Thursday of the First Week of Advent - St. Benedict
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. - Matthew 7:24 In a sermon on the text of today’s Gospel , the great Syrian bishop Philoxenus of Mabbug reflects, “This saying of our Master obliges us to be diligent in hearing God’s word, but also in doing it… God’s disciples need to have firmly anchored in their souls the remembrance of their Master, Jesus Christ, and to think of him day and night” (from Homily I: SC 44, 27-31). [1] The “Patriarch of Western Monks,” Saint Benedict of Nursia , understood that the Christian life begins with a willingness to listen—this is so important to Benedict’s view of the spiritual life, that it is the first word of his Rule , a document that has guided the lives of Benedictine monks, nuns, and sisters for 1500 years. Saint Benedict says, “Let us arise, then, at last, for the Scripture stirs us up, saying, ‘Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep’ (Rom. 13:11). Let...