for your reflection

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The Sisters of the Good Samaritan offer you a simple reflection starter on a current Benedictine Good Samaritan Book.   Currently it is Sr Joan Chittister’s book, Twelve Steps to Inner Freedom: Humility Revisited. 

Each month FOR YOUR REFLECTION will pose some questions based on a chapter of the book. The reflection starters may assist you in your personal reflection and prayer or may provide a resource for some local small group sharing and reflection.

 

Chapter 4 – Shedding False Images
Spend some time reflectively reading chapter 4 Shedding False Images. As you read, notice any words or phrases that connect with your experience, surprised you or raised a question for you?  The following questions may help you explore more deeply what the text is saying to you in your daily life.
Joan states that accepting ourselves may be the hardest thing (p 40) we have to do in life. Who or what has helped you grow in true and honest self acceptance?

  • In order to grow, self-disclosure and interaction with others are imperative (p.41). Can you recall a time in your life when self disclosure to a trusted other freed you to be your best self (p.42)? What was this like for you?
  • Reflecting on your life journey, what have you learnt from your imperfections about essentials, about possibilities, about the gentle side of life (p.43)?
  • Who are some of the wisdom figures (p.43) who have given you life?
  • Spend a few moments focusing on the riches the present holds (p.44) for you and give thanks to God and those who come to mind?
  • As you review your life, what things clutter your soul and tie you down to the lesser things in life (p.45)?
  • What can you personally do to live the sixth degree of humility more intently by fostering the virtues of beauty, simplicity, sufficiency and the just distribution of goods (p.47). at this stage of your life journey?
  • How will the insights from your reflection on this text impact on your own daily life?


Chapter 3 – When Power is Weakness - Print Copy
The following questions may help you explore more deeply what the text is saying to you in your daily life.
Spend some time reflectively reading chapter 3 When power is weakness. As you read, notice any words or phrases that connect with your experience, surprised you or raised a question for you?Name some of the wisdom, the gifts and the power of others (p.30) that have had a significant influence in shaping who you are today.

  • Who are some of the people who have mentored you from darkness to light, from the strange to the familiar, from the difficult to the practiced (p.31)? Share a significant life learning that you have gained from one of these people.
  • What are some of the resources buried within you (p.31) that have helped you function well in a personally difficult time?
  • Joan reminds her readers that the fourth degree of humility urges us to hold on, to not give up, to keep trying, until we finally learn the lesson of the moment (p.34). Recall an experience of persevering in a difficult time in your life. What lesson of the moment did you learn from the experience?
  • God is in the humanity of our lives (p.35). Reflect on and share something of your own experience of finding God in the humanity of your life.
  • How will the insights from this text impact on your own daily life?

 

Chapter 2 – Recognise the Presence of God - Accept the Will of God - Print Copy
The following questions may help you explore more deeply what the text is saying to you in your daily life.
Spend some time reflectively reading chapter 2 Recognise the Presence of God. Accept the Will of God. As you read, note any words or phrases that connect with your experience, surprised you or raised a question for you?

  • What is your understanding of humility as you commence reading Joan’s commentary on Benedict’s 12 steps of humility?
  • Joan describes a number of things that can control, give meaning and purpose to one’s entire life (p.20). Can you identify for yourself the things that control, give meaning and purpose to your life?
  • Humility is the quality of living life to the full, of dealing with reality …  (p.21)? What is your current reality?
  • How are you experiencing God as the grace, the energy, the creative moment (p.22) in your current reality?
  • What creates inner serenity (p.23) for you?
  • How will the insights from this text impact on your own daily life?

 

Chapter 1 – A Changing World - Print Copy
Spend some time reflectively reading chapter 1, A Changing World. As you read, note any words or phrases that connect with your experience, surprised you or raised a question for you. The following questions may help you explore more deeply what the text is saying to you in your daily life.

  • How would you describe your experience of the world you live in? Where do you find peace, feel serenity, take hope? (p.10)
  • What do you feel is the something missing in many lives? (p.10)
  • What, for you at this point in your life journey, do you hold as really valuable in life? (p.11)
  • What is your response to the statement What we have really lost is the sense of who we are and where we belong in the universe …?  (p.12)
  • Without looking ahead in the text, do Joan’s test on page 13. Then, read on and compare your response with Benedict’s steps of spiritual development described on page 15.  Recall some times of ‘active waiting’ in your life. What was this like for you? What do you notice?
  • How will the insights from this text impact on your own daily life?

 

bookpAST REFLECTION.
Sr Verna Holyhead’s book,
The Gift of St Benedict.