STUDY GUIDE ON THE
RULE OF ST BENEDICT
FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD
by
Maria-Thomas Beil O.S.B.
© 2012 Abbey of St. Walburga
1029 Benedictine Way, Virginia Dale, CO 80536 970-472-0612
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STUDY GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
The Rule of St. Benedict is a classical spiritual document of the sixth century. We assume
it has been written by St. Benedict (480 – 547) for his community of monks at his Monastery at
Montecassino, Italy which became the cradle of Western monasticism. Although it depends
heavily on an earlier document, called the Rule of the Master (RM), Benedict has edited it
freely, abbreviated, complemented and changed it according to his own taste and purpose.
Ever since, it has served innumerable monks and nuns as guide for their monastic quest for God
in community. Since the 13th century, lay Christians have chosen this Rule for their own spiritual
journey. Many of these have associated themselves as Oblates with a particular monastery and
have lived according to the Rule’s spiritual principles.
This Study Guide is written mainly for persons in formation to become Oblates and their
sponsors, as well as for all who have already made their oblation and are interested in
continuing their spiritual journey through a further study of the Rule either by themselves or in
groups. Throughout this Study Guide I am using “RB 1980, The Rule of St. Benedict In Latin and
English with Notes”. Editor, Timothy Fry, OSB, Collegeville, MN, 1981.
The biblical quotations are taken from the NAB.
Although the content of this book follows the order of the Rule from Prologue to the
end, the individual chapters are independent of each other, each offering one or more themes
that are found in or can be derived from a particular chapter. Therefore, individual parts of this
study guide can be selected at any time, according to the interest of an individual or a group.
For the formation of Oblate Novices, it is also not necessary that the whole book has to
be worked through before one is ready for Final Oblation. Some chapters are more important
than others. As aid for the selection of the most essential chapters the following questions may
be asked: Which chapters in the Benedictine Rule are formative for the life of a Christian in the
world? And: What are the characteristics that distinguish a Benedictine oblate from a regular
devout lay Christian or from a member of a Third Order of Franciscans or Carmelites?
The remaining chapters can serve as complementary and additional themes, especially for
groups who have already worked through the first edition of this work, then called: Curriculum.
The questions within the text, marked with Q 1, 2 etc.. are also meant as choices, to be selected
according to the intensity of study, the time frame, and particular interest.
This Study Guide is the second, extended edition of the first edition of the original
“curriculum” that had been offered as a provisional aid for groups and sponsors who saw
themselves in the role of a guide into Benedictine spirituality and needed some study and
discussion material.
I present here a first part of a Study Guide and intend to continue the work through the
whole Rule with God’s help.
I want to express my gratitude to Angelique Herran who helped me with the layout of this book
and to all friends and oblates who encouraged me through their eagerness to study the
Benedictine Rule and through their appreciation of the Oblate program.
Virginia Dale, Colorado, Abbey of St. Walburga, June 2012,
Maria-Thomas Beil OSB
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STUDY GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
STUDY GUIDE ON THE
RULE OF ST BENEDICT
FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD
by
Maria-Thomas Beil O.S.B.
© 2012 Abbey of St. Walburga
1029 Benedictine Way, Virginia Dale, CO 80536 970-472-0612
TABLE OF CONTENT
Preface
TABLE OF CONTENT
I
II
Part One:
Themes Gleaned from the Prologue
Prologue I: BENEDICTINES IN SEARCH FOR GOD
1
1. What does “ Seeking God” Mean?
2. St. Benedict begins His Search for God.
3. Benedict’s First Attempt to Find God
4. Benedict’s God-Image
5. Search For God’s Word In Scripture
6. Does God Want to be Sought?
7. Seeking God In Our Own Lives
8. Your Own God- Image.
Prologue II: THE ART OF LISTENING
1.Good Listening
2. Listening in the Rule
3. Biblical Examples of Listening
4. The Art of Listening in Daily Life:
5. Prayer
6. For Personal Reflection
5
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Prologue III: THE ONGOING NEED FOR CONVERSION
INTRODUCTION
8
1. Meaning of Conversion
2. Conversion in Scripture
3. Conversion as Psychological Growth toward Maturity
4. Conversion in St. Benedict’s Rule
5. the Beginning of Conversion
6. Various Conversion Experiences
7. Means of Conversion
8. Repentance
9. Prayer
10. Personal Reflection.
Prologue IV: SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT
12
A: Creating a Peaceful Environment
1. Peace – Dream or Task?
2. St. Benedict’s Recommendations for Creating a Peaceful Environment.
3. Biblical Examples
B: Peace of Heart
1. Retaining Inner Peace
2. Prayer for Peace
3. Personal Reflection
Prologue V: A SCHOOL OF THE LORD’S SERVICE
15
1. Comparison between St. Benedict’s Rule and the Rule of the Master.
2. St. Benedict’s Own Text Inserted into the Master’s Prologue
3. The Monastery as a Place of Learning
4. Military Service in Community
5. Regularity as Means of Training
Prologue VI: MAPS OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
1. The Universal Call to Holiness
2. The Journey to God in St. Benedict’s Prologue
3. Steps on the Way to Perfection
a) The Spiritual Ladder.
b) The Cleansing of the Heart (Evagrius Ponticus)
c) Uprooting Vices from our Soul (John Cassian)
d) The Spiritual Combat in St. Benedict’s Rule
4) Biblical View
5) Personal Reflection.
19
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STUDY GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Part Two: Rule Chapters 1 – 3:
FORMS OF MONASTICISM AND GOVERNMENT
RB CH 1 A: Various Kinds of Monks
24
1. Monastic Terms Today:
2. Concise History of a Monastery in the US
3. St. Benedict’s Experience of Monks
4. Biblical Parallels
RB CH 1 B: The Meaning of Solitude
27
1. Biblical Examples
2. Monastics in the Desert
3. St. Benedict’s View of Hermit Monks
4. Temporary Desert Experiences for Spiritual Growth
5. Realizing Opportunities for Solitude in our Daily Lives
6. Personal Reflection
RB CH 1 C: Community
33
1. Reasons for Living in Community:
2. No One is an Island
3. St. Benedict’s View of Community
4. St. Basil’s View
5. Community is a Gift and a Never-ending Task
RB CH 2 : Abbot
37
1. Forms of Leadership
2. Roles of the Abbot in Benedict’s Rule
3. Personal Reflection
4. Prayer.
RB CH 3:
CALLING FOR COUNSEL
44
Part Three: Rule Chapters 4 – 7:
TOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING
RB CH 4 A: The Instruments of the Spiritual Art
1. Commandments – Regulations – Recommendations?
2. Simplifying and Bringing Order
3. Being Instruments for One Another
4. Living a Holy Life in Every Day Circumstances
46
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RB CH 4 B: Stability
INTRODUCTION
49
1. Levels of Meaning
2. Stability / Instability in the Rule
3. Benedictine Stability
a) Stability of Place
aa) Stability to One’s Place of Residence
ab) Enclosure: Place of Privacy and / Restriction.
b) Stability in Community (Monastic Family) / Abbey
c) Stability in the Monastic Life
4. Commitment
5. God’s Fidelity to Us.
6. Stability as Character Trait
7. Psychological Need for Stability.
RB CH 4 C: A Life of Balance
55
I. Between Stability and Openness To Change (Flexibility)
1. Psychological Aspects
2. The Need for Discernment
II. Christian Life includes Polarity
1. Opposites Need to be Balanced
2. For Personal Reflection.
RB CH 5 Obedience
I. Obedience in the Rule
1. Motives of Obedience
2. Attributes of Benedictine Obedience
3. Obedience as Indicator of Other Virtues
II. The Nature of Obedience in a Lay Christian and in a Monk
1. Difference in Extent
2. Areas of Obedience to God’s Will
III. Biblical View of Obedience to God
1. Obedience in the Old Testament
2. Obedience in the New Testament
IV. The Cross of Obedience
1. In Matters Above our Understanding
2. Obedience to Other Human Beings
3. Obedience in ‘Impossible Situations” – RB Chapter 68
4. Obedience versus Human Freedom and Dignity
V. The Blessing of Obedience
59
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STUDY GUIDE
RB CH 6 Silence
INTRODUCTION
67
1. Silence, Desired or Feared?
2. Silence in the Rule
3. Silence in the Bible
4. Silence, a Fruit of the Heart
5. Prayer of Silence
RB CH 7 Humility
70
1. What is Humility?
2. Humility in St. Benedict’s Concept
3. The Twelve Steps of Humility
4. The Fruit of Humility
5. St. Benedict’s Chapter on Humility for our Personal Reflection
PART IV: MONASTIC PRAYER
RB CHAPTER 8 – 20 and others
I. On Monastic Prayer
1. Various Types of Prayer throughout the Monastic Day
2. Prayer of the Desert Monks
3. Liturgical Prayer in St. Benedict’s Rule
4. Forms of Prayer (Summary)
5. Reflection
80
II. The Liturgy of the Hours
1. Nature and Meaning of the Liturgy of the Hours
2. The Pre-eminence of the Liturgy of the Hours
3. The Liturgical Calendar
4. the Liturgy of the Hours for Oblates
84
III. The Psalms
87
1. Various Kinds of Psalms
2. The Psalms as Poetry
3. The Psalms as Religious Poems
4. Certain Characteristics of the Psalms
5. How to Pray the Psalms
IV. Spiritual Reading
1. Reading in St. Benedict’s Rule
2. Reading a Spiritual Book
3. Spiritual Classics
4. Various Modes of Reading
95
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INTRODUCTION
5. For Reflection
6. Prayer.
PART V: MONKS AND MATERIAL GOODS
RB CHAPTER 31, 33-34 and others
I. Ownership
100
1. Rich and Poor in the Bible
2. Renunciation of Material Goods in later History
3. St. Benedict’s Concept of Ownership
4. Spiritual Benefits Gained from Detachment
5. Call to Responsible Stewardship
6. Prayer of Abandonment
II. The Art of Stewardship or “Stress Management”
106
Chapter 31: The Monastic Cellarer
1. The Cellarer in the Benedictine Rule
2. Assignments in Today’s Monasteries
3. The Monastery is the House of God
4. Beware of Grumbling
5. Beware of Pride
6. Beware of Perfectionism
III. The Work of the Monks
110
1. Popular Misconceptions of Work
2. Tasks in a Benedictine Community
3. Principles Governing Monastic Work
4. St. Benedict’s Concept of Labor
5. Work Ethics
6. Work Even After Chores are Done
7. Our Work for the Glorification of God
IV. Involvement or Detachment?
1. The Christian in Relation to this Word
2. Views of the Bible
3. Extreme Positions in the History of Monasticism
4. Attempts to Combine Opposites
5. For Your Reflection
119
Part I
Themes Gleaned
from the Prologue
I
„
„
„
„
„
„
Prologue I: BENEDICTINES IN SEARCH FOR GOD
Prologue II: THE ART OF LISTENING
Prologue III: THE ONGOING NEED FOR CONVERSION
Prologue IV: SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT
Prologue V: A SCHOOL OF THE LORD'S SERVICE
Prologue VI: MAPS OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Part I
St. Benedict, (480 – 537) is the founder of the Benedictine order and author of the Benedictine Rule (RB);
Relief hanging in the Abbey’s Statio Hall, created by Mother M. Concordia Scott, OSB, St. Mildred’s
Priory, Minster , England.
STUDY GUIDE
1
THE PROLOGUE
PROLOGUE
I.
BENEDICTINES IN SEARCH FOR GOD
“The concern must be whether the newcomer truly seeks God” RB 58: 7
1. What does “ Seeking God” Mean?
Benedictines are said to be seekers of God. This can mean many things:
They wish to have a vibrant relationship with God in their daily lives.
They want to find God in all their encounters, their words and deeds, in all events of
their lives, thus giving Him constantly praise and devoting their lives to His service.
They desire to know God better and to do His will in order to please Him.
They strive to purify themselves of evil and selfishness, in order to cling to God in an
ever closer friendship; for they have come to understand that this alone can satisfy their
hearts, according to St. Augustine’s famous word: “You have made us for yourself, O
God, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” 1
Thus they hope to experience God as present already in this life, even if this means, they
have to set aside or give less importance to other values and goals, in order to live for
and in Him.
This search for God has its goal not only people’s own happiness, but an inner urge to
worship the One who is our Creator and is greater than everything else to which we can
dedicate our lives.
2. St. Benedict begins His Search for God
St. Benedict was such a God-seeker from his early youth. We can know of his life
only through an ancient biography attributed to Pope Gregory the Great. His “Second
Book of Dialogues” has been dedicated wholly to St. Benedict. This book has become a
spiritual classic, since it does not only tells us Benedict’s life in dialogue form, as was a
customary literary genre of the time, but after each chapter the author gives us a
spiritual reflection on what was said before about the life and character of the saint.
“Some years ago there lived a man who was revered for the holiness of his life. Blessed
Benedict was his name, and he was blessed also with God’s grace. During his boyhood he
showed mature understanding, and a strength of character far beyond his years kept his
heart detached from every pleasure. Even while living in the world, free to enjoy all it
had to offer, he saw how empty it was and turned from it without regret.
He was born in Norcia of distinguished parents, who sent him to Rome for a liberal
education. When he found many of the students there abandoning themselves to vice,
he decided to withdraw from the world he had been preparing to enter; for he was
afraid that if he acquired any of its learning he would be drawn down with them to his
eternal ruin. In his desire to please God alone, he turned his back on further studies, gave
up home and inheritance and resolved to embrace the religious life. He took this step,
fully aware of his ignorance; yet he was truly wise, uneducated though he may have
been.“ 2
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2
THE PROLOGUE
3. Benedict’s First Attempt To Find God
The Book of Dialogues tells us how the young monk sought to find God in
solitude: First he allowed his nurse to accompany him and lived nearby at a small
Church. But when the people saw his fervor and even a miracle that God worked upon
his prayer, they were full of admiration for the “holiness Benedict had acquired at the
very outset of his monastic life… Benedict, however, preferred to suffer ill-treatment
from the world rather than enjoy its praises. He wanted to spend himself laboring for
God, not to be honored by the applause of men. So he stole away secretly from his nurse
and fled to a lonely wilderness about thirty-five miles from Rome called Subiaco.” 3
(Q = Question or Study Topic)
Q.1 How does the author describe Benedict’s character in the texts above?
Q.2: What did Benedict hope to gain when he “dropped out of school”?
Q.3 Why did Benedict choose solitude rather than just return home or go someplace
else?
Q.4: How did Benedict imagine to find God in his new way of life?
4. Benedict’s God-Image:
How does Benedict describe “God” in his Rule?
Often he speaks of “God” or “Divine …”: (in Latin: “Deus”, or “Divinus)
Q.5 Look up the phrases in Prol.9; 16: 20; 38; (if available, look in the full RB80 for the
equivalent Latin word.)
Most often Benedict speaks of “the Lord”, (Dominus)
Q.6 Find: Prol 3; 7; 12; 14; 19; 20; 23; 24.
Here, for Benedict, He is One God; not one of the Three Persons in the Hl. Trinity,
especially in quotes of the Old Testament.
Q 7 Read slowly through the Prologue and pay attention to the words: God, the Lord, or
Divine; see whether you can determine one particular of the Divine Persons. )
In other places Benedict definitely makes a distinction between Father, Christ and Spirit.
a) Benedict sees God as Father:
Q.8: Look up: Prol.5 – 6; 12; 2:3; 7:10
Or as Creator:
Q.9: Find the phrases in 16:5; 73: 4
b) Benedict mentions also the Holy Spirit:
Q.10: Look in Prol 11; 7:70; 49:6
c) Most often, however, Benedict refers to God as Christ
Q. 11 See: Prol. 3; 14; 21; 28; 32-34, 50;
(Q.12: Find more examples in the “Classified Reference Resource” in the full
STUDY GUIDE
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THE PROLOGUE
RB80 pg. 502; look up these references to Christ in the text of the Rule)
Q.13: Comparing the number of references: What can you tell about Benedict’s
relationship to “God”? Who is this “God” for Benedict?
Q:14: Under what image (s) does Benedict see Jesus Christ?
Q.15: There are two themes recurring over and over again in conjunction with
Benedict’s image of God:
a) One that God is present:
Q 16: Look up: 5: 14 – 19; 7: 10 –30; and 19: 1 – 7;
b) Another theme is that we go to God:
Q 17: Prol. 2; 13; 20 –24; 41 – 44; 48 –49. RB 58:8; 72:11; 73: 4; 73:8 –9.
