The rule of St. Benedict for a daily life, learning to listen to God with a discerning heart.

I'm Chris McGregor.

The Eighth Degree of Humility, Episode 23.

With the eighth degree of humility, St. Benedict speaks about learning to live within a common life,

instead of always falling back on personal preference.

This degree is very practical.

It has to do with accepting a shared way of life without always needing things to go your own way.

From Chapter 7 of the Rule of St. Benedict The eighth degree of humility is that a monk do nothing except what the common rule of the monastery and the example of the elders require.

St. Benedict knows how easy it is to want our own way. and the example of the elders require.

St. Benedict knows how easy it is to want our own way,

even when we give that desire better-sounding names.

We can talk about prudence, discernment, or good judgment,

while really wanting things to go the way we want them to go.

The eighth degree of humility brings that temptation into the open.

For the monk, this means he doesn't shape the monastery around himself.

He receives its rules, its customs, and the example of those who have gone before him.

It doesn't keep him looking for ways around the common life. He learns to live the life of the monastery as it is. That can sound hard at first,

especially now, when people are used to making their own choices and almost everything. But St. Benedict

isn't denying what is personal or particular in someone.

He is teaching the humility that can live with others, receive guidance, but not always insist on

its own way. There is wisdom in that. Shared life falls apart when every person keeps pushing

in a different direction. That is true in a monastery,

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