PROLOGUE: 
"Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou mayest return to Him from whom by the sloth of disobedience thou hast gone away.  To thee, therefore, my speech is now directed, who, giving up thine own will, takest up the strong and most excellent arms of obedience, to do battle for Christ the Lord, the true King.  In the first place, beg of Him by most earnest prayer, that He perfect whatever good thou dost begin, in order that He who hath been pleased to count us in the number of His children, need never be grieved at our evil deeds. For we ought at all times so to serve Him with the good things which He hath given us, that He may not, like an angry father, disinherit his children, nor, like a dread lord, enraged at our evil deeds, hand us over to everlasting punishment as most wicked servants, who would not follow Him to glory."

During the holidays it is not unusual for all of us to receive invitations to several parties thrown by friends, families, co-workers or even parishioners.  As an introvert I find myself entertaining a variety of emotions when invited to a large festive gathering.  They range from terror, anxiety, excitement, joy and terror...did I mention anxiety?  In the prologue to his rule, St. Benedict extends an invitation -- to those who are willing -- to live in community, but not just however they'd like.  Notice that right off the bat he is not concerned so much with how the individual might "feel" about the invitation, but rather points to the goal of accepting such an invite, namely, relationship with God. 

At the end of the day, Benedict's rule is about "returning."  Ever since the fall in Eden, humans have tried to find their way back to God.  We do this with our attempts at good works.  But for Benedict, obedience doesn't stem simply out of obligation, but instead out of love.  It is fitting that what ultimately draws us back to God is the very thing that we as humans long for the most...to be loved.  All that our heavenly Father wants is to love us, bless us and cherish us.  Yet we fight with all our might to reject it.  It's like the little boy that has a crush on a really cute girl.  And she's the type that  really loves to be the center of every one's attention. But the minute someone actually shows an interest, she pulls away, mocking and ridiculing the little boy. 

And notice that Benedict doesn't lay it at the feet of the monk to pour out a perfect love to Almighty God.  Instead, the monk is admonished to "beg of Him by most earnest prayer, that He perfect whatever good thou dost begin, in order that He who hath been pleased to count us in the number of His children, need never be grieved at our evil deeds."  All the good works that the monk and we ourselves are able to do originate in the one whom we desire to follow.  We are unable to earn the love of Christ in anything we do.  All that is required of us is to accept the invitation.  When we RSVP in the positive, we consent to do the will of the Father, which in turn empowers us to love as He first loved us.  It's like being invited to a party, and on the invitation, you're asked to bring a bottle of wine, but the host tells you what kind to bring; they even give you the money for it!  And when you arrive at the party and hand the host the wine, they thank you profusely as if it was all your idea.  May you and I find ourselves willing and able to accept Benedict's invitation to be a part of the greatest party ever thrown.  Amen.