Q 18: Can you reconcile these two seemingly contrasting statements?
Q.19: Besides, there is continual communication going on between God and the
individual.
Q 20: See: Prologue 4; 9 – 21; 22 – 35; 39 – 41; How does this communication come
about?
Benedict mentions the “search for God” expressly in the context of a newcomer:
Q.21: Read 58: 7-8. Explain how “eagerness for the work of God, for obedience and for
trials” can be interpreted as a search for God.
Q. 22: Why should “hardships and difficulties” lead to God ? (58: 8 )
Q.23:: Is this the full picture? Compare with Prologue 19 – 21; Prologue 49;
and 7: 67 – 70.
Q.24: Could you say, whether Benedict’s relationship with God is more dominated by
love or by fear? And his way to God is marked by endurance of hardships, rather than by
desire for God? Or perhaps both sides need to balance each other?
STUDY GUIDE
4
THE PROLOGUE
5. Search For God’s Word In Scripture
Benedict has absorbed Scripture through his constant practice of Lectio Divina
and reflection. Thus the Word of God has penetrated his whole thinking and writing. He
is quite free in quoting and applying God’s Word to a particular situation and the
individual seeker, to situations of his time and for all times. The Scriptures seem for him
an inexhaustible source of God’s communication to the individual person.
Q.25 Notice the use of the words: “We” and “us” in Prologue 35 – 44. What does this
indicate?
For Benedict, God is a living Person who loves us, speaks to us, shows great
concern for our salvation, helps us on our way, as He is also grieved and disappointed
when we fail to heed His invitation.
Our appropriate response should be gratitude, obedience, reverence and love.
6. Does God Want to be Sought?
Q.26 Look up: Psalms. 14:2; 24: 6; 27: 4-6; 63: 1-8; 73: 25 -28; Jeremiah. 29:11-14; .
Q.27: Tell of incidents in Jesus’ life, where people kept seeking him, and he let himself
be found.
Q.28: Sometimes, he was not satisfied with their motivation. See John 6: 14; 26-27.
7. Seeking God In Our Own Lives:
Q. 29 Often people who seek for God are in need. They seek His help, His healing power,
His peace, His consolation, His forgiveness, His protection. Do you think that this is
justified? Could there be other reasons to seek God?
More than God’s gifts, we will gradually come to seek the Giver Himself;
Q.30 Many people have trouble today with seeing in God their Father. What might be
their reason?
Q.31: When God is already present everywhere, why does He need to be sought?
Q.32: Can you remember situations when you needed God most urgently in your life?
Q. 33: What do theologians mean when they call God the most fascinating and most
tremendous or awe-inspiring mystery?
Q. 34: Can you comment on the phrase of John’s letter: “God is greater than our
hearts.” ? (1 John 3: 20).
Q. 35: Is God only greater than our hearts?
St. Benedict has had a similar experience at the end of his life: The Book of the Dialogues
tells us:
St. Walburga (710 – 770/71?) throughout her life, she listened obediently to God’s call: from the English cloister to St.
Boniface’ mission field in Germany, to the position of abbess at
a double monastery, to the need of many people in illness
and distress. Bronze Statue in front of the Abbey building, designed by Dolores Toscano, Denver; donated by George and
STUDY GUIDE
5
THE PROLOGUE
“ Long before the night office began, the man of God was standing at his window, where
he watched and prayed while the rest were still asleep. In the dead of the night, he
suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above more brilliant than the sun,
and with it every trace of darkness cleared away. Another remarkable sight followed.
According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes in
what appeared to be a single ray of light. …” 4
Q.: 36 How would you interpret this vision?
8. Your Own God -Image:
Q.37: When you hear the word “God”, do you think of Him as Person, as Father,
(parent), or Christ, or the Spirit? Or is God for you a Higher Power, the Unfathomable
Mystery, The Source of all Being, or … ?
Q. 38: Do you relate to God in fear, in love, in adoration, or as friend, as your Lord, as
teacher, as Most Desired One, or….. ?
Q.39 Do you seek God “out there somewhere” or “high above” or “within your deepest
self”, or..?
Q 40 Has your image of God changed in the course of time?
Closing Prayer: Psalm 63
II. THE ART OF LISTENING:
“Speak, Lord, your Servant is Listening”
(1 Sam. 3:10)
1. Good Listening
Our world is filled with noise: at home – in the streets – in the work place – in stores
– everywhere. Some sounds we perceive as pleasant and lovely; some as disturbing;
others as important and meaningful; most of them as irrelevant. We can’t possibly pay
attention to all the noise that hits our ears all day long. Therefore, we select in order to
perceive correctly important sounds we want to hear; others we just block out from our
consciousness.
In intense listening, we stop the flow of our thoughts, direct our attention to our
ears, and keep the mind fixed on the sound, in order not to miss any details.
Then our mind begins to work, to interpret the sound, to perceive its message, and to
come to a full understanding.
There is another kind of listening, e.g. when we encounter pleasant sounds, like
music, a bird’s songs, the rustling of leaves, the rushing of a water fall. We stop, or sit
still, open ourselves up, in order to take in this lovely impression, without focusing our
STUDY GUIDE
6
THE PROLOGUE
mind on anything particular. We just abandon ourselves to the pleasant sound, let our
feelings flow freely, and simply savor the present moment. We listen with our heart.
Humans are made for communication, with other people, with God. Our
language is a great treasure and privilege. It helps us to express in words what is hidden
in our minds and our hearts. Although we often speak out loud to ourselves, for it helps
to clarify and organize our thoughts, it is not fully satisfying communication. We need
other human beings to pereceive with intelligence and love what we want to express.
And we want to hear what they have to say. Proper communication effects union of
minds and hearts, gives us new ideas and thus generates energy. Loneliness, isolation, in
contrast, is often perceived as painful, a heavy cross in life..
Communication however is a two-way street: As we become aware of our desire
to express ourselves, and the satisfaction we derive from encountering a good listener,
we must infer that our spouse, our child, our neighbor have the same need. It is
important, not only to learn how to express oneself adequately, but also to perceive
properly what others wish to tell us.
Good listening is not only for the benefit of the speaking person; the listener
himself derives great advantage: When we listen with attention and compassion, we
stop our own flow of thought, become empty, silent, forget ourselves, and open us up
to someone else. Thus we become enriched by new thoughts and ideas. True listening,
however, requires time and effort to keep one’s attention fixed for a longer period. It
needs patience and humility, besides appreciation of the other person and what he or
she is to say. It is a service of love, mutual enrichment and at the same time frees us
from our own self-centeredness and imprisonment within the walls of our own self. .
What a privilege it is that we can also freely speak to God, and can believe that
God is always willing to listen to us! What a greater blessing to know that God even
deigns to speak to us! God is Love, that means, He is total self-communication. Are we
good listeners?
2. Listening in the Rule:
Vs. 1 “Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the
ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully
put it into practice”;
a) What does “Listen” mean for St. Benedict?
Q.1: Reflect on the kind of listening that this passage above expresses. (Describe the
meaning of the words in bold-face.)
Q.2: Look up additional phrases on listening in the Prologue: Verses; 8-12, 14 - 20; 24
- 27; 33 – 35; 39-40; 50. What do these additional verses repeat? Do they add something?
b) Q.3: Who is the initial speaker in the Prologue? How does he identify himself?
Q.4: How many speakers are there actually in the whole Prologue?
Q.5: How many listeners?
c) Q. 6: Is the listener a newcomer to the monastery? What would suggest that?
Q. 7 How does Benedict describe the candidate before his entrance?
STUDY GUIDE
7
THE PROLOGUE
Q. 8: Find the various dialogues in the text of the Prologue.
Q. 9: What is for Benedict the goal of the Rule ?
d) The Prologue could also be thought of as an exhortation addressed to a Professed
member
or even the community as a whole.
Q. 10: What would be the reason (s) for such assumptions?
Look at the switch in the persons of the speaker and the listener (s) from verse 1-2 to 3
to 5 – 13; 14 –18; 45 – 50;
e) Benedict’s Prologue quotes almost literally the last part of the much longer Prologue
in the Rule of the Master, (RM) a document that has strong baptismal themes and a
commentary on the ‘Our Father’ in it. This older text could also have been designed for
the Instruction of Catechumens at the Initiation into the Christian Church.
Q. 11: Select themes in the Rule of the Master that can well be applied to all Christians,
not only to monks and nuns.
3. Biblical Examples of Listening
Listening – hearing – heeding – understanding are major issues in the Bible:
Q. 12: Show how already in Genesis 2: 15 – 17; and Genesis 3, the tragedy of human sin
was caused by insufficient and wrong listening.
Q. 13: Read 1 Samuel chapter 3 in order to understand the importance of listening to
the voice of God, even if it conveys an unpleasant message.
Q. 14: Find Parallels between Proverbs 1:8; 4:1,10,20; 6:20, and Psalms 34:11; and the
Prologue of the Rule. Given St. Benedict’s love and knowledge of Scripture, we might
well think that these texts inspired the beginning of the Rule.
Q. 15: Hearing – understanding - believing – obeying are repeated calls of the prophets
in ancient Israel: See especially Is 1:10 - 20; Find parallels to the Prologue.
Q. 16: This theme has been continued in the New Testament. Mt. 13: 10 – 17; John 10:
22 – 30.
Why do these people whom Jesus addressed did not want to listen?
Q. 17: Listening in the Bible shows also willingness to become disciples.
Illustrate this fact with an example of the call of any of Jesus’ disciples.
4. The Art of Listening in Daily Life:
Our society claims that the art of listening is getting lost: On the jacket of the book: “Are
you really listening?”, by Paul Donoghue, we can read: “Half of the population – parents,
wives,
bosses – complains that the other half isn’t listening. Meanwhile children, husbands, and
employees argue that they aren’t being heard either.” 5
STUDY GUIDE
8
THE PROLOGUE
Discussion:
Q. 18: What might be the reason why people seem not to listen to each other?
Q. 19: What does it take to become a good listener?
Q. 20: List jobs or rofessions where attentive and patient listening is especially
necessary.
Q. 21: What is meant by non-verbal expression? People say it makes 75% of our
communication.
Q. 22: Spiritual writers recommend that in our Lectio Divina, we read the Word of God
out loud, or half-loud. The same is said about reading poetry. Why should this kind of
reading be more effective?
5. Prayer:
In Psalm 17 we ask God to listen to us in our temptation and our struggle with evil.
6. For Personal Reflection:
Q. 23: Where can we hear God speaking?
Q. 24: Why is it often so hard to know God’s will?
Q. 25: Which are the occasions when you catch yourself as “hearing, but not listening”?
Q. 26: Do you remember the names of people five minutes after they have been
introduced to
you? What can you do to improve this situation?
Q. 27 Do you catch yourself following your own thoughts, or thinking of your responses,
while
another person is speaking to you?
Q. 28 Can you tolerate continual noise around you, while still focusing on your tasks and
thoughts? Do you judge this as a positive or a negative trait?
Q. 29 What do you do with those free moments in your life, while waiting, walking, or
driving,
when no one is talking to you?
Q. 30: How long can you listen to other people without interrupting them?
Q. 31: How do you listen to music? What kind of music do you like best? Why?
III. THE ONGOING NEED FOR CONVERSION
Read: Jeremiah 3:12-13
1. Meaning of Conversion:
The word Conversion (etym.: con = with ; vertere, versus = turning around)
means: turning away from a former way of life that had been either sinful, or felt as
restrictive, meaningless, and unfulfilling toward a new existence in reconciliation with
God. This turning point can occur once in a life-time when God’s grace suddenly “hits”
us (as happened to Saul of Tarsus,), or it can be the result of a long search, (as was the
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case with St. Augustine). In both examples, there is a change of direction, and a new
beginning.
Most often, however, repeated and ongoing conversion is necessary throughout one’s
life.
(Note that the word “conversion” is mostly used in the passive form: One does not
convert himself, it takes another one, -- mostly the grace of God--, to come to
conversion, to be converted!)
Traditionally, entrance into the monastery was considered as such a conversion,
(Actually, Benedict uses the term “conversio” as equivalent to “way of life” or “entrance
into the monastic life). But this process has only begun with the candidate’s entering a
monastery. At his profession the novice makes a threefold promise of “stability, fidelity
to monastic life, and obedience” (RB 58:17) (The English version “fidelity to monastic
life” is a free translation from the Latin original: “conversion of manners”.) All fidelity,
however, means being faithful for life, otherwise, we could not speak of fidelity. And
besides, it belongs also to the charism of monasticism that a faithful monk throughout
his life strives for ongoing progress and spiritual growth, that is for continuing
conversion.
2. Conversion in Scripture:
Conversion is a key issue in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as in the New Testament.
In every book of the Bible, we hear that God had to call His people back to Himself,
when they had gone astray; especially when they turned to idolatry and forgot the
covenant with Yahweh. Over and over again the prophets had to speak God’s stern
warnings against social injustice, cruelty to the poor, to widows and orphans, against
cheating and usury.
In the New Testament, John the Baptist continues this warning against the selfrighteousness of religious leaders, and demanded true repentance.
Jesus took up the same theme in his preaching and teaching: “Repent, for the Kingdom
of God is near.”
In the Gospel of Matthew, this conversion meant a turning from superficial, routine
practices to sincere devotion of the heart. (Cf. the Sermon on the Mount)
In Mark, conversion consists in faith in Jesus as the Son of God; even in his suffering and
death. (See: Mark 15:30)
In Luke, it is a sharing in the joy over the conversion of sinners and gentiles ((Luke 5 and
15; Acts: 10: 44 – 48).
Ongoing conversion means for us is to continually grow in our spiritual life, deepen our
faith and trust, and widen our narrow hearts to receive God’s love that includes all
people. Thus we will gradually be formed, reformed and transformed, in conformity to
God’s heart.
Q.1: Read Luke 5: 27 – 39: The Call of Levi, and Jesus’ mission:
Q.2 Show how his conversion was accompanied by joy and hope.
Q.3: What do the parables of the patched cloak and the old and new wineskins tell
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us about Jesus’ idea of conversion?
3. Conversion as Psychological Growth toward Maturity:
Bernard Lonergan in his book: “The Desire of the Human Heart” shows that conversion
is also a matter of psychological growth toward maturity:
He speaks of
An intellectual conversion: To push our concept of reality beyond the level of mere
sense perception unto a wider understanding of spiritual and metaphysical matters.
A moral conversion: To move from mere gratification to a choice of authentic and
lasting values, and to take personal responsibility to safeguard these values.
A religious conversion: To grow from self-centeredness to self-transcendence, from
autonomy to surrender in loving service.
In this way, conversion is an ultimately human concern that benefits our life, furthers
our happiness and the process of individuation.
4. Conversion in St. Benedict’s Rule:
The term “conversio morum” had been used to indicate an entrance into monastic life.
The newcomer enters a monastery because he has had a conversion experience and
now wishes to take up a “new way of life”. But since the Rule of Benedict is written not
only for candidates and novices but for professed monks, it seems that all members are
called from time to time to conversion:
Find the particular texts in the Rule:
Q. 4: Prl..2.
Q. 5: Prl. 35
Q. 6 Chapter 1: 6 – 9; the Sarabaites.
Q. 7: In Chapter 1: 10 – 11 Benedict says the Gyrovagues are “drifting”. Could this verb
also be applied to the Sarabaites?
Q. 8: Discuss the situation that is described in chapter 2: 7 – 10.
Q. 9 What is the problem with 5: 14 – 19?
5. The Beginning of Conversion:
Conversion is usually initiated by a sudden “awakening”:
Q. 10 Prl. 8: What does Benedict wish to express by using this figure of speech?
7. How to Keep Oneself on the Road of Conversion:
Along with the one-time awakening, there is need of constant watchfulness or vigilance
of oneself.
Q. 11: List the areas that can easily get out of control, unless we keep tight watch:
Look up Prl. 29 – 31;
Chapter 4:48 – 54;
6: 1-6;
7: 12 –18;
7:23 – 29;
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Q. 12: What is Benedict’s advice to fight temptations? Explain the quote in Prl. 28.
Q. 13 : Why do we need continual conversion?
To answer this question,
- think in terms of development and growth, which also pertains to conscience and selfknowledge,
- of the spiritual equivalent of the law of gravity,
- of the ongoing development of science and technology,
- of the ongoing progress of theology and biblical research
- of God’s grace leading and enlightening us.
