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Saint Anthony of the Desert

January 17, 2023 by Fr Joseph

There is a world of difference between allowing an exception to an otherwise reasonable divine law, rule, or religious practice for a good reason, and doing so with a casual, negligent, or indolent disregard for such a law or religious practice. For, although the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, this does not mean that the laws governing the Sabbath were instituted on a whim by a God with no clear reason for doing so. And thus the exceptions to the rule, law, or practice become as important as fidelity to them. And this is because either obeying the law or deciding to suspend the law in a certain instance involves intentionality and necessitates the reevaluation and re-appropriation of the values being guarded by the law or practice. This is a point we Cistercians do well to pay attention to in our present-day less legalistic approach to the Rule and Constitutions. Departures from the practices laid out in the Rule or Constitutions need to be conscious and intentional and supported by valid and defensible reasons if they are not to degenerate into simple laxity and spiritual indolence. Conscious intentionality and constant consideration of the values being guarded are thus crucial in remaining fruitfully faithful to our daily conversatio as well as fostering that bond of unity among us that, in turn, helps heal—in some small way—the broader disunity within Christianity.

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