What a precious night with the Hope on High people! Such a quietness and gentleness in these homeless people and especially in how they ask for something. They barely ask and only after you have been talking for a while. You can barely hear their voices, just above a whisper, that they almost say in passing, trailing off,.. something like, "Do you have any sterno to heat my tent, it's supposed to stay cold tonight," or "are there any heavy blankets?" All these things they are in DIRE need of too, but never push, never in demanding (except for Stanley -- ha ha --- long story).
I wanted to post snippets that spoke to me from a booklet one of my beloved Benedictine priests from "my" Archabbey in Indiana, St. Meinrad's, called "Accountability as a Heart to Heart Talk," by Fr. Mateo Zamora, OSB. I will just quote him. I also changed the order to read the most important part if you do not have time for longer. Just in time for Lent too! Praise Jesus.
"Although it [accountability] presents consequences for bad behavior, the "Rule of St. Benedict" actually provides us with a very positive and refreshing take on accountability, .... a heart-to-heart talk..:
'Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice' (RB Prol:1).'
The 'Rule' begins with a command: 'Listen!' I don't know about you, but whenever I am told to listen, it usually means that I am in trouble. Either I am in trouble or I am not paying attention...
It is interesting to note that the word 'obedience' is rooted in the Latin word 'audire,' which means 'to listen.' ... Accountability, then, as a discipline of mutual obedience, is first of all a practice of listening to one another.
'Listen carefully' (RB Prol:1)
The reason, I think, that some calls to accountability do not work is because, instead of a heart-to-heart talk, it is a mouth-to-ear talk.... this is counsel 'from a father who loves you.' (RB Prol:1).
The father is doing this not to make the son feel bad for doing bad. He is opening up his heart because he cares about him. He is concerned about what he is doing -- or not doing...
Why is it a heart-to-heart talk? It has to be a heart-to-heart talk because the topic is deeply personal. It involves one's behavior, one's faults, one's mistakes, those delicate details that nobody ever wants to discuss ...
Genuine accountability has to be a heart-to-heart talk because it involves hurts.... because there is a relationship that exists (child and father) and this relationship is very important to both.
.... because that is how love operates: not through the mouth or guts or brain or the liver (ha, ha, I liked that line), but through the heart.
In this model of Christian accountability from St. Benedict, both parties are willing to be vulnerable. They are opening up their hearts to one another. That is why it works. To be vulnerable here -- from the Latin "vulnus," which is translated as wound --means that they show their wounds to each other; they reveal their injuries.
Both have been wounded and the relationship itself has been damaged. They show their wounds to each other so that they can be tended to and healed.
Christ who 'humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross' (Phil. 2:8) We see our Lord hanging on the cross and there He bares not only His heart to us, but also all the wounds that our sinfulness has caused.
The Almighty has put his utter vulnerability on display on that cross to reassure each one of us that He is willing to do anything and suffer everything, if only we would be reconciled with Him. He opens up his Sacred Heart, not to demand justice, much less to exact vengeance, but rather to offer us mercy and forgiveness.
From that cross, the Lord invites us to a heart-to-heart talk. The question is: Are we ready? Are we ready to bare our hearts to Him?"
..this discipline of accountability ... can be a way of life, just as it has been for those who have followed the "Rule of St. Benedict" these 1,500 plus years.
[Finally, his Part 1)
Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all and to all. It is a blessing, or better yet, a benediction, which comes from the Latin verb "benedicere," which literally means to speak well of somebody, to commend another, to say something good to someone. Obedience is a blessing to be shown by by all and to all.... we owe it to everyone in the community.
When we forget that obedience is a blessing to be shown by all and to all, we start neglecting one another's feelings, one another's needs, and one another's dignity.
Christian accountability is a discipline of mutual obedience in a community of disciples. It means that everyone cares about everybody, and everyone looks out for everybody. It is a culture not of selfishness, but of selflessness. It is a discipline, the way of the disciple of Christ, for He said, 'This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another' (Jn. 13:35).
I wanted to post snippets that spoke to me from a booklet one of my beloved Benedictine priests from "my" Archabbey in Indiana, St. Meinrad's, called "Accountability as a Heart to Heart Talk," by Fr. Mateo Zamora, OSB. I will just quote him. I also changed the order to read the most important part if you do not have time for longer. Just in time for Lent too! Praise Jesus.
"Although it [accountability] presents consequences for bad behavior, the "Rule of St. Benedict" actually provides us with a very positive and refreshing take on accountability, .... a heart-to-heart talk..:
'Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice' (RB Prol:1).'
The 'Rule' begins with a command: 'Listen!' I don't know about you, but whenever I am told to listen, it usually means that I am in trouble. Either I am in trouble or I am not paying attention...
It is interesting to note that the word 'obedience' is rooted in the Latin word 'audire,' which means 'to listen.' ... Accountability, then, as a discipline of mutual obedience, is first of all a practice of listening to one another.
'Listen carefully' (RB Prol:1)
The reason, I think, that some calls to accountability do not work is because, instead of a heart-to-heart talk, it is a mouth-to-ear talk.... this is counsel 'from a father who loves you.' (RB Prol:1).
The father is doing this not to make the son feel bad for doing bad. He is opening up his heart because he cares about him. He is concerned about what he is doing -- or not doing...
Why is it a heart-to-heart talk? It has to be a heart-to-heart talk because the topic is deeply personal. It involves one's behavior, one's faults, one's mistakes, those delicate details that nobody ever wants to discuss ...
Genuine accountability has to be a heart-to-heart talk because it involves hurts.... because there is a relationship that exists (child and father) and this relationship is very important to both.
.... because that is how love operates: not through the mouth or guts or brain or the liver (ha, ha, I liked that line), but through the heart.
In this model of Christian accountability from St. Benedict, both parties are willing to be vulnerable. They are opening up their hearts to one another. That is why it works. To be vulnerable here -- from the Latin "vulnus," which is translated as wound --means that they show their wounds to each other; they reveal their injuries.
Both have been wounded and the relationship itself has been damaged. They show their wounds to each other so that they can be tended to and healed.
Christ who 'humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross' (Phil. 2:8) We see our Lord hanging on the cross and there He bares not only His heart to us, but also all the wounds that our sinfulness has caused.
The Almighty has put his utter vulnerability on display on that cross to reassure each one of us that He is willing to do anything and suffer everything, if only we would be reconciled with Him. He opens up his Sacred Heart, not to demand justice, much less to exact vengeance, but rather to offer us mercy and forgiveness.
From that cross, the Lord invites us to a heart-to-heart talk. The question is: Are we ready? Are we ready to bare our hearts to Him?"
..this discipline of accountability ... can be a way of life, just as it has been for those who have followed the "Rule of St. Benedict" these 1,500 plus years.
[Finally, his Part 1)
Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all and to all. It is a blessing, or better yet, a benediction, which comes from the Latin verb "benedicere," which literally means to speak well of somebody, to commend another, to say something good to someone. Obedience is a blessing to be shown by by all and to all.... we owe it to everyone in the community.
When we forget that obedience is a blessing to be shown by all and to all, we start neglecting one another's feelings, one another's needs, and one another's dignity.
Christian accountability is a discipline of mutual obedience in a community of disciples. It means that everyone cares about everybody, and everyone looks out for everybody. It is a culture not of selfishness, but of selflessness. It is a discipline, the way of the disciple of Christ, for He said, 'This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another' (Jn. 13:35).
These photos remind me of many of my friends on the south end. No, they are not homeless, they usually live in tents, boarded up houses, sheds, make-shift shacks, and one even on a bench on the side of High St.