6. Various Conversion Experiences:
There are specific times in human life for conversion experiences:
Psychologists tell us that a first conversion usually occurs in adolescence.
It is also said that a second and more thorough conversion often happens in midlife,
after retirement, or at old age.
Q. 14: Can you describe what might trigger these conversions?
Some people have experienced a conversion caused by a certain shock in their life,
a crisis, a trauma or tragic loss. Others have lost their faith in God through such
experiences.
Q. 15: Can you explain the different outcome?
Perhaps a most needed process in life is the repeated change and growth in our image
of God.
If a certain incident in our life does not square up with the image we had of God, we
might have to let go of this image – as it was probably not true. Perhaps we have held
on to an “idol”, an image of God made by humans, and now we need to think of God as
much greater. This idea seems frightening to people, and they try to resist as long as
possible. But, in the end, they gain a better and wider understanding of who God is and
can surrender to His will.
Q. 16 Can you see such a process in the biblical story of the prophet Jonah?
7. Means of Conversion:
For Christians, the regular practice of examination of conscience is an effective means of
spiritual growth. Catholics have the benefit of frequent confession. In many cases, the
counsel of a spiritual director, or therapist, is helpful to further this human
development.
Q. 17: Can you explain why Pyscho-Therapists and Counselors are so popular?
Q. 18: Compare with RB 46: 5-6. We seem to have a piece of ancient monastic Wisdom
here.
Q. 19: Describe how keeping a spiritual journal can also be helpful in the process of
conversion and spiritual progress.
8. Repentance:
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THE PROLOGUE
Benedict stands very much in the tradition of the ancient monastic writers who, along
with the biblical prophets and the reformers of all times (including Pope Benedict!) call
people to
repentance. True repentance is not something altogether negative, like a perpetual
dwelling on one’s mistakes, shortcomings or failures. It is a sober acknowledgement that
one is a sinner and in need of God’s forgiveness. It consists in sorrow for one’s sin
because of having failed or betrayed a personal trust and expectation. At the same time,
it is the awareness that one is a forgiven sinner, and that is a true cause of joy and hope.
Seeing and acknowledging oneself as a
sinner is the only proper state of receiving salvation, while all self-righteousness is the
only hindrance to God’s saving grace. See the story of Levi above. (Nr. 3).
9. Prayer:
Psalm 51 is David’s expression of repentance after his conversion from his sin of
adultery and murder. It has become the Church’s standard prayer of repentance.
10. Personal Reflection:
Q.20: Review your own spiritual life-journey, especially your image of God, and your
relationship with Him. How did it develop? How did it change?
Q.21 Do you have a sense of being led by an inner Power toward greater maturity,
deeper insight, and ever generous love?
Q.22 Do you have a certain ideal before you what you want to become? What is your
spiritual goal to strive for?
Q. 23 What means could you use to come closer to this ideal?
IV. “SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT”
(RB Prol.17)
A. Creating A Peaceful Environment
Read: Isaiah: 65: 17 – 25.
1. Peace -- Dream or Task ?
Isaiah’s vision above speaks of the happiness and fruitfulness of God’s new creation,
a kingdom of peace, the age-old dream of humankind. St. Benedict, however, takes on a
different approach. In his Prologue verse 17, he simply quotes Psalm 33:14 -15: “Seek
peace and pursue it!”
Note (We are dealing here with two different translations: RB translates: “Let peace be
your quest and aim”, while an older version is truer to the Latin: “inquire pacem and
sequere eam”= “Search for peace and follow it’ ,i.e. run after it. )
Read Prologue 14 – 20.
Q. 1 Describe the difference between the vision of Isaiah and Psalm 33:12 which
Benedict quotes.
Q.2 What images of peace do the metaphors “search for” and “run after it” conjure up
in your mind regarding the good of peace?
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While most people today would see peace as a desirable goal, a reward in
heaven, or even a dream of “utopia” = wishful thinking, St. Benedict makes it a task for
our life here on earth. He combines it with goodness of heart, truthful speech, and
avoidance of evil conduct.
Q.3 Would these virtues make a difference in our efforts to establish peace on earth?
Today, it seems that piece in our chaotic, violent world is more fragile than ever
(although there never was a time when our world was less violent). Many see the
establishment of peace to be the duty of politicians and diplomats. But in our small
circle of home, workplace, and among friends we are all confronted with the need to
create peace in our own life, and around us, and we have come to know what a
challenge it is to maintain it over a longer stretch of time,
2. St. Benedict’s Recommendations for Creating a Peaceful Environment:
What are St. Benedict’s prescription to living a peaceful life?
In the Prologue, we have first a rather general advice: “Turn from evil and do good”
(Prol. 17). Then in detail he is quoting verses from various Psalms: “Walking without
blemish, being just in all one’s dealings, speaking truth from the heart, not practicing
deceit, not doing wrong to another… “ (CF. Prol. 25f) With other words: Keep God’s
commandments and try to be just and fair to your neighbor.
Other chapters of the Rule offer more detailed suggestions:
Q.4 Look at St. Benedict’s sense of realism in chapter 13:12 and his attempt to cope
with human frailty.
Q. 5 Discuss St. Benedict’s suggestions for creating and maintaining peace in intercommunity relations in chapter 72.
In many ways, the leader of a community, the abbot, is especially responsible for peace
in his/ her community.
Q 6 Search for the Rule’s suggestions in chapter 2: 16 – 22; 31 – 32; chapters 27 and 64:
10 – 19)
Q.7 Show how his/her “staff” members are to work for peace within a community:
a.) the Prior, (chapter 65)
b.) the cellarer (chapter 31)
c.) the guest- master, (chapter 53)
d.) the infirmarian. (chapter 36)
In fact, all members in the community are to strive for a peaceful environment:
Q 8 See: 34: 1 – 6; 48: 5 – 9; 52: 5; chapter 63; 68;70.
3. Biblical Examples:
Already the Old Testament shows us rare examples of peaceful behavior in the
figures of Moses during his stressful job of leading a rebellious people into the Promised
land, and of David in his relation with King Saul.
Q 9 Read Numbers 12 and 1 Samuel 24
Jesus went even further when by word and example he taught universal love and
forgiveness as means of peace.
Q 10 Read Matthew 5:10-12;
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THE PROLOGUE
Before his death, he left the apostles a legacy of His peace which is different from the
peace the world can give.
Q.11 Look up John 14:27.
Q 12 What did Jesus mean by his gift of peace to his followers and what was not
meant?
Compare with Luke 21:10-19.
B: Peace of Heart
1. Retaining Inner Peace
Jesus did not promise us a peaceful life free of adversities, nor a life without fear,
but freedom from panic, over-anxiety, and hopelessness.
He also encouraged us to trust and be courageous in the midst of adversities and
frustrations.
In his exhortation to the disciples, Jesus spoke mostly of peace of heart.
In a discussion at an Oblate meeting on how to obtain or maintain peace of heart and
tranquility, the following suggestions were offered:
a. Living in the presence; instead of worrying about the future.
b. Discerning the nature and source of our turmoil, and attempting to avoid / correct/ or
accept our situation.
c. Seeking moments of Serenity by Quieting our restless mind in meditation and prayer.
d. Conjuring up Faith and Trust in God.
This we can do by:
e) Relying on God’s grace working within us
f) ( Re)-discovering the spiritual value of suffering and deliberately to dedicate our
adversity to solidarity with those who suffer.
g) Renewing and strengthening our faith in the Divine Providence. (Romans 8:28)
h) Remembering God’s help and intervention in the past as an aid to trust in the future
i) Belief in life after death where all sorrow will be turned into joy.
Q.13. Discuss these points and find examples from your own experience.
Q 14 Pray the famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi reflectively for yourself and all who
people who are working for peace and those whose lives are in turmoil.
2. Prayer for Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
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THE PROLOGUE
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
(St. Francis of Assisi:)
3. Personal Reflection
Q. 15 What are my greatest anxieties?
Q 16. Where are the areas of conflict in my own life?
Q. 17 What do I see as being the sources and/ or reasons of this conflict?
Q 18 What can I do to come to interior peace?
Q. 19 What could I ask of others?
Q. 20 How can I become an instrument of peace for others?
V. IN THE SCHOOL FOR THE LORD’S SERVICE
(RB Prologue 45f)
Prayer: Wisdom 9: 1 - 6
Read Isaiah 49: 1-7
1. Comparison between St. Benedict’s Rule and the Rule of the Master:
In the Rule of the Master, (RM) the themes of listening and learning are threaded
throughout the whole Prologue. We get a detailed, lengthy description of how the
student on his pilgrimage to heaven, burdened by the baggage of his sins, discovers a
spring of water and hears a voice saying: “Come all to me, you who labor and are
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28). The student recognizes the voice as coming from
Christ who invites the sinner to throw off the burden of his sin. He offers the worn-out,
thirsty wanderer refreshment and repose at the living water from the spring which is
the symbol of Baptism. Christ encourages the wayfarer to leave the burden of his old life
behind, and instead take up Christ’s yoke which is sweet and light.
Then the Master begins with the first “lesson”, the Prayer of the Lord, the Our
Father. Only after that, we find texts that are familiar to us from St. Benedict’s Prologue.
“We must therefore establish a school of the Lord’s service, so that, never rejecting his
guidance but persevering in his teaching in the monastery until death, we may by
patience merit to share in the sufferings of Christ so that the Lord may make us coheirs
of his kingdom. Amen.” (RM Prologue 45f) 6
In both Rules, this particular school is called “A School for the Lord’s Service”.
In our society and throughout history, we have had various schools, schools of
philosophy, schools of art, schools of language and music etc. These schools specialize in
a particular branch of knowledge or skill and use certain theoretical and practical means
to train the student to become a master of a particular art, knowledge, or skill.
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THE PROLOGUE
Q.1 With our concept of “school” in mind, what would the metaphor “School of the
Lord’s service” actually mean?
Q.2 Who is the teacher in this monastic school? Is there only one teacher? Who is
teaching in a family?
Q.3 What are the subjects that need to be learned in a school that prepares for the
Lord’s service?
Q 4 If the Rule can be considered a school book, would the student be able to learn how
to serve the Lord just by studying the text?
Q 5 How does the Lord’s Prayer fit into this context?
Q 6 What was Christ’s method of teaching?
The English language uses the term “Service” to indicate different meanings.
Q 7 How could the term “School of the Lord’s Service” be understood in the light of the
various connotations that are meant by the word “service” ?
Q 8 Compare also:
Joshua 24:15;
Matthew 4: 10 and 6:24 and 23:11;
Luke: 10: 38 – 42 and 16:13.
Q. 9 If the voice of the Lord is Christ’s voice, how do you reconcile this with the
title:”Servant of the Lord” in Isaiah 49: 1-7 that had been attributed to Christ?
Q. 10 How can the school book of St. Benedict’s Rule help us in our training for these
various types of service of the Lord?
2. St. Benedict’s Own Text Inserted into the Master’s Prologue:
Both Prologues end with the notion of carrying Christ’s yoke until death, sharing in
patience in Christ’s suffering, so that we also may share in his kingdom,
However, Benedict’s inserts his own vision of this training process in the middle of this
text:
Q 11 Read RB Prologue 46 – 49.
In principle, “nothing harsh, nothing burdensome” should be employed. A “little
strictness” is needed to “ amend faults and to safeguard love” for the “good of all”. Then
Benedict offers an encouraging admonition to the beginner: to resist the temptation of
giving up for fear of the prospect of the narrow road. The road to salvation must needs
be narrow so that the disciple may learn consideration and love for others and amend
his own rampant vagary. The narrowness has a pedagogic purpose and is felt only at the
outset.. Later on, as we make progress, we do not notice the obstacles anymore, for
now we are able to run along, driven by the “inexpressible delight of love”. It is not that
the road is now less narrow, but love has made the heart wider.
With this short insertion, Benedict was able to present his personal life
philosophy:
For the Master, life in school, and in general, life here on earth, must needs be
burdensome, painful, and strict. Only if we have endured it patiently, without objection
or discouragement, will we find salvation. Our reward will be obtained only after this
life.
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THE PROLOGUE
Benedict however, although he does admit some strictness and discipline at the
beginning, immediately offers a positive purpose for the discipline: Conversion, love,
consideration for others. Most of all, the inexpressible delight of love makes all difficulty
light and sweet; and this not because the burden has become lighter, but the heart has
become wider, and love turns labor into joy and delight.
We all feel at times that life can be harsh and burdensome. The difference is
whether we can find purpose and meaning in the obstacles and challenges of our life.
For many, faith in the future Kingdom of God can offer hope even in this life. But St.
Benedict is not satisfied in looking only to a better future. For him, a foretaste of the full
Kingdom of God can be obtained already, here and now.
Q 12: Show the difference regarding the two life philosophies.
This insight shapes also our whole relationship to God: We do not earn the
Kingdom / salvation / eternal life by our own heroic suffering, nor by our moral
achievement here on earth. Salvation is God’s grace, offered us now through our life as
baptized Christians. Although we are sinners, we are already forgiven and reconciled
sinners. This unmerited gift makes our heart wide with love, joy, and gratitude.
The proper, literal translation of verse 49 would read: “our heart widened by an
unspeakable sweetness of delight, we run along the way of His commandments.”
Q 13: Does this vision contradict the term “labor of obedience to God’s
commandments” in RB Prologue 2?
Q. 14: How do you envision “wideness of heart”?
Q. 15 Compare to Psalm 119: 32.
Prayer: Wisdom 9: 9 - 12
Personal Reflections:
Q 16 Is my obedience to God a necessary requirement for getting into heaven, or is it a
response to God who loved me first?
Q 17 In what areas would I need greater wideness of heart and vision?
Q 18 How would my relationship with other people be affected by that virtue?
3. The Monastery as a Place of Learning
Monasteries had always been places of study and learning. They were the first
who offered religious education and study in the seven liberal arts: Grammar, Logic,
Rhetoric,
Geometry, Arithmetic, Music and Astronomy. Monks and nuns brought also the
tradition of culture, art, and science and practical knowledge, especially in the agrarian
field, to the countries they evangelized. Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries offered
even to women access to classical learning, which would have been closed to them in
the world and in the married state. Newcomers to the monastic life received
instructions on chant, Bible study, (they had to learn the psalms by heart). (Cf. Chapter
8:3).
The Matin readings offered texts from the : “inspired books of the Old and New
Testaments, and explanations of Scripture by reputable and orthodox catholic Fathers.”
(9: 6 ) With the help of these examples, the young monks learned how to interpret
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THE PROLOGUE
Scripture and how to do Lectio Divina. The young monks lived in the Novitiate “where
the novices study, eat and sleep”. (58:5) At meals, and after supper, the whole
community assembled to listen to patristic literature and Bible texts, or to the “Sayings
and Examples of the Lives of the Fathers” (Desert Fathers).
Each day contained a fixed time period set aside for private reading. Chapter 48:14
“During the days of Lent each one is to receive a book from the library, and is to read the
whole of it straight through. …The texts were usually hand-written in Latin on
parchment pages. A superficial perusal of the texts was not enough, for reading was not
only informational, but was supposed to be a guide for human life. Texts needed to be
studied, meditated and memorized. Many monastic men and women also knew how to
translate Greek and Latin texts, had medicinal and pharmaceutical knowledge, were
skilled in poetry, art and crafts, especially in painting, weaving, embroidery, and
calligraphy. These skills were handed on from one generation to the next.
While St. Benedict sees his “little Rule” as a manual for beginners, he points out
the more advanced text books that the monks are to read and to study, in order to draw
inspiration from them: Chapter 73: 3 “What page, what passage of the inspired books of
the Old and New Testament is not the truest of guides for human life? What book of the
holy catholic Fathers does not resoundingly summon us along the true way to the
Creator? Then, besides the Conferences of the Fathers, their Institutes (Cassian) and their
Lives, there is also the rule of our holy father Basil.”
In the monastery, the learning process never ends:
Q; 19 What can we do so that study and learning ever end in any Christian life?
Q. 20 Suggest aids and means for the formation process of an Oblate Novice.
Q. 21 What can you do in terms of ongoing formation in our own oblate life?
Q. 22: What is on your list for spiritual reading? What did you select for the time of
Lent?
Q: 23 How can TV programs and Websites contribute to your ongoing spiritual
formation?
