“Listen, my son, to the precepts of the teacher.” (Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue)
The meek truly listen. The prophet Isaiah relates the awesome vision he has in which he sees visible manifestations of the God whose glory fills the Temple and the whole universe. The crucial moment in this vision, however, is not a moment of Isaiah seeing, but of listening to the Lord who asks, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). The prophet who hears and takes to heart these questions can humbly reply: “Here I am . . . send me!”
Saint Benedict, who had been a student in Rome, once the great capital of a great empire, was not puffed up because of what he had learned. Instead, he listened, humbly, to God’s call: to leave the city, to learn how to be content with solitude, and then to welcome new brothers who wished to follow God as he was doing. Saint Benedict’s first word to such a new brother who wishes to come after the Lord: “Listen.”
As we finish this week of meditation upon Christian meekness, let us ask the Lord for grace to listen to His call to each of us, as Isaiah and Benedict did. May our hearts listen to the Lord now, and at the end of this life, may we hear the words of our meek Lord acknowledging us as His meek disciples.