After Praise, Mass and a wonderful Brunch [we again left a seat at each table for a sister to join us], the Oblates affiliated with St. Gertrude Monastery in Ridgely, MD gathered in the community room for their third meeting of the 2008/2009 session.
We began with peaceful piano music – pray to be open to the Spirit for what we are to do today. God of our universe we ask you to be in our presence. Guide us, help us celebrate and join hands with others as we grow strong in your love and understanding, as we live and love in your presence.
What does being an oblate mean to me? Think about it. If you would like to share with the group, just let Marge or Cynthia know. We would like to start our sharing at the January, 2009 meeting.
Three of our oblates will be attending the second oblate world congress in Rome , Italy Rome
Bill Stott graciously accepted to show us today where obedience may be found in the Word. The Bible begins with the Word and ends with the Word. In Genesis 1, God made the world with words, “Let there be Light.”, “and it is good.” Then He rested and reflected.
Obedience is a word and in all that it implies. We were made in God’s image, we are words. Adam was asked to name the animals. To word something is to know it. The Jewish constant prayer in Hebrew, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Numbers 15:37-41, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” The first command is an assertion of the Word, God.
Shama – to listen, to pay attention, to obey, say prayer, obey, examine, and understand. The word is basic, fundamental, real, homely, specific, and concrete. All literature is oral; prayer is oral – sometimes silent. Children are taught to read orally. We DO scripture, we don’t talk ABOUT scripture.
Obedience – Hear, listen O, Israel – Shama is an Old Testament order listed 1,150 times, 158 in Jeremiah, 86 in Deuteronomy and 86 is Isaiah just to list a few.
Obedience is a transitive verb, to carry out or fulfill. oboedient in Middle English, oboediens in Anglo-French, oboedire is to listen in Latin and ob audire is to hear, the same as Shama. Obedience is related to an action. Regula (rule), read/listen everyday. St. Benedict came from a hermetic background and knew that you had to have obedience to live with others.
The Invitatory Psalms 24, 67, 100, 95 – each one is a parade of actions:
- Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord
- Greet him with a song of praise
- The Lord is great
- The earth is the Lord’s
- Let the people praise thee O God
- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord
Come, Enter, O that today you would hear his voice – do not harden your hearts. All invitatory Psalms call us to be obedient. Scripture is too vast! We are being asked to do it, not to show our credentials. All the patriarchs have a call, the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The covenant bearer, Jesus Christ, is the most obedient on the planet, he constantly prays as you can see in John 17.
In John 17, the high priest’s prayer, Jesus speaks, read it aloud! [Note: for our oblate’s info I have copied and pasted the whole chapter here, CAI]
John
Chapter 17
Chapter 17
When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, 2 just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. 3 Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. 6 "I revealed your name 5 to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8 because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, 10 and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. 12 When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. 14 I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. 17 Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. 19 And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. 20 "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. 26 I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."
All comes home through obedience, listen and hear. That is what obedience is about, be open to listen, be open to learn. In the beginning the Word was stated. In the beginning the Word was heard.
Thank you Bill for giving us the word, obedience, and much food for thought!
Sister Roni mentioned Sister Irene Nowall’s scripture class and some highlights. If I am going where God wants me, he’ll be with me; if not, he won’t be there. God, what is it you want me to do? I’m not comfortable with my own judgment. It almost has to cause me pain – starting over, giving self up. If I’m not growing is it right? If I’m going where God wants me to go, God wants me to grow.
For our December 14th meeting we will be discussing Sabbath. So think about, what Sabbath means to me – what it meant growing up and what it means to me today.
MaryAnn Palmer read our Rule for the day – the tools and goods of the monastery - with Sister Joan Chittester’s commentary which listed keeping things in good order, using wise management, house cleaning, prayer & work and body & soul.
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