4. Military Service in Community
Following the Master, St. Benedict uses the term: “militare” for “service”. In
many places, he employs military language and images:
De Vogue writes: “ In antiquity a scola could refer to a place set apart for some
professional fellowship or to a school of philosophers. The term also designated a body
of soldiers or civil functionaries, servants of the state and prince.” 7
The theme of warfare appears already in the beginning of the Prologue. (Prol.3)
In Chapter 1, there are the Cenobites, “the strong kind of monks” (1:13) who “belong to
a monastery where they serve (militare) under a rule and an abbot. “(1:2).
As within a natural family with several children, the young child is not only
trained by the parents, The older brothers and sisters aid in this process. So it is also
within a monastic community. Benedict paints a picture of the community of brothers as
a phalanx of soldiers in the battle against the enemy. He speaks of the hermit who goes
out from the battle line to fight single-handed. Prior to that, he had to be trained for this
one-man fight. “Thanks to the help and guidance of many they are now trained to fight
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THE PROLOGUE
against the devil. They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the
ranks of their brothers to the single combat… Without the support of another they are
ready with God’s help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind.” Here
we have clearly military language and warfare images applied to the monastic life. Of
course, fighting against evil is not for the monk alone; it is the task of all Christians. As
disciples of Christ, we all are engaged in a battle against sin and evil, injustice and
corruption, but also against interior distractions and the ever clinging habit of selfcenteredness.
5. Regularity as Means of Training
Often, a great difficulty for the newcomer in monastic life consists in adjusting to
the tight schedule. Following a frequent alternation of prayer, work, community
observances and recreation time throughout the day is a great challenge; for there is
never enough time to finish one particular task, before the bell calls to another activity.
Order and a regular daily schedule help in the training process. Living in stability within
the community with the same members, serving at the same kind of work over a lifetime, repeating the same texts over and over every week, are supposed to curb our
wandering spirit, our thirst for novelty and adventure, our craving for sensation and
curiosity. Often, our mind is tempted to take refuge in superficial distraction. But if we
are on guard and resist, we will experience that the regularity that we keep, will in turn
keep us, and will force us to find meaning and small delights in our ordinary life. Our
prayer will become deeper and richer. All this, however, is a process over a life-time.
Q 24: Share how your own schedule of regular prayer time has kept your life anchored.
Q. 25 Are there other regular practices in the day that give your life a certain structure
and regularity?
Prayer: Wisdom 9: 13:18 or
Psalm 143: Lord, teach me to do Your Will.
VI. MAPS OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
1. The Universal Call to Holiness
Read: Isaiah 44: 21 - 23
Following the Rule of the Master, St. Benedict uses the metaphor of a journey that
leads us to union with God. This journey is to be undertaken by every individual during
their lifetime from cradle to grave. Thus, our spiritual journey seems to be identical with
our life journey. It will not go beyond it, and actually, we need the whole of our life-span
to arrive at our prescribed destination: eternal life in God.
However, there are differences:
In our life journey: We have no choice and no pre-knowledge about how long we
are going to live on this earth; we cannot turn the wheel backward or repeat, or even skip
a phase. The fact and the circumstances of our birth (time in history, date of our birth, our
parents, their genes, their religion, their resources, their method of upbringing) are out of
our control, as is also the end of our life, and often enough the circumstance of our last
days.
Likewise, the beginning of our Christian life is not initiated by us. It was by
God’s grace, and the will of our parents that most of us had been baptized. Even if we
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THE PROLOGUE
discovered God only some time later in our life and chose to be baptized then, we did so,
because through exterior circumstances and internal graces, we felt touched by Christ and
responded accordingly. With the awakening of our consciousness, God offered us the
opportunity to cooperate with Him freely , or to linger around, take detours, run in the
wrong direction, return and take up the journey anew, or procrastinate.
All human beings have received the same call to union with God, because all
humans were created in the “image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26). Depicted by the
story of the Fall of Adam, interpreted as original and personal sin, as well as in the
experience of our own and other people’s sinfulness, this image of God within us has
been distorted and thus lost its likeness to God. However, through God’s grace and the
saving death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been offered a new chance to regain this
state of God-likeness in order to come to full union with God. Thus our life on earth is
offered to us as a chance to return to this God-likeness, that means to holiness. (Cf.
Matthew 5: 48)
Spiritual writers and philosophers of all times have had their own views about the
spiritual journey; and all human beings in their own ways ponder and question the
meaning and purpose of life, its origin and goal. No wonder, that monastic writings have
been pre-occupied with the same age-old questions: What must I do to be saved? ( Cf.
Luke 3: 10 – 14) What does God want me to do with my life? How can I reach God?
What does holiness mean for me? How can I live close to God even now?
2. The Journey to God in St. Benedict’s Prologue
St. Benedict stands in the tradition of the spiritual writers of his time and mostly
draws his teaching from Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments. The whole
purpose of writing his Rule is to show us how to reach heaven and eternal life.
Thus Benedict sees our life as a journey along a road and urges us to run along
with utmost speed. He speaks of going “back to him, from whom you have drifted..
(Prol.2 ) “of following him to glory” (Prol. 7); “Run, while you have the light of life,
that the darkness of death may not overtake you.” (Pro.13). “Clothed then with faith and
the performance of good works, let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide,
that we may deserve to see him who has called us to his kingdom.” (Pro. 21) “We will
never arrive unless we run there by doing good deeds.” (Prol.22) “We must run and do
now what will profit us forever.” (Pro. 44) “Do not run away from the road that leads to
salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life
and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments” (Pro. 48) “never
swerving from his instructions” (Prol.50).
The image of running along the way to perfection is a literary inclusion that
frames the whole Rule: it stands at the beginning of the Rule in the Prologue and ends in
chapter 73:
“For anyone hastening on to the perfection of monastic life, there are the teachings of
the holy Fathers, the observance of which will lead him to the very heights of perfection.
What book of the holy catholic Fathers does not resoundingly summon us along the true
way to reach the Creator?.. Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?. ..keep this
little rule. After that, you can set out for the loftier summits.” (73:9)
Q. 1 Find the quotations in their context and note the urgency that runs through the whole
text.
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THE PROLOGUE
It seems as if the time we need to fulfill God’s plan for us would compete with the
allotted time of our life-span that is actually allotted to us. And yet, God is immensely
patient and allows us all the time we need. However, this should not tempt us into
thinking: “There is no hurry”. “Our life span has been (already) lengthened by way of a
truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. As the Apostle says: Do you not know, that the
patience of God is leading you to repent? And indeed the Lord assures us in his love: I do
not wish the death of the sinner, but that he turn back to me and live.” (Prol 36f. )
3. Steps on the Way to Perfection
a) The Spiritual Ladder
“Even the longest journey begins with the first step”, is an old saying. To decide to
make this first step, may be hard and praiseworthy, but there is more to come. Many
spiritual writers have described the spiritual journey in terms of phases or steps. The
classical description is: “purgation – illumination – union”. These phases follow each
other like steps on a ladder. The motif of a “ladder to heaven” is taken from Jacob’s
dream on his journey to Haran.
(Gen. 28:10f).
There is a familiar Russian icon showing a ladder that reaches high up to heaven.
Instead of angels, there are little monks clambering up, aided by angels along the right
side of the ladder, and in danger to be torn down by demons on the other. Whoever made
it safely to the top, is being welcomed by God. The challenge is, to keep steadfast on the
upward course, and -- eyes fixed firmly on the goal -- be protected from falling off,
(either to the right or to the left!! It does not matter in this case which side you are on!).
Q.2 Show how “Higher, always higher!” is an age-old aspiration of humankind.
(Cf Gen. 11:5 and others.)
Q 3: Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, the founder of St. Vincent’s Abbey is said to often
have acted according to his motto: “Forward, always forward!!”
Q. 4 Show how this motto has undergone several variation in our society: “Faster, always
faster!” “More, always more.”
Q 5 Show how the image of a ladder with certain number of steps has served several
spiritual schools, groups, and methods.
b) The Cleansing of the Heart
Evagrius Ponticus (345 – 399) 8
One of the earliest monastic writers from Asia Minor who systematically mapped
out the terrain of the human soul was Evagrius of Pontus, the spiritual teacher of John
Cassian and indirectly also of St. Benedict. Evagrius divided the spiritual life into two
areas, which he named ascetic practice and mystical knowing. For him, our first task is
to purify the passionate part of our soul, namely our concupiscible and irascible
tendencies, In this first task, we need to come to grips with our concupiscence, namely
hunger, sexual desire, and acquisitiveness. Purifying the irascible part means
controlling anger, fear, and resentment – those violent energies that lurk in the depths
of the human heart. We have to keep these obsessions in check and replace them with
corresponding virtues. That takes struggle and hard work: Our concupiscible tendencies
must be controlled by chastity and temperance; our irascible nature must be turned
into courage and patience.
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THE PROLOGUE
Within the rational part of our soul we must cultivate: prudence, understanding,
and wisdom.
Finally, there is justice, a virtue that saturates all layers of the psyche and
cultivates an inner “concord and harmony between the parts of the soul”. Ultimately,
the ascetic life makes one free to love others, free of subtle compulsions and hidden
agenda. It means loving others as they really are and are loved by God. Evagrius says,
love teaches us to see other human beings as sacred, as fragile glimpses of Christ who is
the true image of God and the prototype of what it means to be human. Love becomes
the doorway to the next stage, to mystical knowledge.
Q. 6 Draw a diagram from Evagrius’ teaching and show the hierarchy of virtues.
Q. 7 Ascetical writers of the middle ages have often been judged as too pessimistic and
negative in regard to human nature. What is your opinion of Evagrius’ concept?
c) Uprooting Vices from our Soul
John Cassian (360 – 435)
Drawing upon the idea of cultivating the soil of our heart, John Cassian, in his
Institutes lists prayer and various ascetical practices as Remedies for the Eight
Principal Faults or Vices:
1.Gluttony
2.Sexual Obsession
3.Covetousness
4.Anger
5.Dejection,
6.Acedia, (Boredom)
7.Vainglory
8.Pride
Q 9: How do these vices manifest themselves today?
Q 10: Are they all still considered as morally wrong in our society?
Q 11 What would be the corresponding virtue to each of these problems?
d) The Spiritual Combat in St. Benedict’s Rule.
St. Benedict mentions the “Institutes” of Cassian in his last chapter as reading
material for his monks. In several places he talks about vices (vitia) as something against
which we have to be on our guard or we need to combat them. He names “vices” in
general:
“…vices of flesh and thoughts” (Rb 1: 5) ;
of “thought, tongue, hand, foot, self-will, bodily desire” (7:12)
“… the workman is cleansed of vices and sins.” (7:70)
Q. 12 How does Benedict suggest to overcome these vices and sins?
In other place in the Rule, Benedict attacks a particular vice:
Q 13. What does he mean in 13: 12- 13, in 33:1; 33:7; 55: 18, and in 34:6?
Benedict also uses the image of Jacob’s ladder in his concept of spiritual progress;
Q. 14 Read chapter 7: 5-9.
However, something is different here:
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THE PROLOGUE
Abbot André Louf writes:
There are countless unfit ladders, those of purely human virtue or goodness., There is
only one good one, the ladder of humility. … For the Christian there is no other way and
no other virtue except that of descent toward one’s littleness and insignificance” 9.
Q. 15 How does the image in RB differ from the familiar concept of climbing up the
ladder, as in the icon mentioned above?
Q. 16 : Do you feel that the concept of the ladder of humility is harder or easier than the
popular notion of pulling ourselves up by our own will power?
4. Biblical View
If we consult the Bible about God’s plan of holiness for us, we find a short, remarkable
phrase in the Prophet Micah.
Q. 17 Read and comment on Micah 6:6-8
Q. 18: Compare it with Jesus’ invitation of Matthew: 11: 28 – 30.
Q. 19 Keeping in mind that a yoke is usually made for 2 animals side by side and fitted
on to the shape of each animal’s body, what does this image tell us about our spiritual
journey?
5. Personal Reflection:
Q. 20 Meditate on the following passages on God’s Walk with man:
1 King 19; Luke 24: 13- 35; How can their walk be called a spiritual journey?
Q. 21 What can the term: “Walking with God” mean for your life?
Prayer: Psalm 73
1
St. Augustine of Hippo, “Confessions” , Translated by R.S. Pine Coffin. Penguin Books 1961, One Part 1.
“ Life and Miracles of St. Benedict” Book Two of the Dialogues by Pope St. Gregory the Great. The
Liturgical Press , Collegeville, MN.
3
Dialogues pg. 1- 4
4
Dialogues, Pg. 71
5
“Are you Really Listening? Keys to Successful Communication” by Paul J. Donoghue, and Mary E.
Siegel, 2005, Notre Dame.
6
“The Rule of the Master” Translated from the Latin by Luke Eberle Mount Angel, 1077. pg.104
77
“The Rule of St. Benedict – A Doctrinal and Spiritual Ciommentary” by Adalbert de Vogue, pg.
25.Cistercian Series Studies Nr.54.
8
Willilam Harmless S.J. Desert Christians , 2004, Oxford University Press pg.146
9
André Louf: “Turning in to Grace” Pg. 48.
2
“The Arduous Climb”. Staircase at the North side of the Abbey, designed by David Barrett Studio, Boulder, and built by
Ph.G. Phipps, Inc. in 1999.
Part II
F
M
and Government
I
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„
„
„
„
RB CH 1A: VARIOUS KINDS OF MONKS
RB CH 1B: THE MEANING OF SOLITUDE
RB CH 1C: COMMUNITY
RB CH 2: ABBOT
RB CH 3: CALLING FOR COUNSEL
Part II
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RB FORMS OF MONASTICISM
CHAPTER 1
VARIOUS KINDS OF MONKS
Following the RM, St. Benedict begins his Rule with a description of four kinds of monks,
as he encountered them in his own time and place.
Today, we know that there are many more types of people who live the monastic ideal in
various settings, alone, in small groups, in larger communities.
1. Monastic Terms Today:
There had been monks long before Christianity, and there are monks and nuns in almost
all world religions today. Even within the Christian population, there is a great variety of
religious groups in most countries over the world. What do they all have in common?
A first suggestion would be that they dedicated their lives to the service of God or to the quest
of God.
But there are others whose life are dedicated to God’s service: priests, ministers, theologians,
social workers, preachers, teachers, evangelists, etc..; and there are many religious who spend
their lives in service of others, as doctors, nurses, therapists etc. who are not monastic. What is
the difference?
If we search for the root of the word, we get “mónos” ( Greek = one, single, alone).
From this stem we can describe monks
as living
a) an “single” life (celibate = not married)
b) mostly apart from the society, as hermits (in solitude) or cenobites (in communities of
brothers and sisters)
c) according to a rule that structures their life in times of prayer and work, and regulates
the life of the community.
d) often in an atmosphere of silence and discipline,
e) in frugality with few or no personal possessions,
f) of life-long commitment (vows), in obedience to a superior and dedication to the
spiritual quest.
Today, as it had been at all times, there are variations, mixtures, and new
experimentations in life-style and work of Benedictines. Often the goal has shifted from more
contemplative form of life to a more active life that is socially engaged and tends to bring
Gospel values to the world.
A life properly called monastic involves celibacy, a great part of the day spent in prayer,
study and reading, in simplicity and frugality, separation from family, and most often in a
withdrawal from society for a more intense focus on spiritual values
A monk is therefore a person whose main pursuit in life is a search for union with God and
growth in his spiritual life, in the conviction that this pursuit may not only benefit his own soul,
but serve the universal Church by becoming a reservoir of spiritual graces, and a bond or
bridge between the whole of humankind and the Creator.
A monastic woman is called monialis (nun) -- while religious women who belong to more active
orders, are usually called sister, but in popular use these titles are overlapping and often used
vicariously)
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The house where monks live is a “monastery”; their life-style is “monastic”.
Other religious who are not monastic are grouped in congregations. They live in convents
(women) or friaries (Dominicans, Franciscans and Capuchins); they are preachers, teachers,
catechists, etc and engage in social and cultural projects.
A Benedictine monastery is a place for monks or nuns who follow the Rule of St. Benedict.
A dependent house of Benedictine women (e.g. a foundation) is often called Convent.
When it is governed by a prioress and has the right of recruiting and forming members, it is
called priory.
If its Constitution is approved by the “Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes” in
Rome as conforming to the guidelines for moniales,-- including Solemn Vows, enclosure and
full divine office,-- it can be elevated to an Abbey. The elected superior is called abbot/abbess.
