I am basically a shy person, an introvert, so it’s always been a little puzzling to me that I made the decision almost twenty-four years ago to attend seminary and to prepare for a vocation that would place me in front of crowds and call me to speak in public. As I followed that calling, the path has taken a number of turns and detours, leading me to this point in my life, where I can look back on the places I have served and see that I really have spent about five years of that time in the parish with regular responsibilities for speaking before gatherings of people.

This meandering reflection comes to mind today in response to a reading from The Rule of St. Benedict on the role and responsibilities of the brother who serves the community as the “weekly reader.” This role fulfills the ancient responsibility for the community to hear some sort of edifying and inspirational text read aloud during communal meals. The particular passage in the reading that struck me is this:

After Mass and Communion, the one beginning the week should petition all to pray for him, that God might protect him from the spirit of pride. And let all recite this verse three time in the oratory, with the reader beginning it: Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise (RB 38:2-3).

Brother Terrence Kardong makes the observation in his commentary that the “spirit of pride (spiritum elationis) is the opposite of humility” (Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary, p. 314). To me this points to the danger or temptation inherent in stepping into a public and proclamatory role in the life of the Church, that I can be tempted to believe that the spotlight shines on me and not on the message that God has called me to share.

When I have the occasion to preach, I try to be mindful of the extent to which my homilies refer to my own story and draw attention to me, rather than in pointing out and leading listeners to watch and to listen for God’s actions and messages. It’s a balancing act, as the danger on the one hand is to bend the task of preaching in ways sometime subtle that feed that spiritum elationis, while on the other hand remembering the insight from Henri Nouwen that part of the efficacy of one’s ministry is sharing the personal journey of doubt and faith.

St. Benedict wisely provides an insight and a practice that helps. He says that when the reader is beginning his task for the week, the community gathers in the oratory (literally the “prayer-room”) and the reader leads the community in a three-fold petition and confession of trust taken from Psalm 50:17: “Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise” (RB 38:3). This reminds me that the purpose of my words is to proclaim God’s praise, to be a medium for his message turning our thoughts and hearts to his promises and challenges that reveal his will for us to live in peace with him and his people.

Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus.