The Bulletin of the Catholic Community at the Family Foundation School
Pauca Verba (a few words)
Number 24 – May 9, 2010
Here’s a continuation of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Interested in learning to live well – the gospel way? Read on:
- Yearn for everlasting life with holy desire.
- Day by day remind yourself that you are going to die.
- Hour by hour keep careful watch over all you do; aware that God’s gaze is upon you, wherever you may be.
- As soon as wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ (the rock).
- Guard your lips from harmful or deceptive speech.
- Prefer moderation in speech and speak no foolish chatter.
- Listen readily to holy reading.
- Devote yourself often to prayer.
- Everyday with tears and sighs confess your past sins to God in prayer.
- Hate the urgings of self-will.
- Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are.
- Live by God’s commandments every day.
- Harbor neither hatred nor jealousy of anyone, and do nothing out of envy.
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“Of the last three things you felt were wrong with this community – who’d you blame?” Sister Joan Chittester, O.S.B.
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“I notice everyone in favor of abortion has already been born.” Ronald Reagan
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When asked “How do you explain the importance of the Rosary? Pope Benedict XVI responded: “We need a prayer to bring us calm, to take us out of ourselves, away from our troubles, and set before us consolation and healing. I think this basic experience in the history of religion, of repetition, of rhythm, of words in unison, of singing together, which carries me and soothes me, and fills my space, which does not torment me, but lets me be still and comforts me and sets me free, this basic experience has here become fully Christian in that people pray quite simply in the Marian context and in that of the appearance of Christ to us, and yet at the same time lets this prayer be internalized in them – going beyond the intellectual level to where the soul becomes one with the words.”
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Remove from me the way of falsehood, and favor me with your law.” Psalm 119:29
We don’t make a conscious decision to turn towards the dark path of deceit. We don’t wake up one day and decide that being a person of good character is overrated. We don’t suddenly develop a penchant for dwelling in a pit.
No, departure from integrity is more subtle and insidious than that, more like taking a wrong turn and ending up lost – in a bad neighborhood. It’s allowing for a small deviation from truth, rationalizing it and downplaying it, so that the next indiscretion seems like no big deal – and likewise the next and the next, until one can no longer remember how it felt to be clean. It isn’t enough to try to avoid deceit; we have to actively pursue truth. We have to be intentional and diligent about seeking God’s teaching and living in the light.
Lord, help me become so attuned to your teaching that a subtle tug of your Spirit is enough to turn me around.
Kristin Armstrong
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May is Mary’s Month. Strongly recommended – pray at least one decade of the rosary each day asking for a desired virtue. The Christian moral life is one that seeks to cultivate and practice virtue. A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. An effective moral life demands the practice of both human and theological virtues.
Human virtues form the soul with the habits of mind and will that support moral behavior, control passions, and avoid sin. Virtues guide our conduct according to the dictates of faith and reason, leading us toward freedom based on self-control and toward joy in living a good moral life. Compassion, responsibility, a sense of duty, self-discipline and restraint, honesty, loyalty, friendship, courage and persistence are examples of desirable virtues for sustaining a moral life. Historically, we group the human virtues around what are called the Cardinal Virtues. This term comes form the Latin word cardo meaning “hinge.” All the virtues are related to or hinged to one of the Cardinal Virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. (Catechism)
