The Rule of St. Benedict

Last night, several of us from Redeemer were among a group of 40-50 people who spent an hour listening to residents of Sowebo (South west Baltimore). Our listening took place as part of several neighborhood walks organized by BUILD (Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development), the broad-based, multi-faith, non-partisan citizens’ power organization, of which Redeemer has been a member organization since January 2018.

Some of us walked along historic Fulton Ave, the western boundary of Old West Baltimore, one of only two districts in our city where “colored housing” was permitted in the early part of the 20th century, as African-Americans fleeing the racial violence and oppression of Jim Crow resettled in Baltimore and other cities north and west of our southern states.

I was part of a small group who walked along Gilmor Street. We asked residents on the sidewalk and by a street corner if they could spare a few minutes to speak with us. Two said no, most said yes. One woman came up to us with her hand outstretched; she shook our hands, introduced herself and wanted to know how she could help. We asked her and other residents questions like, “What do you like most about your community?” “If you could change one thing here, what would you change?” and “How are all the vacant homes, abandoned properties and violence affecting you?”

And then, we listened.

With the ears of our hearts, we heard …

Our youth need rec and community centers …

I’m tired of all the violence and shootings …

I’m actually moving out of this neighborhood, I can’t take it anymore …

We also heard …

I love the people here …

I grew up here, I remember walking down that street over by the school …

What about you, what do you think? Who did you vote for?

In his online meditation today, Fr. Richard Rohr, founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation, referenced author Esther de Waal describing how Benedictine spirituality lays out the inherent connection between listening and responsive action in our prayer lives:

To listen closely, with every fibre of our being, at every moment of the day, is one of the most difficult things in the world, and yet it is essential if we mean to find the God whom we are seeking … [and] to obey [in the Benedictine tradition] really means to hear and then act upon what we have heard, or, in other words, to see that the listening achieves its aim. We are not being truly attentive unless we are prepared to act on what we hear …

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-listening-heart-2-22-07-28/

As Christians, we believe in “God incarnate”: God makes Godself known in and through our humanity, through our very flesh, which means we encounter God in and through our human relationships and interactions, including deep listening.

And, if we are trying to be faithful, then we cannot truly, deeply listen without being prepared to act … to respond, in some way … to what we hear.

I continue to reflect on what I heard with the ear of my heart, last night … and how I am to respond …

What about you? What are you hearing, with the ear of your heart today? And are you ready, are you prepared, to respond?

Cristina