essentials of the commandments in the sober and practical arrangement of the Benedictine Rule. In every line we find the example and the words of Jesus, whether he is taking up an Old Testament commandment and illuminating it or delivering the Sermon on the Mount or the Parable of the Last Judgment in the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel: 'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me... as you did it to on of the least of these... you did it to me.'."
"The monk becomes little by little a center of blessing. His trust in God's infinite mercy enables him to hope. Knowing himself to be fundamentally loved, he feels himself not only able but obliged to serve his neighbor and love his enemy... Here is section IV of The Rule by Benedict of Nursia (written in the early 500's):"
What are the rules for living a good life?
In the first place, to love the LORD with all one's heart, with all one's soul, and with all one's strength.
Then to love one's neighbor as oneself.
Then not to kill.
Not to commit adultery.
Not to steal.
Not to covet.
Not to bear false witness.
To respect all people.
And not to do to others what one would not wish to have done to oneself.
To deny oneself in order to follow Christ.
To be master of one's own body...
To help the poor.
To clothe the naked.
To visit the sick.
To bury the dead.
To assist those in distress.
To console the afflicted...
Not to let anything come before the love of Christ.
Not to give rein to one's wrath.
Not to meditate revenge.
Not to harbor deceit in one's heart.
Not to offer a pretended peace.
Not to forsake charity.
Not to swear, for fear of perjury.
To speak the truth from heart and mouth.
Not to render evil for evil.
Not to commit injustice but to bear patiently what is done to oneself.
To love one's enemies.
Not to render cursing for cursing, but rather blessing.
To endure persecution for righteousness' sake...
To place one's hope in God.
If one sees any good in oneself, to ascribe it to God, not to oneself.
To fear the day of judgment.
To dread hell.
To desire eternal life with all one's heart and soul.
Every day to keep death present before one's eyes...
Not to hate anyone.
Not to entertain jealousy.
Not to give oneself up to envy...
To respect the aged.
To love the young.
In the love of Christ to pray for one's enemies.
After a disagreement, to make peace before the sun goes down.
And never to despair of God's mercy.
Such are the tools of the spiritual art."
(from The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, Olivier Clement, pages 137-139)