It can enter into a Federation with other Abbeys with a similar life-style.
Q 1 How would you describe the usefulness of monks and nuns in the Church?
Q 2 Does a monastery have any relevance for people in the world? What relevance?
Q 3 Can you explain how a monastery, like the Abtei St. Walburg at Eichstätt, Germany and
other European monasteries, have continued to exist and attract recruits since their foundation
centuries ago?
Q 4 Why would lay people who are called to serve God in the world want to spend some time in
a monastic atmosphere?
Q 5 Why would some of them even adopt monastic attitudes for their own life?
2. Concise History of a Monastery in the US
The Development of the Abbey of St. Walburga in Virginia Dale, Colorado
1935, March 12 Founding of the “Convent of St. Walburga” in Boulder, Colorado
by the Abbess: M. Benedikta von Spiegel – Peckelsheim OSB of
the Abtei St. Walburg, Eichstätt, Germany.
The first superiorwas Mother M. Augustina Weihermüller, OSB;
1951, Febr. 26, the community became a dependent “Priory of St. Walburga”
with the right to its own Novitiate.
First Prioress was M. Gertrude Braun, OSB
1981, August 6, appointment of M. Maria-Thomas Beil OSB as second Prioress;
1986, November 21, Abbess: M. Franziska Kloos, OSB of the Abtei St. Walburg,
Eichstätt granted the Priory of St. Walburga in Boulder its
independence. She reappointed M. Maria-Thomas Beil OSB as Prioress.
1989, March 7, Elevation of the Priory to the Abbey of St. Walburga through the
Congregation of Religious and Secular Institutes in Rome.
Election of M. Maria-Thomas Beil OSB, as First Abbess.
1997, August 9; move of the community from Boulder to Virginia Dale
1999, November 7: Blessing of the Church and Abbey Building by Most Rev.
Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver.
2003, May 16, Resignation of Abbess M. Thomas OSB as abbess
2003, September 6, Blessing of M. Maria Michael Newe OSB as second Abbess.
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3. St. Benedict’s Experience of Monks
Q 6 Read Text of Chapter One: The Kinds of Monks:
Following the text of the Master, St. Benedict distinguishes four kinds of monks known
in his time and country. Two of them he acknowledges as genuine: the cenobites and the
anchorites (or hermits); while the other two are being dismissed as “Pseudo-monks”, i.e. not
living up to the monastic standard.
The sarabaites lack structure and discipline, they do not live according to a rule, have no
superior, nor accept the monastic tradition, but they live pretty much as they please.
The gyrovagues lack stability and purpose; they spend their lives drifting from monastery to
monastery, taking advantage of the hospitality of others, without ever settling down, nor
striving to serve the society in any purposeful way.
For Benedict it seems that structure of the monastic day, discipline, rule, obedience, superior,
stability, obedience, personal poverty, silence and the quest for personal holiness are signs of a
genuine monastic life.
Q 7 See what the first sentence of the body of the rule text ( in brackets ) as well as verses 2
and 13 tell us of the characteristic of a genuine monk in community (cenobite).
A vocation of a hermit or anchorite is acceptable only after the monk has successfully
lived in the community, has matured in character and gathered enough experience in the
spiritual life to venture out alone to a life in solitude.
Q 8: How do verses 3 – 5 describe the life of a hermit? What is the main goal?
Q 9:What is the difference to his former life in community?
Q 10: What do you think are the greatest trials and temptations for one who lives alone, e.g. in
the desert?
Q 11: What do we learn about Benedict’s ideal of community regarding mutual relationships?
Q 12: Does community life have fewer trials? How do you think the monks are supposed to
cope with these?
Q 13: How do sabaraits and gyrovagues compare with St. Benedict’s ideal of a monastic life?
Q 14: Benedict calls cenobites the strong or even the strongest kind. Which of the types in your
opinion need more strength of character?
Q 15: Which one in your opinion is the “safer” type of life?
4. Biblical Parallels:
Jesus Christ had not been a monk, yet he has lived the monastic ideals in many aspects:
Q 16: Which elements of his life-style do you see as model for monastics?
Q 17: What about John the Baptist?
St. Benedict says, we should “set out on the monastic way with the Gospel for our
guide” (Prologue21) which means that the teaching of the Gospels are basic guidelines for
Christian monks and nuns. It has often been said that Benedict’s Rule is an adaptation of the
Gospel for the practical life.
If you pay attention to the many biblical quotations in the Rule, you will discover how St.
Benedict’s mind was permeated with the teaching of the Bible, especially of the New
Testament, and how creatively and freely he has applied biblical teaching to individual
situations of life, often quoting from memory.
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Q 18: Look up the references (in parentheses) just in chapter 4 to discover how much Benedict
drew from NT teaching.
Benedict modeled his own community ideal on the example of Jesus with his disciples, as well
as the example of the early Church.
Q. 19 Look up: RB 2: 2-4;2:20; 27: 8-9;
But not only in the relationship between abbot and community, but also in their lives should
the monks imitate the example of Jesus, the apostles, and the early Church.
Q 20: Compare:
RB 33: 6 and Acts 4:32
RB 7: 1 and Luke 14: 11; 18: 14
RB 5: 2; 13 and John 6: 38
RB 72: 4 – 11 and John 13: 34 - 35
5. Hermit Experiences
Although it seems that the hermit vocation is the goal and the higher stage of the monk,
St. Benedict is reluctant to allow anyone too soon to embrace such a life-style. His norm is still
the cenobitic life. Desert life is an exceptional vocation.
However, even within the community, there must be times of solitude for a person to
develop one’s spiritual life, either in form of a retreat, a Sabbatical, or a period of silence and
aloneness in one’s daily life.
These periods could be compared to desert experiences. They can be stretched out over longer
time, or become just short periods of daily withdrawal from a busy schedule.
One of our sisters remembers that in her own childhood, her mother would announce: “Time
for Quiet for everyone! “ Then all the four kids and whoever was in the house would take up a
book or crayons or occupy themselves quietly and everyone would know: “Not a word or noise
during the next half hour!” Sister said that this experience has increased her taste and need for
silence and spiritual reading in her youth and has remained even up today.
Q 21 How would our families benefit from such a practice?
CHAPTER 1
B THE MEANING OF SOLITUDE:
Seeking solitude means searching for a time to be alone.
This can be for a short period within a day,
or a retreat for a whole day or several days,
or even for a longer period of time.
This type of aloneness is not to be confused with loneliness
Q1: Discuss the difference.:
The advantages of solitude are felt most effectively, if one can distance oneself not only from
work/ business, one’s relationships with their comfort and obligations, but also from one‘s
usual environment, its distractions, conveniences, and demands.
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1. Biblical Examples:
Moses had profund spiritual experiences in the desert which prepared him for his task as
leader of Israel
Q. 2 Read Exodus 3: 1-10; 24: 12-18
God freed his people from the slavery of Egypt and led them through the desert into the
promised land. This desert journey was a time of learning to know and to trust God but also an
experience of self-awareness.
Q 3: Read Exodus 19: 3-8; 20: 1 – 21)
Elijah hid in the desert for fear of Jezebel who wanted to kill him after his victory over the
priests of Baal. He had known his God to be more powerful than all other gods. But during his
flight through the desert in anxiety, need, and despair, he found God to be totally different
from what he had expected.
Q4: Read and explain 19: 1-18)
The desert is the place to hear the Word of God:
Q 5: Find Hosea 2: 14 - 17; (resp. 16 – 19)
John the Baptist withdrew to the wilderness in order to prepare the people for the coming of
the Messiah.
Q 6:See Matthew 3: 1-12 and Luke 7: 18 -30
Jesus himself was led by the Spirit into the desert where he was tested and where he prepared
for his public ministry.
Q 7: Find: Luke 4: 1-13.
Q 8: Describe how the desert was experienced by the individuals during their stay. .
2. Monastics in the Desert
The desert, often called wilderness, has a stark ascetic character with no distractions, no
stimuli, no luxury, only the bare minimum; hard for any life and survival. It can be a frightful
place. Solitude can be also a time of desert experience.
The monks who were not suited or not ready for it feared solitude, as many people
today fear loneliness or suffer from terribly from it. They experience loneliness as isolation,
abandonment, helplessness etc. For others, it is not loneliness, but a call to aloneness, to
solitude, and they cannot rest until they follow it
Thomas Merton in his journals wrote passionately about his need to go into solitude.
“Physical solitude, exterior silence and real recollection are all morally necessary for anyone
who wants to lead a contemplative life, but like everything else in creation they are nothing more
than means to an end, and if we do not understand the end we will make a wrong use of the
means.
We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them; we do not leave
them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most
good. But this is only a secondary end. The one end that includes all others is the love of God.” i
Some persons are called to become hermits in order to live
• a Life of Penance, Purgation, Asceticism, ( St. Anthony the Great)
• a Contemplative Life of Prayer and Meditation (Thomas Merton)
• a Life of Simplicity and Solidarity with the Poor (Charles de Foucauld)
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From the third to about the sixth century, the desert was populated with hermits who
eventually chose to live next to each other. They interacted for spiritual instruction, they visited
each other and offered mutual hospitality, mostly they prayed together, but then went back to
their own cell or hut to be alone with God.
Newcomers would attach themselves to a spiritual elder, a kind of guru, to learn from him.
They were accountable to him for their “thoughts”, temptations and sins and receive guidance
on how to control or avoid these obstacles and to learn how to pray.
Out of these clusters of hermit monks grew the first communities. The earliest Christian
communities we know were more or less strictly organized monasteries, founded by St.
Pachomius (292 – 346), St. Basil (329 – 346), and St. Augustine (354 – 430);
All three leaders wrote rules that guided the life of monks and nuns up to our century. John
Cassian (360 – 435), visited the Egyptian monks and brought their tradition to Europe, writing
down his experiences and dialogues in his “Conferences and Institutes”.
All of these writings were familiar to St. Benedict.
3. St. Benedict’s View of Hermit Monks
Benedict sees the hermit as one who has felt in himself the vocation to live in solitude,
Benedict himself has known the dangers and hardships of a solitary life from his early days in
the cave of Subiaco. He describes the life of hermits in the sober sentence: “ Self-reliant now,
without the support of another, they are ready to grapple single-handed with the vices of body
and mind’. “(RB 1: 5)
“Self-reliant”, is a good thing; but one has to be a strong enough person to rely on oneself, and
it has its limits. It is good to have a neighbor not too far away, just in case. St. Benedict uses the
word: securi = “secure” in being alone. Perhaps it is the insecurity that is felt by many lonely
people makes their solitude so frightening.
Q 9 Reflect on the word: “Single-handed”.
Desert life is usually characterized by endurance of hardships (weather, hard labor,
poverty), deprivation (food and drink, shelter), and dangers of all sorts, (robbers, predators)
The most dangerous enemies, however, are coming from within: those temptations of body,
mind, and soul, called the “classical vices” which assail people in solitude: obsession with food
and sexuality, anger and acedia, (boredom combined with laziness); avarice (greed) and
depression, vanity and pride. The “thoughts” about these things, as the monks called them,
hinder their prayer life and often led them into sin. Benedict himself had xperienced some of
these temptations and was ready to give up and return to his former life with his friends. To
conquer these temptations, he threw himself into thorns and brambles and thus woke up to his
true calling.
The equivalent “desert” experience in our time would be to make a 30 days’ retreat in a
Poustinia with only a Bible, dry bread and a jar of water!
However, time spent in solitude offers also many positive experiences of spiritual growth,
maturitation, and encounters with God.
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4. Temporary Desert Experiences for Spiritual Growth:
The solitary life itself has a double effect: It can foster or hinder one’s spiritual growth.
Therefore St. Benedict advises that a monk embark on such an adventure only after having
successfully lived in community with others. Then there is a greater guarantee that the call is
authentic and not an avoidance of difficulties in life with others. The purpose of the eremitical
call is to come to greater maturity, a deeper appreciation of God’s grace, and a more intense,
non-exclusive love.
Evagrius Ponticus said:
“Anachoresis ( Hermit life) in love purifies the heart, anachoresis in hate agitates it
Better the thousandth in love, than one alone with hate in inaccessible caves.” ii
Some people choose a time of solitude for:
a) Greater clarity of mind : One gains distance from everyday troubles and distractions,
thus gains the ability to see life in its proper proportion. One acquires a greater ability of
focusing and undisturbedly following one’s thoughts through to the end.
b) Discovering the essentials of life: We find out, we can actually do without a lot of
conveniences, that we usually take for granted. Thus our life becomes more simple. We
learn to see meaning and beauty in small things and come to appreciate the gifts we do
have.
c) Discovering one’s true Self::
In solitude, we can let down our masks and relieve the constant pressure our role in life
has put upon us. We can be “ourselves”, not having to live up to the standard of
perfection or a role of authority over others. We can let out our most secret feelings,
make ourselves vulnerable without fear or shame. We also come to see the reality of
our situation in life. Friends, neighbors, parties can make life pleasant, but in the end,
one is still alone: No one can totally understand another person, especially in pain and
grief , since everyone suffers one’s own pain. We thus recognize our strengths and our
weaknesses and limitations.
We may be reminded that in our last hour, no one can go with us, we will be alone with
our God.
d) Discovering our oneness with creation:
Maximus the Confessor wrote:
“Solitude is not merely the absence of people. True solitude is a participation in the
solitariness of God – Who is in all things” iiiWe have a chance of finding God everywhere
and learning to seek him in all things and events. This can lead us to greater reverence
for nature, its beauty and order.
Andre Louf writes:
“Solitude creates a new relation with the world. First and foremost that means our
proceeding to live on a narrower basis so that many normal possibilities are closed off,
giving increased depth to other potentialities in us. It does not just happen, though. It
requires a struggle, a conflict, and calls for a certain ascesis. In the course of this
process, the solitude that we are coming to inhabit at an ever deeper level, grows with
us into the sign of the new creation. “ iv
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e) Discovering the voice of our conscience and responsibility: We might experience
ourselves as distinct from others and apart from the mentality of our environment: We
cannot continually run with the crowd. We have to stop and think for ourselves.
Sometimes, we have to go alone, against all others, like St. Thomas More, Cardinal
Fisher did who were faithful to their conscience, although many others in the same role
took the easier route) . We are alone before God and will not be able to excuse
ourselves by blaming others, or hiding behind other people’s opinion.
f) Discovering God’s presence:
We see in nature the traces of the Creator in the ages of mountains, of rocks, in
powerful storms and the tiny blade of green grass that sucks its life from a simple drop
of dew.
We learning to listen to God in the experience of silence. We need to create our inner
silence, to hear something else than our own clamor and superficial chatter. We can
hope that God may speak to our hearts, as He promised to His faithless bride Gomer:
”I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart”. (Hosea: 2:16)
Thus we might learn anew how to pray:
The desert is the place of prayer from the depth of our heart.
As God sustains all living beings, we discover, that God knows us, accepts us as we truly
are, and loves us unconditionally. Before the silence of God we learn to talk out loud
what is deep in our hearts, or to say nothing, just be silent with and before Him. We can
tell Him everything, we can talk things over with him as with our best friend. We can
speak to him in any way we want: laugh or cry, be angry, ashamed or intimate. God is
greater than our hearts, and so is His love for us and His unconditional “Yes” to us.
Perhaps, we can learn to pray as we never could before, by just pouring our heart out
and discovering a friend who truly listens, even if we don’t hear an answer. We know He
is present and attentive to us. Somehow, from somewhere, an answer will be offered to
us., and then we will be able to hear and discern.
Remember, even Christ got up early, when it was still dark, and went up the mountain
to pray. Jesus prayed in solitude to His Father. Sometimes he would spend the whole
night in prayer. In the morning, the disciples would seek him, wondering where he was.
It seemed that all his ministry of healing and preaching flowed from these times of quiet
union with the Father (C.f.Luke 6:12) This intimate conversation with his God gave him
the energy to deal all day long with people who demanded everything of him. We know
from the Gospels how Jesus prayed: sometimes praising God, at other times thanking
Him, even pleading with Him in anguish and distress.
Q. 10 Reflect on the prayer of Jesus in various circumstances of his life:
Mark 1: 35 – 39.
Luke 3: 21 – 22; 6: 12 – 13; 10:21-22; 22: 39 – 46;
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5. Realizing Opportunities for Solitude in our Daily Lives:
Not everyone can spend long periods of time in the desert or in solitude. And yet we all
need these experiences at some time in our lives. But if we are attentive, we will realize
that they are offered to us, although perhaps only in short periods during the day.
