Safeguarding Love

The other day during morning prayer in the choir chapel, as we were singing the refrain “My heart will rejoice in your love,” a small flying insect fluttered by my prayer book and I instinctually reached out to crush it. Apparently my heart does not rejoice in God’s love for gnat-like creatures! Fortunately, I was able to check my violent response and allowed the insect to meander off to engage in its own form of prayer.

Interestingly, in our reading from the Rule of St. Benedict that same morning, in speaking of monastic life, St. Benedict said, “The good of all concerned … may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love” (Prologue, verse 47).

In a way, our entire life as Christians could be described as a call to safeguard love. Although self-discipline can be tedious, we need to keep a close eye on our impulses so we can learn to catch ourselves before we strike out with hurtful words or dismissive actions. Safeguarding love requires respect for all life God has created because in God’s great design, our interconnectedness with all things is what allows everything that has being to thrive. Disregarding or destroying that interconnectedness is to sabotage rather than safeguard the source of energy — God’s generative love — that sustains us.

Would the death of one insect in our choir chapel have greatly altered life on this planet? No — except for its contribution to my failure to safeguard love, which, if left unchecked, would have far greater consequences.