“[H]ave death at all times before your eyes.”Rule of St. Benedict
This week’s meditation is on living intentionally.
When we realize the greatness of God and our life as a gift given to us by Him, we start viewing things in life in a different light. We attach less and less value to the temporal and more value to the “supernatural”: to God and to our relationships with those around us. When we realize that death can be just around the corner, we also live our lives differently: we live intentionally every moment we have, we are always “awake” and “alert,” because we don’t know the day nor the hour (Mt 25:13).
If we have death at all times before our eyes, as St. Benedict says, we love more intensely, we don’t waste any time and we become more aware of our sins as well, because we don’t know when it will be our turn to have God judge our actions throughout our lives.
With all the distractions in daily life it can be quite hard to remember that death can be near us. I was taught in a silent retreat that a way to live intentionally was to pray the hours of the Divine Office. If you do not have a Christian Prayer Book or the complete Liturgy of the Hours, I would strongly recommend you to make the investment when you can, because it is definitely worth it. Once you get into the rhythm of praying the hours, you will not want to stop and it is also a good way to get your family to pray it with you as well, because they have to be prayed at set hours and that is a good way for everybody in the family to know when it is time to gather together. In the meantime, you can find the prayers at Universalis.
This week, before going to bed, let us also do a short 2-3 minute examination of conscience and then pray the Compline hour or the Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. This hour is particularly beautiful, because in one of the prayers, we conform our will to that of the Father just as Our Lord did on the cross:
Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
- Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
You have redeemed us, Lord, God of faithfulness.
- Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
- Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
[...] conscience is the first step towards becoming more honest with ourselves. As I mentioned in the previous week’s meditation, a nightly examination of conscience is preferrable, since we can analyze our behaviors and [...]
[...] As I have noted in all the previous reflections, an examination of conscience is required this week as well, because this way we can discern what are those things that pull us away from God. That examination of conscience can take many different shapes and directions depending on our state of life. However, the central question that should be asked in order to determine if a thing or a situation is of God or for God is rather simple and true for all of us: What is the end of such and such? In other words, what is the purpose behind me doing this or doing that? What am I trying to gain from doing this? Why am I reading this magazine about plastic surgeries and cosmetics? Why am I watching this TV show that only talks about adultery, drugs and broken relationships? We all do many things aimlessly during our day. Sometimes we don’t even know why we do them. How many times don’t we turn the TV on or surf the internet with no aim in particular? There is a great difference between watching a good documentary and the Dr. Phil show or watching Sportscenter for several hours at a time than watching an actual sporting event for its period of duration… it is all about living intentionally! [...]
[...] is in times like these when the words of St. Benedict resound even more in my mind: “Have death at all times before your eyes.” I told these words to my family this past weekend, because we were talking about living life to the [...]