Trellis

 HOMILY NOTES

FR. TERRY RYAN, CSP

MARK 10: 2-16

OCTOBER 3, 2021

I have lived in a community of men since 1972.  I have never lived alone since that time.  The Rule of St. Benedict is helping me to make some shifts in my life, as I live it here in this monastery.  For many years I thought that I would be happier if the people with whom I lived would shape up and act the way they should in the house we shared.  My contentment was based upon their behavior at home.  I have come to realize that they are exactly the way they are supposed to be for me.  Why?  Because I am the one who is supposed to change.  Like what?  Like tolerance, compassion, acceptance, kindness,  non-judgment, being of service to them and maybe even love.  

I am supposed to live with people not so we all become the same, but that so we each become our best selves living in community.  Think of a trellis, an image given to me by someone.  The trellis is like the Rule of Benedict.  It holds us together.  But each vine works its way up the trellis as it grows.  Each vine is different but all connected to the trellis with a common root in Jesus Christ.  

Eve is equal to Adam but not the same as Adam.  They are supposed to become their best selves in the relationship of union.  They are not supposed to become the same as one another.  In Jesus’ time, men could be rid of their wives if the wife did not act the way the man wanted for his own happiness.  Jesus says no.  And he takes a child to himself to say that everyone is important and no one is inconsequential, or less than others.  Everyone gets a say.  No one is ignored.  No hierarchy.  

Let us be of service to one another’s growth and not our own ego, or program for happiness.