The first one deals with the awakening to the fact that we have in us our self will. That everything that arises from our heart is not really good for us if we obey it. Self-will is self-centeredness and destructive. So Smiragnus already simply said the people who live by self-will are people who sleep when they want to and as long as they want to, and they talk to whomever they want to whenever they want to and they eat and taste only what is pleasing to them. In other words they are always pursuing some type of self satisfaction. It is destructive. We can see that it=s possible that you can live in the monastery and apparently be obedient and not free. Whereas on this level if you begin to really deal with your self-will then you begin to grow in freedom. True freedom means that things don=t run you, you direct them and hopefully you are directing them in the Lord and toward the Lord. This is the key question when it comes to growing in the possibility of having joy, which is more amplified in chapter 49 where St. Benedict talks of Lent but already it=s in Chapter 5.

            The second one is that you realize that God called you to this life therefore it took a lot of work on God=s part and God has a plan for you, therefore, you are more open and you listen. You follow the guidance of God=s plan for you which makes you more open to the community, more harmonious and hopefully less grumbling, and going more with the plan God has for you and the community. This is an ongoing life effort but it still fundamental

            The third is to imitate Jesus. To imitate doesn=t mean to just copy Jesus.  It means to let Jesus live in you. To be Jesus. Jesus in the mind of St. Benedict is supposed to be obedient until death, even death on the cross. St. Benedict made sure we understood that all these things were to be done by love. By changing the Master=s third degree by saying, AIt=s to be done out of love.@ Before that he says, AWe are supposed to prefer Christ before all things.@ Love is supposed to be dominant in all these three acts. If they become a state then they have different degrees of fruitfulness. If the first makes us more free and the second make us more harmonious, and begins to expand our service to the Lord in his kingdom the third is the most fruitful because when the Lord can look upon us in this monastery and say, AI can count on Nicholas, I can count on Michael, I can count on Richard@. That means that the Father looks upon us with love and blessings. He wants to honor His son. So He will bless us. It is especially with the third level that we really bring fruitfulness to the monastery, the one thing that we worry about and that is vocations. This is what makes vocations happen. So we all have a responsibility to be obedient. That obedience covers these three areas in degrees and intensity until it becomes part of our whole way of life. Then we will be very fruitful.

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