Welcome.
I am Fr.
Koral Pit from Eden from White-rope Monks of St.
Benedict in South Africa.
We bring you today's homily from the Chapel of St.
Luke in Johannesburg.
I really hope you enjoy the next couple of minutes that we get to share together in the presence of the Spirit.
So today I mentioned the feast day of St.
Benedict.
It is also a very special day for us as the White-rope Monks of St.
Benedict here in South Africa.
Because today is the one year anniversary of our formation.
A year ago we sat and had a meeting and was given a letter from now our sister order in America.
With the decree that we are an autonomous order.
And with that came massive new responsibilities especially for our new abbot,
Bishop Oliver,
Who has truly taken the role to heart and has been leading us through these times with grace.
I am extremely thankful for being able to assist in some small way.
But I am extremely thankful also to be part of this community.
To be working to share the love of Christ.
And not the love that many people expect us to share as a Catholic order.
But the love that comes unconditionally.
St.
Benedict had a fascinating life.
He didn't want to be with people necessarily.
At some stage he went and lived on his own but people came and kept on seeking him out.
And sometimes it is just a reminder that the way that our lives turn out and the calling that God has for us is not necessarily what we want.
We may want to dedicate our lives to God in a certain way.
We may want to spend our time in prayer.
Or alternatively we might want to spend our time preaching.
And then God comes and God says,
My son,
My daughter,
My child.
I want you to focus on the internal.
I want you to experience me in your life.
Through prayer.
And then we can't not help but listen.
We can try and force the issue.
It doesn't work out.
I have said many times here already that growing up I never thought I would be a Catholic priest.
It was the farthest thing from my mind ever and here I am.
Because once God called I could not turn away.
And it's easy to say,
You know,
It's a calling.
It's easy to sometimes try and walk away.
But it leaves you with this emptiness in your soul.
So yes,
Saint Benedict then started teaching and he started his first monastery.
And the very same people who begged him,
Who insisted that he comes and be the abbot then of course struggled under his rule.
Because it was harsh for them.
And God showed them that this is what you wanted,
This is what you asked for and it was part of God's plan.
And when they tried to poison Saint Benedict twice,
God saved him.
And then he went on and established several more monasteries.
And his sister,
Saint Scholastica,
Won a Benedictine order for women as well.
At that time segregation was still rife,
Even in our time I guess.
But then Saint Benedict wrote his rule.
And the rule of Saint Benedict is not rule in the sense of law.
It is a set of principles that the monks try and live by.
Twelve principles.
But from the rule our order takes the first word very seriously.
Listen,
Osculta.
And it's such a loaded word.
When we go into prayer we tend to talk to God.
And often times we forget just to get quiet and to listen.
Because there are answers.
That emptiness that I spoke of,
That your soul experiences when you are not living your life purpose.
Maybe take some time and listen.
Maybe take some time and just become still.
No music,
No outside noise and go to a space where you won't be disturbed.
And go and just sit.
We have a beautiful practice called only just sit.
Others would call it contemplative prayer.
Just different expressions of the same thing.
And the most beautiful explanation of this was that we need to be a trap.
Like a Venus fly trap.
Open up to receive God.
To receive grace.
Just waiting.
Not doing anything actively.
And maybe if you do it today for ten minutes,
Might be challenging.
We are so programmed that we have to be busy constantly.
People talk about the evil of being idle.
Yet,
It is necessary for us to become quiet.
And just to be with God.
And today you might not find anything.
If you try again tomorrow you might experience a glimmer of something.
And I can't say what it is.
Maybe the day after you might hear something.
Maybe it takes months.
But this dedication of spending time each day with God.
And just being is one of the most beautiful things that you will ever do in your life.
Not asking,
Not thanking,
Just being.
It changes the way that life is for you.
I found that it also for me opened up a clearer line to God.
Taking God from being this thing out in the air thing with respect.
This being out in the air.
To somebody that I have a personal relationship with.
Somebody who lives in me.
And that's beautiful.
And it also takes away this concept that I have to be fearful of God.
I think all God expects from us is to be.
If we are angry,
Be angry.
I spoke a couple of weeks ago about fighting with the Lord.
And it was not done with disrespect.
It was done from a soul being tired.
From a body being exhausted.
And it was a cry to the Lord.
It wasn't when I used the word father in the sense of daddy.
Well actually it was.
It was a cry of a child to their father.
Father help me.
And the Lord answered.
Abba.
Made things better.
So.
Today I will ask every person to join us in our community of the White-Drogue Mounts of St.
Benedict.
And for this week,
Just this week,
Listen.
Just that.
No response needed.
Just.
Listen.
Listen.
