The Road to Virtue and Away From It

Devotional Classics, Benedict of Nursia, Excerpts from The Rule

"The ninth step of humility is to withhold our tongue from speaking, keeping silence until we are asked. . . . The eleventh step of humility is to speak with few and sensible words." (p.180)

"Do not be quick with your mouth,

Do not be hasty in your heart

To utter anything before God.

God is in heaven and you are on earth

So let your words be few." (Ecclesiastes 5: 2-3)

"First you say it, then you do it." (Bill Cosby)

I have found that there are some general steps on the road of wrong doing. The first steps have to do with what I think. I forget God. I choose to dwell on what I want mostly. I put other peoples' needs out of my head. I ponder what would feel the best. I think about how to hide my tracks the best. I also focus on how miserable I am without the object of my desire.

These actions of the mind are counteracted by Benedict's steps toward humility. He lists these activities for the mind: Reverence for God, Doing God's Will, Obedience to Others, Enduring Affliction, Confession, and Contentment. In practicing these, I cut at the root of a thought life that wanders into wrong doing.

Then there are steps on the road of wrong doing that I take more through actions. I tend to boast and talk about myself much. I look for ways to get out of doing what I should do. I look for noise and distraction. I try to find things that will make me laugh and feel good. I write and speak with great explanation and defensiveness. I become more concerned with how I look to other people.

Benedict also addresses these in The Rule with Self-Reproach, Obeying the Common Rule, Silence, Seriousness, Simple Speech, and Humility in Appearance. With these actions I find that humility begins to find a place to stay in my life. When my thoughts being to seek God presence and his will through obedience and sincerity, my body begins to follow suit with less boasting, more silence and simplicity.

In particular, my mouth indicates which road I am traveling. It is not uncommon for my mouth to speak what has been on my mind for quite some time. This is not surprising, but does take me by surprise. I am shocked at what I say a times. Further, my mouth also tends to predict what I will eventually do. It may not be literal, but it certainly is real.

So, I may find myself thinking that I deserve to be treated better than I feel I am being treated at work or at home. This will be followed by complaints about how I am treated. Such complaints will be followed by my actions to "get even" with those I see as my attackers. I neglect my work or try to make my kids do things to appreciate me more through laying guilt on them.

So these steps of humility are real disciplines that can bring about humility and steer me from wrong-doing. Such steps can never bring anything without a real desire to please God and a real intention to begin, but they do give some ideas about how my mouth can stop its part in wrong-doing.

I have found that holding my tongue can stop the progression of wrong-doing long enough for me to be reminded of God's presence or my contentment in him. These things can become habits that give space for virtue in my life. Being silent or content are not virtues in themselves, but rather create a path for virtue - a real desire for good - to come rest in my life.

Lord, help me develop thoughts and actions that will house virtue in my life. The desire for good is what makes this life worth living. You alone are good, Father. Let virtue be the tie that draws me nearer to you each day. Amen.

Each word I say or don't say can be a road on which God is invited into my life or sent away from my life. May my words be few and inviting of God and his good.