AUGUST 19, 2015

 

REFLECTION ON THE RULE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE: CHAPTER IV - Chastity and Fraternal Correction

 

After reading the rule of St. Augustine chapter IV, I came up on this idea on making a topic that would somehow express my reflection on this rule. For me, chapter IV, it is a call to simplicity. Under this topic that I made, there lay the two sub-topics that somehow help explaining the rule of St. Augustine particularly this chapter as a call to simplicity. These two sub-topics are 1.) Brotherly love and concern for others, and 2.) Fidelity to commitment. These two sub-topics will help in explaining living a simple life.

 

Living in this world that full of temptations, where the rising of may idealists people are present, the desire of possessing materials that are seductive to the eyes of the people, the line of thinking that says economic success is more important, the modern kind of life style of people, and the importance of morality and dignity of man, is not easy for man to safeguard. Especially when it pertains to sexuality, people now chose to be ignorant what is morally good and what is immoral. In fact, sexuality now is greatly abused of most people. Respect to the dignity of man is diminished because man is blinded with those things that I have mentioned above.

 

To be chaste, as what I have observed, is the greatest struggle of man now. Sometimes, what happened already is that, it became normal (sexual engagement) to society. As we can see in our society, even the little children are fully aware on of the sexual engagement. Being chaste is not any more important. What happened is being chaste, for the modern thinking of people now is not being with what they call it “USO”. Somehow man is inclined to participate or somehow triggers man to go with the flow or what they call it “pakikisabay sa uso”.

 

Thinking of this kind of way of life, fraternal correction, is being set aside. It is not that no one dares to correct the misconception or misunderstanding of human life now, but people tend to ignore the corrections. People tend to the judges of their own actions. People tend to be the judges of what is wrong and what is right, of what is moral and what is immoral. People tend to get used to what they see to this modern way of living.

 

That is why for me, chapter four, is really a call for us to simplicity. It is a call for all humanity to have a life that is simple. It is simply living a life without extent. It is only in simplicity, that all the good things arise. It is through simplicity that those capricious things of life can be overcome. For example, in the chapter IV, # 19, that says “there should be nothing about your clothing to attract attention. Besides, you should not seek to please by your apparel, but by a good life.” Living a life that is simple is living with contentment. Man does not desire for more but rather simply use the things or materials in his surroundings. It is simply the man who lives the possession he has. Man living in this kind of life is person does not live in illusion or a person who does not live in gaining praises for what he possesses or what he accumulated from the world.  But it is a person who lives who he is and what he is and the result of that is having a good life and simple life.

 

In living a simple life, man learns to value everything even the smallest thing. Man learns to value of belongingness. Man learns to value life of every individual. Lastly, man learns to appreciate the beauty of life and started to give respect to it.

 

The morality and dignity of man is given an emphasis by a person who lives in simplicity.  By this, man is now ready to show brotherly to his neighbors. Man expresses his love and respect to others. And through this kind of life, brotherly love and concern for others can now be observed. Since respect and love are in being brought out in man life, fraternal correction can be easily be accepted and respected.

 

The last sub-topic is the fidelity to commitment. This sub-topic somehow summarizes my reflections. As what I have said earlier, simple life is the root of all good things. It is where all good things outflow. in simple life style, brotherly love and concern for our  neighbors as well as faithfulness to a commitment arise. For me, fidelity or faithfulness is the fruit of having a simple life. Since man learns to live simple life, he has no longer have the tendency to look for what is not there, to long for more or to have a lot of desires in life. To seek for more is like cutting the thread that makes us stick to our commitment. Longing for more simply to forget our commitment or our covenant we made and replace it another. Just like in the song entitled too much love will kill, indeed too much in our life destroys us.