Benedictine stability is as countercultural in our day as it was in Benedict's. Our culture says, "Don't get tied down. Keep your options open. Be free. If it doesn't work (whatever "it" is), bag it. Go on to something or someone else." Stability takes a different approach.
Stability is a promise to stay put with the people with whom God has placed us. Stability is staying put right there, knowing that Christ is at our side to help us. Stability recognizes that there are times when God may place us in a situation not so much for what we can personally get out of it, but for what we can give to others.
Esther de Waal writes that a life guided by stability has both an exterior and an interior dimension. The purpose of the exterior dimension -- staying in a place, relationship, or situation -- is to establish what she calls "stability of the heart." That means being content where we are because we believe that God placed us there and is with us in every part of our life. Where I am is important and counts because it is where God wants me. Stability of the heart is important in our mobile culture.... we...carry with us a core that is constant -- our rootedness in Christ. From that center we draw strength.
St. Benedict's Toolbox
The Nuts and Bolts of
Everyday Benedictine Living
by Jane Tomaine
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