Catherine Doherty writes in Poustinia:
“Consider the solitude of walking from the subway train to your home in the evening,
when the streets are quieter.. Consider the solitude of a housewife, alone in the kitchen,
sitting down for a cup of coffee before beginning the work of the day. Think of the
solitudes afforded by such humble tasks as housecleaning, ironing and sewing. .” v
She continues:
“Deserts, silence, solitude are not necessarily places but states of mind and heart. These
deserts can be found in the midst of the city, and in the everyday of our lives. We need
only to look for them and realize our tremendous need for them. They will be small
solitudes, little deserts, tiny pools of silence, but the experience they will bring, if we are
disposed to enter them, may be as exultant and as holy as all the deserts of the world,
even the one, God himself entered. For it is God who makes solitude, deserts, silences
holy. “
We can also learn to utilize opportunities for solitude that we have not freely chosen.
Rather than being upset for having to “waste time” we can take advantage of larger
chunks of involuntary solitude: Times of illness, a long waiting period, a missed plane,
An extra walk or drive alone because we had forgotten something … If we are alert and
really hungry for times alone, we will use these moments to plunge into the desert of
our hearts and reap the benefit of quiet and aloneness with God therein..
Thomas Merton wrote:
“The truest solitude is not something outside you, not an absence of men or of sound
around you; It is an abyss opening up in the center of your own soul. And this abyss of interior
solitude is a hunger that will never be satisfied with any created thing. The only way to find
solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire, and the man who has found
solitude is empty, as if he has been emptied by death. He has advanced beyond all horizons.
There are no directions left in which he can travel. This is a country whose center is everywhere
and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still. Yet it is
in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without
motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and beyond all desire, a fulfillment
whose limits extend to infinity.” vi
6. Personal Reflection:
Q 11 Think of the quiet moments in your daily life. How do you use them?
Q 12 Does your day have a proper balance of these two elements?
Q 13 How would you use a private retreat and what benefit would you gain from that time
alone?
Q 7 Do you know a person who suffers from loneliness in life? How could you help that person?
The monastic community of the Abbey of St. Walburga in 2010.
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CHAPTER I
C: COMMUNITY LIFE
Judging from the last sentence of chapter one, Benedict seemed to favor community
life over other forms and set it as norm for his monks. He himself had experienced in his youth
the benefits and hardships of hermit life, but ended up as abbot of a community. This same
transition was made by the monastic movement before his time, as most of the monks began
as hermits, then clustered together for common prayer and mutual support, until finally, they
formed a community who lived a common life.
1. Reasons for Living in Community:
People have various reasons to form community – see Gen. 2:18 “It is not good for the human
person to be alone “.
There are
a) Physical -Practical reasons.
b) Psychological- Social reasons.
c)
Spiritual Reasons
d) Biblical – Historical Reasons
e) Theological reasons.
Q 1: Think of examples for each field.
Q 2: Look up:
Mt. 18:20
John 13: 15.
Acts 2: 44 – 47 and 4: 32 – 35
Romans 12: 3 – 21
1 Cor. 12:12
1 John 1:4
2. No One Is an Island
In the past centuries, perhaps since the Renaissance with its emphasis of the individual person,
and later with the origin of the Devotio Moderna, a spirituality of individualism has spread
among Christians. We can find it in titles of Devotional literature like “He and I” , “Jesus and my
soul”. The theological truth is, we do not receive eternal life as individuals but as Church, the
Body of Christ. This corporate thinking has been emphasized by the Council of Vatican II.
a) We are The People of God:
God chose for Himself a people as His own. This people was to be the instrument for the
salvation of all nations. Christ unites the Church, the New Jerusalem, to Himself as a Bride.
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Paul uses the image of Christ as Head and the Church as His members. We are united in His
Body and with each other by the bond of the Hl. Spirit.
b) We are the Body of Christ
In Christ’s Mystical Body all members are one. By Baptism and the Eucharist, we are
incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, we are members of Him and of one another.
Christ lives in our midst and makes us one. This oneness is not uniformity, but unity in
diversity. It is not just a sum of people, living unrelatedly next to each other, but a oneness
that is held together by an inner bond of and mutual relationships:
c) Hl. Trinity as Proto-Model for Community:
God is One and also a Community of Three. The Hl. Trinity.is not a singular lonely Majesty,
but three Persons: Father and Son in the Love of the Spirit,. Father and Son are in unceasing
loving communication and mutual self-giving and self-expression. The Father speaks the
Word, the Son responds to the Father in the love of the Hl. Spirit. This is perfect unity. Each
person remains individually unique and different, yet all three work together in the great
act of creation and redemption in perfect harmony.
The Trinitarian God is the Model of perfect community.
3. St. Benedict’s View of Community
Some terms in chapter One tell us how Benedict saw the ideal community:
Vs.2: Cenobites belong to a monastery
They serve under rule and abbot
Vs. 4 the help and guidance of many
Vs. 5 battle line in the ranks of their brothers
the support of another
Vs. 6 (the Sarabaites have) no experience to guide
No rule to try them.
Vs. 11 (The gyrovagues never) settle down
Vs. 13 The strong kind, the cenobites.
Q 3 Show what the terms (in bold face) can express Benedict’s vision of an ideal community
Throughout his whole Rule, when St. Benedict speaks of community, he makes allusions to
the community of Jesus and His disciples, as well as to the early Church.
4. St. Basil’s Vision of the Benefits of the Common Life
One of our earliest monastic documents that deals with community comes from the Long
Rule of St. Basil. (329-79)
Someone says::
“Since your words have convinced us that it is dangerous to live in company with those who
hold the commandments of God in light regard, we consider it logical to inquire whether one
who retires from society should live in solitude or with brethren who are of the same mind
and who have set before themselves the same goal, that is, the devout life?
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Basil answers: I consider that life passed in company with a number of persons in the same
habitation is more advantageous in many respects.
My reasons are,
a) First, that no one of us is self-sufficient as regards corporeal necessities, but we require one
another’s aid in supplying our needs. … God, the Creator, decreed that we should require the
help of one another, (Gen. 2:18) so that we might associate with one another.
b) The doctrine of the charity of Christ does not permit the individual to be concerned solely
with his own private interests.
c) A person living in solitary retirement will not readily discern his own defects, since he has no
one to admonish and correct him with mildness and compassion. ..Woe to him that is alone,
for when he falleth he hath none to lift him up.’(Eccl. 4:10)
d) The majority of the commandments are easily observed by several persons living together,
but not so in the case of one living alone. (Explanation: Basil talks of the works of mercy, cf.
Matthew 25:31f. not of the 10 commandments.)
e) Besides, if all we who are united in the one hope of our calling (Eph.4:4) are one body with
Christ as our Head, we are also members, one of another. (1 Cor. 12:12) If we are not joined
together by union in the Holy Spirit in the harmony of one body, but each of us should choose
to live in solitude, we would not serve the common good in the ministry according to God’s
good pleasure, but would be satisfying our own passion for self-gratification. …It is impossible,
indeed, to rejoice with him who receives an honor or to sympathize with him who suffers when,
by reason of their being separated from one another, each person cannot, in all likelihood, be
kept informed about the affairs of his neighbor.
f) No one has the capacity to receive all spiritual gifts, but the grace of the Spirit is given
proportionately to the faith of each, (Rom. 12:4). When one is living in association with others,
the grace privately bestowed on each individual becomes the common possession of his
fellows. ‘To one, indeed, is given the word of wisdom; and to another, the word of knowledge;
to another, faith, to another, prophecy, to another, the grace of healing,’(1 Cor. 12: 7-9) and so
on. He who receives any of these gifts does not possess it for his own sake but rather for the
sake of others, so that, in the life passed in community, the operation of the Holy Spirit in the
individual is at the same time necessarily transmitted to all. … In the case of several persons
living together, each enjoys his own gift and enhances it by giving others a share, besides
reaping benefit from the gifts of others as if they were his own.
g) Community life …is more advantageous than the solitary life both for preserving the goods
bestowed on us by God and for warding off the external attacks of the Enemy. If any should
happen to grow heavy with that sleep which is unto death and which we have been instructed
by David to avert with prayer: ‘Enlighten my eyes that I never sleep in death,’ (Ps. 13: 3) the
awakening induced by those who are already on watch is the more assured. For the sinner,
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moreover, the withdrawal from his sin is far easier if he fears the shame of incurring censure
from many acting together— and for the righteous man, there is a great and full satisfaction in
the esteem of the group and in their approval of his conduct.
h) Besides these disadvantages, the solitary life is fraught with other perils. The first and
greatest is that of self—satisfaction. Since the solitary has no one to appraise his conduct, he
will think he has achieved the perfection of the precept. Secondly,….. he will not recognize his
own deficiencies nor will he discover the advance he may have made in his manner of acting,
since he will have removed all practical occasion for the observance of the commandments.
(E.g. Love of neighbor, works of mercy).
i) Wherein will he give evidence of his compassion, if he has cut himself off from association
with other persons? And how will he exercise himself in long-suffering, if no one contradicts
his wishes?
Consider, further, that the Lord by reason of His excessive love for man was not content with
merely teaching the word, but, so as to transmit to us clearly and exactly the example of
humility in the perfection of charity, girded Himself and washed the feet of the disciples.
(John 13).” Whom, therefore, will you wash? To whom will you minister? In comparison with
whom will you be the lowest, if you live alone?”
j) How in a solitude will that good and pleasant thing be accomplished, the dwelling of
brethren together in one habitation which the Holy Spirit likens to ointment emitting its
fragrance.?’ (Psalm 133) So it is an arena for the combat, a good path of progress, continual
discipline, and a practicing of the Lord’s commandments, when brethren dwell together in
community. This kind of life has as its aim the glory of God according to the command of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who said: ‘So let your light shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Q 4: Look up the Scripture references in Basil’s text.
Q 5: Take each of the 10 reasons and translate them into the language and life situations of our
day.
5. Community is a Gift and a Never-ending Task
We are made to live together with others. Many people long for a loving, caring family
or community. Our dream is to live in peace and love with friends, relatives, co-workers,
parishioners and even in a country that is concerned with the individual’s needs and happiness.
We would feel safe, accepted, respected, and well-cared for.
“Belonging” is engrained in our human nature. We want to know that someone needs us and
counts on us.
However, successful community life – be it religious or family community - does not happen
automatically, naturally and without effort.
Q 6 Discuss the reasons why “ ideal community” often fails among human beings.
Q 7 Suggest means of improving family relationships, however they come with a cost.
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As much as community life is a gift for the individual, as well as for the society and even the
global human family, it is offered as an option to be deliberately chosen and worked for. It is
not a ready-made gift, nor is it guaranteed as lasting without continual effort. It is costly.
Jean Vanier writes:
"A community is only a community when the majority of its members is making the
transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for the community'. when each
person's heart is opening to all the others , without exception. This is the movement from
egoism to love..."vii
This is a task to work for and a seed that needs to be nurtured in order to grow and to develop,
We have to create community ever anew, in order to enjoy its fruits and benefits.
The Prayer of St. Francis would help us in our effort to create community.
CHAPTER 2
Including CHAPTERS 27, 64
THE ABBOT OF THE COMMUNITY
It seems that this chapter of St. Benedict’s Rule is intended solely for a monastic
community and their leader. But as like the rest of the chapters, it has an inner meaning that is
more universal than its historical, monastic setting. It deals with leadership principles and
exercise of authority, and thus it is always and universally relevant. Whether we think in terms
of pastor, principal, manager, director, superior, governor, president, CEO of a particular group
in our society, or even of the smallest circle like a family or a small shop in a remote village, this
chapter, together with the parallel sections n the abbot later on in the Rule can give guidelines
for good leadership.
1. Forms of Leadership
Leadership today is of greatest importance, and the quality, performance, and success
of a certain group of people depend greatly on the style of leadership. So do the happiness and
efficiency of each individual member. However, groups have various goals or purposes for
which they were founded. In some, the individuals are only rather loosely connected, in others,
there is a commitment for life. Some people come together only once in a while for a particular
occupation, others have made their homes within a particular group. Despite this variety of
application, the basic style of leadership is responsible for the “success” of the group.
St. Benedict copied chapter 2 almost verbatim from the Rule of the Master. Thus it is
not surprising that we find here a tone of paternalism and autocracy that had been prevalent in
the Roman Empire during the 6th century. We with our democratic upbringing and bad
experiences of any kind of dictatorship are especially sensitive and critical in this aspect. In
order to correct this autocratic leadership system, some Benedictine communities have done
away with terms like abbot/ abbess, father/ mother, superior or Prior General and have also
opted for a rotation of leadership within the community after a particular term of office, (6 or 8
years. ) This, of course, gives the leadership a different flair from the image of the abbot at the
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time of the Master. It also limits the responsibility of the leader. More contemporary
communities have experimented with new titles and newer ways of government like electing a
board of directors, or a council of coordinators, or staff committees, or board members etc..
It may surprise us that this aversion to absolute authority is not a novelty of our own
time. Communities long before Benedict had grappled with the mode of leadership and came
up with various titles. Pachomius the first leader of a monastic community in the West, did not
use the term abbot until much later in his life. Basil and the Cappadocian monks used “Prior”
(first among equals), “Major” and” superior” had been used with a different meaning: not that
they were greater in their character, but have been either constituted to a higher rank by
appointment or by election through the community. It was held to honor the position, rather
than give the individual person a higher qualification of character. Benedict as well as the
master speak of the mentality of their time and country. To expect otherwise would be
anachronistic.
Chapter 27 has greatly been altered by Benedict in transferring the responsibility and
initiative of searching for the lost sheep to the abbot, and chapter 64 is Benedict’s own
creation. Here we find terms according to his own mind and heart, astonishingly different from
the tone of chapter 2.
Abbess Maria Michael Newe, OSB with Sr. Elizabeth and Sr. Maria Johanna, at the proclamation of the Gospel on
Holy Thursday.
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2. Roles of the Abbot in Benedict’s Rule
Q 1 write in column 2 one or more “roles” the abbot is supposed to adopt when exercising
leadership, Use the excerpts in column 3 and read their full context, using the references in
column 1
Chapter
Roles of the
Actions / Qualifications of the Leader of the Community
Verses
community
leader
2:1
2:30
2:2
2:3
2:24
2:11; 2;23
2:12 – 14
64: 2
2:7
2:32 -39
27: 8 - 9
27: 2- 4
28:2-5
2:20
2:24;
2: 32
2:31
2: 34; 37
2: 33
64: 2
64:16
64:5,7
64:17
2:39
64:12
64: 19
Governing a monastery; Act as a superior should .
More will be expected of him to whom more has been entrusted
He is believed to hold the place of Christ;
He is addressed by a title of Christ.
We exclaim: abba, father. Stern as a taskmaster,
devoted and tender as only a father can be.
Lead his disciples by a twofold teaching: by word and example
Point out what is good and holy more by example than by words,
Wisdom of teaching.
The shepherd will bear the blame if the sheep yielded no profit.
Sheep entrusted to him … Brothers in his care..
Imitate the loving example of the Good Shepherd … So great was his
compassion …that he mercifully placed it on his shoulders and so
carried it back to the flock.
He ought to use every skill of a wise physician
Use the skill of a wise physician to heal the sick brother
Whether slave or free, we are all one in Christ. Vary with
circumstances, Accommodate and adapt himself to each one’s
character and intelligence.
Directing souls, Serving a variety of temperaments; In charge of
souls: coaxing, reproving and encouraging as appropriate.
Show not too great concern for the fleeting and temporal things of
this world. He achieves the amendment of his own faults.
Goodness of life…
Excitable, (turbulent), anxious, extreme, obstinate, jealous or oversuspicious he must not be. Such a man is never at rest.
A worthy steward in charge of God’s house. An account of his
stewardship. Show foresight and consideration in his orders.
Careful about the state of other’s accounts.
Not rubbing too hard to remove the rust, otherwise he may break
the vessel.
So arrange everything that the strong have something to strive for
and the weak nothing to run from.
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(Select several of these roles and discuss them) )
The role of the abbot is manifold. He is supposed to be:
a) Governor or Superior. In chapter 64, Benedict gives the qualifications for the election (or
appointment) as superior: holiness of life and wisdom of teaching, besides capability of
administration.
Q 2: What would be different, if these principles were applied at the election to any public
office?
