The sixth degree of humility is that a monk be content with the poorest and worst of everything, and that in every occupation assigned him he consider himself a bad and worthless workman, saying with the Prophet,"I am brought to nothing and I am without understanding; I have become as a beast of burden before You, and I am always with You" (Ps:22-23).

The contemporary cult of self-esteem does not well-conform with the Rule. Even our modern understanding of fairness is threatened.

What do I deserve? What have I earned? These are not, according to Benedict, helpful questions.

Near the end of his life Thomas Aquinas suddenly ended his extraordinary intellectual production. He told a colleague, "All that I have written now seems so much straw!"

It seems to me that we should do what we can and to do it as well as we are able. There is value even in straw.

But we should not mistake our straw for God's gold.