Spiritual Practice

Show humility and joy towards friend and stranger alike, and homage, obedience, and fealty towards every person.

  - Carthage, Rule (Irish, 7th century)

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

  - Romans 15.1, 2

Each of the various families of monasteries that came into being during the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD) had its own "rule" to guide members in their walk and service. The rule did not intend to be exhaustive. It focused only on primary duties and concerns.

Such as how members of the monastic community should relate to one another and to those beyond the community. Carthage made a point of emphasizing relationships based on humility, joy, service, and devotion. This was the example Christ had set, as Paul explained (Rom. 15.3), and it was by this example that they would glorify God among their neighbors.

This mattered a great deal to abbots like Carthage, because he understood, as did everyone else, that the monasteries were supposed to embody the highest form of Christian life and the deepest devotion to the cause of Christ and the Gospel. Not everyone could become a monk, but everyone in Ireland would have contacts with monks, and, when they did, abbots like Carthage wanted to make sure that contact was what it should be for God to receive glory.

So they governed their communities according to rule, and shaped the lives of their monks and their communities as living examples of what life in the resurrection power of Christ should be.

Carthage understood that all believers are to relate to one another, and to everyone else, on the basis of self-denial and for the sake of building others up in the goodness of the Lord. He could not reach every believer in Ireland, but he could affect the lives of those who voluntarily submitted themselves to his oversight and direction.

We can only manifest the glory of God to and change the lives of others one person, one situation at a time. If we make building others up the goal of all our relationships, we will be more likely to represent the resurrected Christ in all we do, and to create opportunities for glorifying God before the people in our lives.

You can live to please yourself, and you'll end up pleasing no one. Or you can live to please and serve others, and you'll please the Lord, and, most likely, those you seek deliberately to serve in His name.

What will this require of you today?

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

ReVision - Can we separate honor from duty?

Pastors' Fellowship - Pastors, join us online this month as we discuss dealing with temptation in our lives and the lives of those we serve. Click the link or send me an email for more information.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.