Skip to main content

Practicing a Rule of Life with others moves us against the grain of our individualistic culture.

Practicing a Rule of Life with others moves us against the grain of our individualistic culture. However, I believe that a Rule should grow from the positive aspects of our life, not what we perceive to be our failings.  We should discern it in conversation with God and others in our community, and we must make God the focus of our Rule (don't focus on  negative images of ourselves) and then we move in the directions in which we feel God's calling. A Rule of Life should be a response to being loved by God in the first place, and feeling moved to become what God calls us to be in this world.

Ever since St. Benedict's time, Christians have used a Rule of Life to provide an ancient yet powerfully consistent way to live into our present and future faith.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bill Wilson Author of the Big Book

The early members of AA were still closely connected to the Oxford Group. Bill continued to have misgivings about their evangelical leanings. He felt that this would prevent too many alcoholics from accepting the help that such a program could offer. Bill had been influenced by a physician called Dr. Silkwood who promoted the idea that alcoholism was a disease and not moral failing. The early members of AA became convinced that it was a disease that could be cured with a spiritual program. In order to make this cure available to more people it was necessary for Alcoholics Anonymous split completely away from the Oxford Group. In 1939, the group released a book called Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than 100 Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism. This later became known as the Big Book. It has become the most successful self-help publication of all time, with over 20 million copies sold. Most of the content was written by Bill, but he did get a great deal of help from the earl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Increase Spirituality, Decrease Alcohol Use

  The research team, headed by Kelly, studied 1,726 adults who were participating in a randomized, controlled trial of psychosocial treatments for alcohol use disorder. All the subjects were assessed at the start of the study and at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months regarding their attendance at AA meetings, alcohol use, and spiritual/religious practices. The researchers found that attendance at AA meetings was associated with an increase in the participants’ spiritual practices. This increase was especially evident among people who measured low on spirituality at the beginning of the study. Another related finding was that AA attendance was linked to improved alcohol use, and this was partially mediated by increased spirituality. When it comes to rates of success or failure associated with AA, the “Alcoholics Anonymous Recovery Outcome Rates: Contemporary Myth and Misinterpretation” report released January 1, 2008, reported as of their 2007 Survey, 45 percent of AA me...
Post a Comment
Read more