Lent: Day Twelve

St. Benedict’s eighth step to humility is:

The eighth degree of humility is, when a monk does nothing but what is sanctioned by the common rule of the monastery and the example of his elders.

That’s great for monks, but what am I going to do with that as I go about my very un-monkish life?

I may have some superiors here and there who may tell me to do this or that, and when that happens I’ll practice the Discipline of Obedience, which is also one of the steps of humility already examined. So as I live my life, mostly free from superiors telling me what to do on a day to day basis, how do I practice this step of humility?

I guess I can apply it in my life in two ways:

DON’T DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU WANT TO DO IT & DON’T JUST ACT ON YOUR OWN BEHALF

As I understand it, the purpose of following superiors is to that God’s work can be done through the community. If everyone is acting as their own free agent doing whatever they want, whenever they want, then there is no concerted effort to do God’s work, which will remain uncompleted if it is ever started in the first place. So the idea of obedience is that the person giving me the order is telling me what to do for a specific reason that is for the general good. This may require me to put aside what I want, or even my own personal good, but I do it because God is working through the process, and I trust that what is good for all or the many is better than what is only good for me.

So, part of the humility in obedience may be the sacrifice required to what I may want to be doing, in order to do what I am being instructed to do. I may have to put aside personal wants, personal gains, person projects, to do something that I may not be interested in doing, or which may not benefit me at all. When I realize that my plans, my good, my projects, are no more important than anyone else’s, then I can put them aside, or put them on hold, while I do the task I am instructed to do.

I guess another way I can express this step is:

YOU MUST ALWAYS BE WILLING TO SACRIFICE WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU

Back in the 90s, TBS made a series of movies about some of the people in the Bible. There is a scene in which Abraham, played by Richard Harris, is instructing a very young Isaac about sacrifice. Isaac has been seen in the movie holding, carrying, petting a small lamb, which is obviously a pet. Abraham and Isaac are sitting along side the flocks, and Isaac has his pet lamb, and Abraham explains that when he sacrifices, he has to pick the sheep he prizes above all others, the one he loves the most, and offer it to the Lord, so that nothing will stand in the way of him and God, or so nothing will become more important than God. Isaac clearly understands this means he has to be willing to sacrifice his pet. Abraham asks him if there is a sheep he loves the most, and Isaac looks down at his lamb, heartbroken. Then Abraham tells him that that is the one he must be ready to sacrifice, and after a moment of letting that idea sink in, he says: “But not today.”

The scene is important because Abraham is going to be told by God to sacrifice what he loves most�"his son, Isaac. Abraham shows he’s not just all talk. He takes Isaac out to sacrifice him, but is stopped by God. NOTHING was more important than God to Abraham�"not even the son he loved above all things that he waited so long to get. And God is also not all talk. God was not only willing to sacrifice what was most important to Him, but he actually did sacrifice His beloved Son. God doesn’t make demands on us that He Himself does not do. God is not a hypocrite.

St. Paul in Romans says that we are to live our lives as a “living sacrifice” to God. The prophets say over and over that God doesn’t want burnt offerings, but God wants His people to give Him their hearts. God says over and over He wants justice, and people to take care of each other, and to look out for the powerless and the vulnerable and protect them. That is the sacrifice the Lord requires is obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice (cf. 1 Sm 15:22; Is 1:10�"20; Hos 6:6; Am 5:22�"25; Mi 6:6�"8; Acts 7:42�"43 [quoting Am 5:25�"26]). So if the point of this step is not to do anything other than what our superiors tell us, then it must be to only do what God tells us; therefore, I have to be willing to sacrifice my wants, my desires, my plans, my stuff, anything and anyone that is most important to me.

So as I am going about my life as a “Living Sacrifice” offered to God, I don’t necessarily go about sacrificing my stuff, but I sacrifice my actions, which may affect my stuff. I don’t do what I want all the time, but I sacrifice what I may want at the moment to be obedient to God. And the thing I should be sacrificing is sin. Instead of doing the sin I may want to do, I should instead place that sin on an altar before God and sacrifice it.

The sacrifice that God wants is humility:

For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit
(Psalm 51:18-19)

And the Sacrifice that Christ wants is mercy:

“Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ (Mt. 9:13; 12:7)

The sacrifice I offer to God is my willingness to take matters into my own hands. I sacrifice my wants, especially when my want is to punish or attack or hurt someone who has punished, attacked, or hurt me. The sacrifice required is mercy, not revenge. And I have to sacrifice my desire to get back at the one who hurt me. Humility involves the trust that God will handle the situation for me, I do not have to handle it, so I sacrifice my handling of it�"whatever the “it” may be.

I sacrifice my power and my desire to act for myself, according to what I think is good for me, even if it has no value for anyone else, and especially if it hurts others. I only do those things instructed to me by my superiors: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the Church, my bishops, and holy men and women who have put these things into practice in their lives, who can help me figure out when I am hearing God, or when I am listening to a rationalization and calling it God.

The very act of love itself is an act of sacrifice. I cannot sacrifice if I am to prideful to risk losing what I have. There can be no true love without the humility that makes love possible.

I’m open to suggestions on how to quantify any of this other than:

1) When tempted to sin, decide that I will sacrifice the sin to God instead of giving into the temptation.