{"id":27676,"date":"2026-09-17T09:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/?p=27676"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:27:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:27:25","slug":"todays-chapter-let-no-one-follow-the-will-of-his-own-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2026\/09\/todays-chapter-let-no-one-follow-the-will-of-his-own-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Chapter: Let No One Follow the Will of His Own Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 3: Of calling the Brethren to Council (cont\u2019d.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let all therefore, follow the Rule in all things as their guide, and let no man rashly depart from it. Let no one in the monastery follow the will of his own heart: nor let any one presume insolently to contend with his Abbot, either within or without the monastery. But if he should so presume, let him be subjected to the discipline appointed by the Rule. The Abbot himself, however, must do everything with the fear of God and in observance of the Rule: knowing that he will have without doubt to render to God, the most just Judge, an account of all his judgments. If it happen that less important matters have to be transacted for the good of the monastery, let him take counsel with the Seniors only, as it is written: \u201cDo all things with counsel, and thou shalt not afterwards repent it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Having heard yesterday about the need for all to be convoked for counsel so as to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we are reminded again today of the dispositions needed in such discussions: that no one follow the will of his own heart. Madre Canopi comments more on the attitude needed if meetings of the Council or Chapter are to be true encounters with the Holy Spirit:<\/p>\n

These, then, are the interior dispositions requested by Saint Benedict from the brethren convoked to counsel: they should give their opinion in all humility and submission, without claiming to defend obstinately their point of view.<\/p>\n

This presupposes a great interior freedom\u2014humility,\u2014detachment from self and openness to the others, docility to the Spirit, a pure search for God and sincere charity that is shown in respect, benevolence, patience, welcoming of all.<\/p>\n

Indispensable, in addition, are uprightness of intention, simplicity, and clarity; ambiguity and diplomacy should be kept far away. Saint Benedict wants us to avoid all superfluous discourse and every polemic or heated discussion generated by the personal bias or arrogance which is born of presumption. Respect for the person, after all, is a different thing from the cult of ourselves.<\/p>\n

No one, therefore, should exert pressure. A sign of an egoistic seeking after self is being offended and letting oneself be seized by ill-humour and bitterness when one\u2019s own opinion is not appreciated and accepted, when the decision is not what one desired.<\/p>\n

The monk is poor, and so as a poor man he ought to present himself at the Council, without claiming to defend obstinately his point of view, but rather with the disposition of laying aside his own judgment and adopting that of the others when the decision has been taken.<\/p>\n

Finally, all should obey what the abbot will have decided and considered best to do. Ultimately, all should obey God by following the inspirations of the Spirit, according to the indications of the Rule<\/em> in which the way of the Gospel is clearly and practically indicated.<\/p>\n

The abbot ought to be the \u2018first obedient one\u2019, like Mary. He, who is the monastic family\u2019s centre of unity, should more than everyone forget himself and serve the common good in view of the glory of God.<\/p>\n

The convocation of the brethren to counsel is a strong moment of the ecclesial (cenobitic) experience, it is a celebration of koinonia<\/em> (communion) in practical life. For this reason it should be lived as an encounter with the Lord and in the Lord, and should be carried out outside the territory of self-interest, in the promised land of the Covenant and in the Cenacle.<\/p>\n

This is the attitude which the monks should cultivate with extreme care, putting their entire being at the disposition of the common good, as Mary marvellously did in all her existence. (C\u00e0nopi,\u00a0Nel ‘Si’ di Maria, <\/em>translation by a Benedictine monk,\u00a0pp. 26-28)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, no one can teach us better than Mary how to sacrifice the will of our own hearts so as to embrace the will of God manifested both in obedience to the Abbot and in consideration for our brethren. Her obedience to a surprising plan in the Annunciation; her prompt forgetfulness of self in the Visitation; her humble acceptance of the obscurity of God\u2019s plan throughout her Son\u2019s life\u2014in all of this she showed her desire never to depart from the <\/em>Rule, which is the will of God: \u2018Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye.\u2019 (Jn 2:5)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 3: Of calling the Brethren to Council (cont\u2019d.) Let all therefore, follow the Rule in all things as their guide, and let no man rashly depart from it. Let no one in the monastery follow the will of his own heart: nor let any one presume insolently to contend with his Abbot, either within <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":591,"featured_media":10009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[498,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-rule-2026","category-rule-of-saint-benedict"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vultuschristi.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Fra_Angelico_-_Annunciation_Cell_3_-_WGA00538.jpg?fit=1014%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-7co","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27677,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27676\/revisions\/27677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}