Q 3: What does this say for the responsibility of being a parent?
b) Officer- in- Command /Governor
As St. Benedict was born and raised in Italy which was still ruled by the Roman Emperor, he is
familiar with the procedures of elections, of laws and rules as means to run the government of
the country in an orderly and efficient fashion. Naturally, he transfers this pattern to the
community.
Contemporary monasteries may have become more democratic with council and assembly
meetings.
Although in theory everything can be debated and endlessly argued about, but the most
practical and time- and energy-saving way for a life in community is still: Someone has to say
how it’s supposed to be done and all should do it.
Q 4 What is your opinion and experience?
c) Vicar of Christ: the abbot is believed as being the representative of Christ. The superior is not
Christ, but holds the place of Christ within the community. The monks must believe this, but
more so the abbot. A monastic community is a faith community. This content of faith should
give the form of leadership its character. St. Benedict stands strongly in the monastic and
biblical tradition that God chooses individuals (or a particular people) to bring about salvation
for many. Notice how many times Benedict warns the abbot not to identify himself with Christ,
but always to be aware to reflect the image of Christ to others; and not the Christ in power and
judgment, but the Incarnate Son of Man with compassion, forgiveness, love, humility and
obedience. For a Christian, being raised to a higher rank means a heavier responsibility.
Q 5 The presumption of the superior’s identification with Christ or God can lead to great abuse,
in a monastery, as well as in families. What is the difference to the above concept of
representative?
d) Father: Despite Christ’s inhibition not to call anyone “father”, (Cf. Matthew 23:9) it is still the
custom to call the leader of a community abbot (from abba) and a priest or pastor: father. It is
explained with the notion of being a spiritual father. Fatherhood does not consist only in the
generating of biological life, but in nurturing and guiding the next generation into a meaningful
and successful participation in society, religion, culture and tradition.
Children are entrusted to their parents, parents do no own children.
A father / a mother still retain their role, albeit in a changed way, when children become adults.
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Thus a superior in a community is not a father / mother of infantile members, who never grow
up, (As in: Don’t think differently, you need not take responsibility, the initiative is not yours).
As we will see in Chapter 3 and in several other places in the Rule, Benedict is aware that next
to the abbot, there are other capable members who assist him in his decisions and who are
able to take on responsible charges, albeit under the overall direction of the abbot. Benedict
also knows about the incompatibility of various temperaments. He allows other members of
the community to act as spiritual directors and/ or confessors to the community members.
Q 6: How far do parents represent the image of God to their children?
e) Teacher / Master A monastic community is an image of Church. The teaching of faith,
morals, practical and spiritual tradition are the prerogative of the community leader. Therefore
the abbot has to be a fervent monk and a good Scripture scholar (besides a well- versed
historian) to be able to inspire his community. Benedict offers as major source for his
qualification the Bible and the person’s own experience with lectio Divina. The master must
strive to continually further his own personal growth and education.
For St. Benedict, everyone entering the community had to learn how to read, even if they could
not write.
Although monks and nuns today are much more educated, it belongs to the role of the abbot to
give conferences and addresses on the spiritual life to the whole community as well advice to
the individual who is seeking counsel. Obviously, no one can prepare himself for the office of
abbot: One gets elected, and from that moment on, one “is” abbot. But as everybody else, an
abbot has to learn for the rest of his life.
However, no abbot can have all the qualities required for this office, -similarly no parent
is totally qualified for his/ her role in the family.
Q 7: What means are available today to improve parental quality?
Q 8: Would these means also help a religious community?
f) Living Example:
St. Benedict is very prudent in stating that only a person of integrity can teach effectively.
Integrity means the congruence between words, character, and actions. An authentic leader
teaches by word and example. Both support, illustrate and interpret each other. “Always teach;
if necessary, use words” said Bishop Francis de Sales. Or “Words inform, examples inspire”.
Q 9: Would these principles make leadership more authentic in other groups of society as well?
g). Shepherd/ Trustee/ Caregiver,
The image of a shepherd with his flock conjures up the archetypal image of a dedicated ruler.
This image conveys acquaintance and familiarity with an individual member. From this knowing
in love flow care and concern. Already ancient kings have been called shepherds of their
people. Jesus added to this image the notion of intimate relationship with each member, his
protection and guidance, as well as his willingness to nurture the flock and even sacrifice his life
for them. The contrast between owner and hireling drawn up in the gospels can serve as a
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constant inspiration to the abbot. God is the Owner, and the abbot is only a trustee. The sheep
on their part know the voice of the shepherd, trust his care, and follow his direction.
Q. 10 Benedict says the leader shall carry the sheep back to the flock. When does this intention
not work?
Q. 11 Benedict treats an offense as illness and the offender is compared to a sick person.
Does this sound familiar?
h) Psychologist / Educator Psychological insight does not need to come from books, but from
one’s own self-knowledge and experiences. Being keenly aware of one’s own sins, weaknesses
and mistakes, as well as the discrepancy of poor results despite the best intentions will give any
a leader the necessary sensitivity of dealing with other people. Often enough, what we
superficially judge as altruistic motivation may turn out to be a conglomerate of mixed
interests. This insight keeps the abbot humble, and in the fear of God.
The word “educate” originally means: bringing forth, leading higher, or setting free something
that is already hidden within. It also implies that one has to believe in s basic goodness and
good will of the other person, even against evidence or if the other person does not see it. Trust
and faith in the goodness of others, seeing and presuming their good will and capability is the
best means of education. Punishment as means to improvement works only in those who have
enough insight and have already won over to make amends for damage done. Inflicting pain on
others to punish an offense is not an effective means of improvement.
Q. 12: Is our contemporary society better equipped to raise its children than relying on punitive
methods most often used in former times?
i).Spiritual Guide: The first goal of a new abbot should be to win the trust of the community
members, in matters of physical and spiritual well-being and growth. This was the basis on
which monasticism had actually been built: An individual, feeling the call to greater holiness
and closeness to God, sought out a “guru”, an elder monk who was experienced in directing
souls. But St. Benedict is aware that the abbot may not be the sole director for everyone in the
community. There are different temperaments and characters who relate best to someone
else instead on the abbot. Thus, he instituted deans or elders within the community who could
also act as spiritual guides and confidants, as well as confessors.
It is interesting, that the abbot, not the individual monk, is asked to adjust and adapt himself
to individual characters, although anyone living in community will have to adjust to everyone
else.
Q 13: Comment on the verses: 31 (The Abbot) must know what a difficult and demanding
burden he has undertaken: directing souls and serving a variety of temperaments” and “He
must so accommodate and adapt himself to each one’s character and intelligence that he will
not only keep the flock entrusted to his care from dwindling, but will rejoice in the increase of a
good flock. “
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j) Monk/ Saint. The abbot has to be a monk by conviction, in word and fact. He cannot expect
the members of the community to live a genuine monastic life if he does not believe in it and
does not care to grow closer to God in his own person. To be a good monk means really to be
continually in a state of conversion, in an ongoing growth toward holiness.
St. Benedict’s requires a high standard of qualifications from a good abbot: In chapter 2, we
find more the ability of choosing the right words and actions as well as the proper priorities and
values of each task: material or spiritual matters, the right treatment of persons under his care,
and the concern for the souls. It is prudence and wisdom the abbot has to strive for.
In chapter 27, 28, it is the image of a shepherd and physician according to Christ’s example
that the abbot represents.
In chapter 64, we find a whole list of qualifications and attitudes that make a good abbot. But
prevalent are qualities like moderation, avoiding extremes, and sensing one’s own and the
other persons’ limitations. Here, the abbot is called to acknowledge and grow in his own
humanity and thus come to personal maturity, combined with humility and trust in God’s help
and love.
Q 14: Can you explain the phrase in 2:40 “ While helping others to amend, (the abbot) achieves
the amendment of his own faults”?
k) Worthy Steward/ Shrewd Provider/ Prudent Administrator.
The monastery is God’s house, and the abbot is only responsible as long as he / she holds office.
Any kind of self-service or a building of a kingdom for himself according to one’s own ideas
defeats the purpose. Administrative qualities and experience help. If they are lacking, one has
to pay a high price for one’s deficiencies, and thus one will be eager to learn and acquire them.
Q 15 How could the paragraph 2: 33 – 36 serve as ideal guideline for an administrator in our
time?
l). Charismatic Leader,
It is characteristic for a charismatic leader to be a person of vision and the ability to
communicate this vision in order to inspire and encourage others.
The most difficult question for all religious leaders might be, what is good sound tradition that
needs to be maintained and what is outdated and should be either abolished or reframed?
Vision does not only concern an ideal or dream for the future, but a clear insight regarding the
difference between spirit and letter. Religion and religious life is aimed for the present, even if
it is based on historical and traditional practices of the past; monsteries are not museum pieces.
However, before one begins to cut and throw away, there has to be an earnest search for the
kernel of meaning in what seem to be obsolete forms and an attempt to clothe this same value
into a form that would be acceptable today.
The decree on the renewal of religious life states that communities and congregations should
look at their founder and orient themselves on their particular vision and value system, before
they attempt to translate these into new, more contemporary forms.
However, religion is not only what people find acceptable and meaningful today, but what God
wants from us in our present situation.
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Faith is not something we have invented and can readily update and change, but what we have
received as legacy.
Q 16 How can a leader prevent his/her group from turning into a cult?
Q 17 Would greater humility help?
Q 18 What does St. Benedict suggest to make sure the leader does not abuse his/ her authority
and power over others?
Q 19 What does Benedict mean by the term “discretion”? (see 64: 19)
Q 20 Why does he call “discretion the mother of virtues?
3. Personal Reflection:
Q 21: What is your own life experience with persons in authority?
Q 22: When you had authority (or still have) what was your style of leadership?
4. Prayer
Pray slowly Psalm 23:
Reflect on the Psalmist’s experience of God as Shepherd.
CHAPTER THREE
CALLING THE BROTHERS FOR COUNSEL
Although Benedict gives the abbot the ultimate responsibility and authority concerning his
community, he is not to make all the decisions alone.
Read St. Benedict’s chapter 3
Q 1 What do you think may be the main purpose for St. Benedict to introduce a community
council? Look at verses 1-3 and 13.
Q 2 What may be the reason for Benedict’s concern that the “abbot himself is to call the
brothers together?” (RB 3:1)
Q 3 Why does he stress that even the youngest should be heard?
(The full edition of RB 80 gives in a footnote the full purpose of calling brothers for counsel.
(RB 80 pg. 178)
“It is not in order to find the most popular opinion, or to assure that one feels left out, not to
strengthen solidarity and responsibility among the community members, nor to govern in a
democratic fashion.
The actual purpose of the gathering is to find what is best for the common good, or to find the
will of God for the individual and the community as a whole. “
The passage of verses 4 – 6 imposes certain restrictions on each community member as well as
on the abbot.
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Q. 4 How do these measures help to assure the common good of the community?
Q 5 What does this chapter tell us about well conducted group discussions?
The passage of verses 7 – 11 contain a similar restraint and try to prevent any willfulness on the
part of the individual as well as of the abbot.
Q. 6 What does this paragraph tell us about the relationship between the abbot and the
individual member of the community?
Q 7 Give examples how verse 13 could be helpful for any decision – making in general.
Prayer: Psalm 143: 8-10
i
Thomas Merton: New Seeds of Contemplation pg.83
ii
Evagrius Ponticus354-399) “The Mind’s Journey to the Holy Trinity” # 8 and 9.
Maximus the Confessor : Writings.
iv
André Louf: ???
v
Catherine Huick Doherty “Poustinia Pg. 22
vi
Thomas Merton: New Seeds of Contemplation Pg. 80 - 81
vii
Jean Vanier: Community and Growth
iii
Part III
Tools for
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RB CH 4A: THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE SPIRITUAL ART
RB CH 4B: STABILITY
RB CH 4C: A LIFE OF BALANCE
RB CH 5: OBEDIENCE
RB CH 6: SILENCE
RB CH 7: HUMILITY
Part III
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CHAPTER FOUR
MONASTIC ATTITUDES:
A: “THE INSTRUMENTS OFTHE SPIRITUAL ART”
What Must I Do to Live a Spiritual Life?
1.Commandments – Regulations - Recommendations?
When on Pentecost day the Apostle Peter preached to the crowd who had gathered in
front of the house where the Holy Spirit descended in form of fiery tongues and in sound of a
strong wind, the crowd asked anxiously: “What are we to do brothers?” (Acts 2:37f)
This question was an echo to the guilt-stricken reactions of the various groups of
penitents that had asked St. John the Baptist at the river Jordan “ What must we do?”
(Luke 3: 10 - 14) Both answers were similar: Repent of your misdeeds, let yourselves be
baptized and live a new, a holier life.
This same basic question had been asked many times by people after Jesus’ death and
resurrection, and so it is easy to believe when scholars tell us that the source of chapter 4 in the
Rule of Benedict as well as of the Master had been an ancient list for Neophytes: newly
baptized people who now had to learn a new way of life, a Christian life.
Whoever entered the monastery found himself in a similar position: “What must I do
to live as a monk?” The Master answers: “Here are the instruments of the spiritual art that the
abbot is supposed to teach.” St. Benedict shortens the title to “Tools or Instruments of the
Good Works”. Both lists are pretty much identical. There are some 74 prescriptions of Do’s and
Dont ‘s by which one can tell whether a person has understood the new law and practices it.
What we have here, of course, is an ideal picture, a Magna Charta so-to-speak, by which
Christians in the world and monks and nuns in a monastery can orient their way of living. They
are not “commandments”, although they include the Ten Commandments; perhaps we can call
them: “regulations”, rules (derived from the Latin word: regula, which means rule). But may be
called recommendations, but not just “ suggestions”, as some people would like to consider the
Ten Commandments God’s ten “suggestions” on how to live a happy and orderly life!
Seventy-four rules are a lot, but this number still falls short of the 613 + precepts of the
Jewish law which only experts, the Scribes, could actually know, and no one could fully practice,
as the Apostle Peter testifies. (Acts 15:10)) The reason for the multiplication of laws and rules in
the Mosaic law had been that when the Scriptures were written down, scholars of the law, had
already debated for centuries about the application of God’s precepts in various cases and
circumstances, and thus more and more regulations needed to be drawn up which were then
adopted as belonging to the original body of the Law. In the course of time, the longer people
tried to apply the simple commandments to ever new situations, the more laws they had to
come up with and the more loopholes they would find in order to get out of them altogether.
Thus, religious instruction in Judaism consisted mainly in memorizing and comparing the
opinion of various scholars concerning a particular passage. Thus it was understandable that
the Pharisees and Scribes tried to trap Jesus in the net of the Law because they knew he had
never studied with any of their rabbis. However, Jesus was not concerned with human
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inventions, but with the will of God. He came not to debate and explain the law but to obey the
will of God.
Thus, when he was asked by the Scripture scholar “Master, what is the greatest commandment
in the law?” he quotes the very first and most important one: “You shall love the Lord your God
with your whole heart… and adds the second: And your neighbor as yourself.”
St. Paul says: “The one who loves has fulfilled the law…. ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” ( Romans
13:8-10).
St. Benedict calls these recommendations: Instruments or tools
Q 1 What does the term” Instrument” or “tool” actually suggest?
Q 2 What images can be associated with this term?
2. Simplifying and Bringing Order
There is little success to the attempt to find an order of progression or a structure in this
random list in chapter 4. Perhaps the three categories: “Love of God, love of neighbor, love of
self” might work as “shelves”, on you place the 74 tools after you go through the list, one by
one.
Love of God implies that we want to communicate with Him, in prayer and listening.(##
55 – 57) We want to “prefer Christ before all else” (#21), we long to be with God forever,( # 46)
and are eager to give Him all the honor and not assume it to ourselves,(## 41, 42) etc..
Love of neighbor avoids everything that would harm or hurt others (65 – 68) and will do
everything that furthers their well-being and spiritual growth.( ##14 – 19) This often implies
saying no to one’s own interests and natural impulses. (# 29 -33)
True love of self means loving fully one’s whole self: body, mind, spirit. It must at times
be “tough love” and requires discipline, in order to harness our run-away emotions and desires;
but it also means forgiving ourselves as God forgives. True self-love musters the courage to
grow into the best person we are called to be. This means saying “NO” to our laziness and selfcomplacency, and little by little breaking out of our self-centeredness. It means surrender to
what is greater and rejoicing in serving others.
Q 3 Go through the 74 tools and try to put each one into a column of the three categories. You
will find that some could be placed in more than one category. Place them in both or in all
three.
