The Discipline of Love

Discipline is this week’s topic in my class Reading the Bible with Benedict. Although we often have negative connotations of discipline relating to our dislike of being corrected and having limitations, discipline is essential to the good life because it helps us focus on our goals and achieve them, use our time wisely, and gain the freedom to be creative. However, it is discipline in love that Saint Benedict is concerned about in his Rule. He recognizes that the way of love “is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.” And what is the path of God’s commandments, as summarized by Jesus? “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Theologian Marcus Borg has noted that “Christianity is not about avoiding punishment or gaining reward. It is about loving God and loving what God loves. And what God loves is the whole of creation.” I can’t imagine the discipline it would take to love the whole of creation. However, when we make the effort to love whoever or whatever appears on our path each day, our hearts will expand, making the narrow path of this way of life easier to traverse.

When I lived in St. Louis, I cooked at the Catholic Worker house every third Thursday, and one year that date happened to fall on my birthday. It might seem like cooking for others on your birthday would be a burden, but when I walked in the door, I was met with a very squeaky rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” by a staff member who was learning to play the saxophone and the fiercest hug I have ever received when I told a young child we would be having macaroni and cheese for supper. I have forgotten how I have spent many of my 55 birthdays, but I have never forgotten that one—perhaps because that day my heart expanded with the inexpressible delight of love.

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement and a seasoned practitioner of the discipline of love, once offered the following prayer: “There is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, and to love our enemy as our friend.” It’s a good prayer for all disciples of the God of love.