Opening presentation to a year long consideration of "hard sayings" in The Rule of St. Benedict, written in the sixth century. Sister Edith Bogue considers why people find sayings hard - whether those of Jesus in the Bible or the related ones of St. Benedict in his Rule. Perhaps it is not the sayings that are what's hard...

1. Hard Sayings of Benedict:
Relinquishing Your Will
Benedictine Oblates
St. Scholastica Monastery
Duluth, Minnesota
11 September 2016

2. Agenda
• Introductions
• Midday Prayer
– Philippians 2:1-11
• Announcements
• Conference
• Discussion
• Closing Prayer
• Refreshments

3. Announcements
• Upcoming events
– Retreat: Mindful Approach (9/17 or 19 full?)
– Retreat: Good Grief (9/24)
– Intro to Centering Prayer (9/24)
– Lecture: Confronting Poverty in America
Tues, Sept 27 at 7:30pm in Mitchell
– Retreat: Surprise! Dorothy Day Discovered a
Treasure in the Life of St. Therese of Lisieux
(Oct 8)
– Emeritus College on Oct 31 with Sr Amata

4. Announcements
• Big events further in the future
– NAABOD: North American Association of
Benedictine Oblate Directors
• July 14-19 in Duluth
• Our monastery and our oblates are the hosts
• NAABOD gets the speakers
– The 125th Anniversary of St. Scholastica
Monastery will be celebrated in 2017
• One major Open House
• Historical events
• Opportunities to visit, to participate, to help

5. JESUS:
HE HAD MANY "HARD
SAYINGS"

6. “I have come
to set the
earth on fire,
and how I
wish it were
already
blazing!"
Luke 12:49

7. “A rich man had a steward who was
reported to him for squandering his
property. … The steward said to
himself, ‘What shall I do? I am not
strong enough to dig and I am
ashamed to beg. I know …He
called in his master’s debtors one
by one. To the first he said, ‘How
much do you owe my master?’ He
replied, ‘One hundred measures of
olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is
your promissory note. Sit down and
quickly write one for fifty.
And the master
commended that
dishonest steward
for acting prudently.Luke 16: 1-8

8. TYPES OF HARD SAYINGS

9. The Saying Seems Wrong
• Seems morally
"off" or wrong.
• Contradicts
the Gospel.
• Who would think
such a thing?
• Repugnant.

10. The Saying is Confusing
• We are not sure what
the words mean.
• We understand the
words, but the saying
does not make sense:
"Hide a candle under
a bushel basket" –
and burn down your
house.

11. We Understand But Are
Reluctant
• We understand.
• We know what act
or thought it asks
of us.
• It is inconvenient.
• It means giving up
our plans or choice.
• It seems unfair.
• It seems too much.

12. RELINQUISHING YOUR WILL

13. Gospel Message
• Jesus talks of various
groups:
– Those who reject him from
the start
– Those who fall away or
become daunted
– Those who stay with him
• St. Benedict talks of a
journey, a ladder, and
persistence.

14. Two Paths
• Psalm 1 summarizes much of scripture:
– Those who love the Law of the Lord.
– Those who don't.
• St. Benedict talks of 4 kinds of monks:
– Two follow a Rule (hermits, cenobites)
– Two "have their own will as their Rule"
(sarabaites, gyrovaguesO
• Both of these highlight the big question:
My will, or God's will?

15. Caution in Using This Tool
• In any difficulty, it is
always worth seeking
to see your own will
enter in.
• When someone else
pushes you with their
idea of God's will, it
can be abusive.
• People can also do
this to themselves.

16. Benedict's Method:
Discernment
• Discernment: tools & methods for finding
God's will.
• St. Benedict and the monastic traditions
include disclosing one's thoughts.
• Reading Scripture with others, hearing
God's message spoken to them.
• Ignatian spirituality: Understand how
consolation and desolation can each show
action of Holy Spirit or other spirits.

17. Hard Sayings of Benedict:
Relinquishing Your Will
Benedictine Oblates
St. Scholastica Monastery
Duluth, Minnesota
11 September 2016