Keep It Simple

 

 Rules For The Road

 Matthew 10: 7-15

⁷ As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

⁹ “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— ¹⁰ no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. ¹² As you enter the home, give it your greeting. ¹³ If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

A fitting Gospel passage as we honor St. Benedict.  Keep it simple, Jesus says...no "flah-flah": give the message, and if it is refused, give it elsewhere. For over 1500 years the Benedictines have lived this way and still thrive today.  We might look to see how we can eliminate non-essentials from our lives and homes and return to the "basics". The prayer for Peace might become our prayer today.

Bro. Rene

Prayer to

St. Benedict for Peace

St. Benedict, you were a man of peace. Through your powerful intercession with God help us to be peacemakers. Aid us to work for peace, to take the first step in ending bitterness, to be the first to hold out our hands in friendship and forgiveness. Help us to achieve peace; peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, peace in our sorely troubled world. And at the end of our lives obtain for us the reward of peacemakers, the eternal blessed vision of God in heaven. Amen.

"Prayer to St. Benedict for Peace," adapted from Work of God: Benedictine Prayer, Judith Sutera, OSB, editor.  ©1997 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.

Happy Feast of St. Benedict!
May his wisdom and guidance inspire you today and always.