Q 4 Discuss the meaning of 4:8; 10, 13, 20, 22, 23, 47, 52, 62.
St. Benedict concludes this chapter with the statement that we are to use these
“instruments of the spiritual craft” and return them to God on judgment day in order to
receive a reward of unimaginable value that God has already prepared for those “ who love
him”. ( CF 1 Cor. 2:9)
Q 5 How do you read: “using the instruments without ceasing, day and night”? (RB 4:76)
Q 6 What does the phrase: “returning the instruments to God on judgment day” imply?
Q. 7 Some people may feel uncomfortable with the idea of getting a “reward for our good
deeds”. Can there be other motives for using living a Christian life than the hope for a reward ?
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3. Being Instruments for One Another
Tools are implements for more effective living, they enhance human skills. Archaeologists are
searching for remnants of stone, wood, iron, copper tools when they surmised that humans
had inhabited a particular area ages ago. Scientists can now even determine the time when
these tools were actively used by aborigines who had long ago settled in an area.
The more sophisticated our work is, the finer and more precise our instruments will have to be.
With surgical or musical instruments we can affect other people’s life, as well as enhance our
own performance. However, in the end it is not the instrument that causes the effect, but the
human hand and mind that uses them.
In like manner, God uses us as instruments for one another: individually; e.g. prophets or kings
as God’s instruments for a whole nation; or corporately: the Jewish people were called to be
instruments of the salvation of the world.
In this way, we affect one another by our choice of attitudes toward others, be it by our
acceptance, respect, and love, as well as adversely by hatred, cruelty, or rejection.
Instruments usually are made up of several parts which have to work well together.
St. Ignatius of Antioch. (50 – 117) writes in his letter to the Ephesians:
“It is fitting , therefore, that you should be in agreement with the mind of the bishop as in fact
you are. Your excellent presbyters, … are as suited to the bishop as strings to a harp. “ i
The individual part of a musical instrument need to be attuned to one another and blend
together to create harmony.
A single string may produce a beautiful sound, but no music. Music is produced by several
strings fitted together in an instrument, and each plays its part properly.
Notice also, that a violinist is all the more skilled, if he can play with an instrument of poor
quality, even with a missing or broken string. Ultimately, it is not the instrument that makes the
music, but the violinist who knows and uses his instrument. To become a good instrument is
similar to becoming a good violin bow: sensitive and obedient to the master’s hand, to every
slight touch and movement. The more we let God work within us and with us, the more
profound will be the effect. In the end, the credit does not belong to the violin, nor the single
string, but to the artist who can enchant the audience.
For Personal Reflection or Sharing:
Q 8 Recall persons in your own life who were instrumental in your life journey.
Benedict uses the term: “tools of the spiritual life” (4:75)
Q 9 What does “spiritual life” mean for him?
Q 10 What does it mean for you?
Q 11 Some people would like to be “spiritual”, but don’t want to be “religious”, nor “Christian”
nor “holy”. What would they have to strike out from the list of RB chapter 4?
4. Living a Holy Life in Every Day Circumstances
It is remarkable that Benedict has inserted the practical and works of mercy into this list
for monastics:
4:14f: “You must relieve the lot of the poor
Clothe the naked
Visit the sick
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Bury the dead
Go to help the troubled
Console the sorrowing” etc.. But in the end, he suggests that the monk should do all these good
works in his monastery, and not leave the enclosure.
Of course, there might be certain occasions for a particular monk to help a poor person when
he comes to the monastery gate, or to tailor clothes for others, or to bury a brother who has
died, but these acts can’t be done by everyone “without ceasing – day and night”.
This apparent contradiction shows
a) that this record had originally been a list of Christian attitudes and behaviors for the
newly baptized.
b) that Benedict is suggesting that “charity begins at home”. One does not have to go out
and become a social worker or conduct an undertaker’s business in order to do works of
mercy.
c) It also suggests that not all tools need to be done by everyone at all times, but
whenever the opportunity arises.
When Benedict says that the monk should practice these virtues and good works at his
home, in the enclosure of the monastery. For the lay person it would mean that these works
are to be practiced in their homes and everyday life. We don’t need to change our external
circumstances, nor go to another country to practice works of charity, but to live our ordinary
life in a charitable and holy way.
We also don’t have to become paranoid, carrying this list with us, checking each day
what we have accomplished. It means simply, living mindfully, united with Christ, and watching
out for the opportunities as they may arise and act lovingly and responsibly as a true Christian.
12: Attach this list on your mirror for a while and examine your day in the evening to detect
how much you are doing already quite naturally from the goodness of your heart or where you
may have missed a chance.
For monks and oblates, this list could also serve as a help to examine our consciences
before confession. Thus it becomes a means not so much to show us how spiritual we are, but
to help us to become more so.
CHAPTER FOUR
Verses 75 - 78
Also: Chapters 58 - 61
B.. Stability
1. Levels of Meaning
After having admonished us to use these tools unceasingly day and night, St. Benedict
ends this chapter with the phrases “we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks”… in “the
workshop of the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community. “(4:78)
We know that “stability”, “enclosure”, and “fidelity” are characteristic terms for
Benedict’s monks. Already in chapter one Benedict labels the fourth group of monks, the
gyrovagues as “pseudo-monks”, because “they spend their entire lives drifting from region to
region, staying as guests for three or four days in different monasteries. Always on the move,
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they never settle down.” For Benedict this seems to be the opposite of a true monk, a cenobite,
who belongs to one monastery, and serves under one rule and one abbot. (RB1:1)
For Benedict, stability is so important that he places this virtue as first requirement for one who
comes to the monastic life: He will be tested whether he stands firm in his resolution; once he
is admitted, he promises stability; and then he takes his vows, the first one being stability.
What really is meant by that word in Benedictine terms?
The word stability comes from Latin “stare” which means: to stand. Something that
stands firm is stable, (unmoved) the opposite is unstable, something that wavers and wobbles,
eventually caves in and crashes, if too much weight is placed upon it.
We see already from the section above that stability has more than one meaning. Besides the
literal, physical one, it describes also a permanent place of residence and perseverance in one’s
job as well as the consistant character of a person,.
2. Stability/ Instability in the Rule:
Q 1 Find and discuss the meaning of stability in the following contexts.
Pay special attention to the words: Always, wherever one may be, day and night, keep on
doing, without ceasing, patiently etc .
Already in the Prologue, Benedict exhorts the newcomer who enrolls in the school of the
Lord’s service,) not to be daunted by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation,
because it must be narrow in the beginning. (Prol.48)
In chapter 1 he paints the life of a Gyrovague who does not live a life of stability. (1:10 – 11)
(The word Gyro- vague is a word, composed of the Greek gyro: to wander in circles, and the
Latin vagrant which is explained as: to wander about in various regions, ready to change places,
being always on the move. )
In chapter 4,
4:47, 4:63 as well as the last paragraph
In chapter 7:
7: 36, 7: 38, 7: 42: 62:
In chapter 58 where the novice promises stability and perseverance.
58:3; 9 , 11 13,15 , 17
Chapter 60:2 ,: 9
61::5
We see what a great importance this virtue of stability or steadfastness has in the teaching of
Benedict.
Q 2 Take one minute and write down synonyms for stability that come to your mind.. Compare
your notes.
3. Benedictine Stability
In monastic language, stability means perseverance in one’s place, in one’s community, and
in one’s commitment as monk. ( Fidelity to one’s Profession).
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a) Stability of Place
The popular meaning is: Remaining in one place:
aa) Stability to One’s Place of Residence.
Every Benedictine Abbey is independent and only connected to others by a loose bond of
Federation. All Benedictine monasteries belong to the Benedictine Congregation in Rome with
an Abbot Primate as representative. He does not have jurisdiction over the individual Abbey.
There is no central “Generalate” or General Superior. But all are accountable to the
“Congregation for Religious and Secular institutes in Rome”.
Usually, a monastery remains on the place of foundation for centuries, and thus with his
profession, the monk binds himself also to the place of the monastery. Only, If the whole
monastery moves, the monk moves with the monastic family.
In the case of a foundation, the daughter house is dependent on the founding abbey until it
gains independence. Individual monastics can be sent to a foundation, but have their stability at
the mother house. Once the dependent house gains independence, the monks can choose to
return to the house of their stability or to transfer their stability to the new foundation.
ab) Enclosure: Place of Privacy and/or Restriction
Implied in the idea of stability is the fact that every monastery should have an
enclosure, and the monks are not given to willfully, needlessly wandering about. (66:6-7)
There is a twofold form of enclosure: an active and a passive one.
The passive enclosure is an inner area that is reserved to members of the community: ( it can
be compared with a private family room) such an enclosed area assures a space of silence and
privacy for the inhabitants only. (This area may only be entered by priests who give the last
rites, plumbers who fix broken pipes, and kings who founded the monastery and kept it going
through donations and stipends).
The active enclosure pertains to the inhabitants of the monastery: they do not go out of the
enclosure except in few defined cases.
Some monasteries of women still have Papal Enclosure: The nuns are totally separated from the
people outside by grill and wall. They never go out except in case of illness or emergency.
(Some Benedictines still have Papal enclosure, and most Carmelites and Poor Clare Nuns do.)
The alternative to Papal is the “Constitutional Enclosure”. Most Benedictines have an enclosure
that is defined in the Constitutions. Nuns can go out for certain purposes, like education,
vacation, voting and business, medical treatment etc., but not without permission from the
superior.
b) Stability in Community (Monastic Family) / Abbey
Stability for Benedictines in its most important sense is the commitment to the Abbey
of one’s entrance. (Including the dependent communities of the founding Abbey). This
means a becoming a part of the history of that monastery: past, present, and future. It is a
willing acceptance of the present members, the particular challenges of the community, and
its future projects with their problems and potentials. It can be compared with marrying into
the family of one’s spouse.
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There is a sense of belonging and identification , but also a liability and expectation to live up
to, to exceed , or to correct attitudes of past generations.
Like in a larger family, the newcomer shares in the present richness of each individual, but also
is faced with the challenge of having to bear with one another. By accepting, rubbing and
encouraging one another, the members come to their individuation and maturation. And all
grow together from an imperfect state of community to a more mature and better
functioning one.
Living in the same community for one’s whole life, one comes to see other members
brothers / sisters, even if they were not necessarily friends. This process of acceptance and
encouragement takes a long time and does not exclude confrontations, disagreements, and
often enough mutual irritations.
St. Benedict’s chapter on humility points this out:: the monk “endures difficult,
unfavorable, unjust conditions, hardships, … amidst false brothers “ without weakening or
escape” ( RB7: 35f): In a life together with others, reality replaces any initial illusions about
other people’s holiness, but foremost one’s own. in this way, stability in monastic life is
therapeutic. Accepting reality also means accepting one’s own imperfection and thus it can and
should lead to conversion. Conversion is hard work, and no one in the monastery nor in the
world is spared this challenge. Going to another place does nothing but avoid the issue. It only
means evading the work God wants to do with us, namely molding us into His image and
likeness, by the help and challenge of exactly these people whom God has put into our path..
The fathers of the desert have left us many sayings about this perseverance: A tree that
is often transplanted cannot bear fruit. -- Stay put in your cell, and your cell will teach you
everything. --- If someone cannot come to find God where one is, one will also not find Him in
any other place. --- "It's like digging a well for water: First it is easy, then comes the hard part of
drilling through rock. If one quits the particular spot where one had begun, thinking it might be
easier elsewhere, one will end up with a land full of superficial holes, but no water. -The solution is not a change of place, but a change of heart.”
How closely conversion and stability are interrelated.
Q 3 How does all this relate to the oblate’s life ?
c) Stability in the Monastic Life
In a third meaning, stability is a consistency in one’s life-style and fidelity to our value system.
FIDELITY means: Being there ALL THE TIME- OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME; In ALL situations
that this life presents us:
The desert fathers used to say: “A monk is not a monk who enters a monastery, but one
who has grown old in a monastery.” He has spent a lifetime living the monastic life,
experienced its challenges and temptations, and has come to accept it as his particular
vocation.
In turn, It has formed him: his own individual character, taste, preferences and ways of
thinking, habit of doing..
Fidelity to the monastic way of life, as well as to the married or single life in the world includes
periods of doubts, of temptations to run away, to seek a more pleasant and comforting
environment, (the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”)
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A retreat master said once: “Often those who are in monasteries wished they were out and
those outside wished they were in!”
Finally, there is the spiritual struggle about our relationship with God, the fact having to live in
faith and to making this commitment to a life of faith. This process of surrender to a God who is
Mystery rather than to our own superficial self-made image of Him is a life-long struggle from
which no one is spared, regardless whether monk or lay person.
There will also be doubts and struggles regarding one’s value systems and priorities. Perhaps,
one can say: “The awareness of a true vocation stands not at the beginning, but at the end of
one’s life.”
Only in patiently enduring one’s own doubts, temptations, half-hearted commitments will we
learn the abundant love and forgiveness of God and experience that “God is greater than our
hearts”. (1 John 3:20)
4. Commitment
Today, people are very much afraid of commitment, especially young people; they
cannot imagine how commitment toward an unknown future is possible: We don’t know what
the future will hold for us, they say, nor for the partner , nor the community to whom we
commit ourselves How can one make a decision concerning the future of one’s life?
Is making a commitment prudent, and how is it possible?
Q 4: Discuss your opinion and experiences:
a) What would our life be like without commitment?
b) Would human love be possible?
5. God’s Fidelity
Paul writes in the letter to the Romans: “What can separate us from the love of Christ? ….
(Romans 8: 35 – 39)
In Deut. 7:9 we read:
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant
loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”
And
“The Lord God is my rock,
his work is perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he;
God will make his promises come true.
We can trust in Him”. Deut. 32:4
This fidelity of God to us has been made manifest in the person of Jesus Christ:
“As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been "Yes and No." For the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always
"Yes." For in him every one of God's promises is a "Yes." For this reason it is through him that
we say the "Amen," to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and
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has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first
installment.” (2 Cor. 1:18-22)
“if we are faithless, he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Tim. 2:13
Q 5 What do these passages suggest about God’s commitment to us?
God has wants us to be faithful to Him and to one another. We can do this only with the help of
His Spirit who abides within us.
Jesus speaks of a mutual abiding.
Q 6 Meditate on the Scripture references below and recognize the various forms in which this
mutual abiding takes place:
Hag 2: 5 My spirit abides among you, do not fear.
Jn. 6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.
Jn 14: 15 – 17; 21, 23 The Paraclete to be with you forever…
Jn.15: 4 The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides on the vine.
Jn. 15: 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you
1Cor. 13:13 Faith, hope and love abide, these three
1 Jn. 3: 6 No one who abides in him sins
1 Jn. 3 : 24 All who keep his commandments abide in God and God in them
1 Jn. 4 : 16 Those who abide in love abide in God
2 Jn. 1:9 Who does not abide in the teaching.
6. Stability as Character Trait
St. Benedict seeks stability as first requirement in every newcomer.
In chapter 58, he uses similar words that have more to do with character traits than with a
particular action.
Q 7 Look up the context and find synonyms for the applicant’s stability:
58: 3-5
58:9-17; 23, 28
60:2; 9;
61: 1-2; 5-10;
All these words are not so much about doing, but becoming and being.
Stability of character is experienced as equanimity, endurance, reliability, patience.
Q 8 Describe persons who have shown these character traits.
7. Psychological Need for Stability
Q. 9. Reflect on the impact stability/ instability has on children and young people.
Long ago, at the visit to a cabin to one of our oblates I found this plaque:
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
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Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
This same person told me later that a wildfire had burnt her sister’s cabin down. When they
searched in the ashes and rubble for salvageable items, they found a singed page of a Bible.
On this page was printed Psalm 46.
Q. 10 Look it up and see why the family received much comfort from this psalm.
Q. 11 Pray this Psalm slowly, reflectively and remember times of “storms and earthquakes” in
your own and other people’s lives.
CHAPTER FOUR
C. A LIFE OF BALANCE
I. Between Stability And Openness To Change (Flexibility)
1. Psychological Aspects
We humans are a funny lot: Our life is full of contradictions, and we want it that way:
a) We need stability and regularity:
We function better when there is order and regularity.
We can trust only a person who has shown to be reliable, consistent, and stable.
Stability gives us the feel of security, which is a basic need in our lives.
Children have an existential need for security.
A sense of consistency and predictability makes the task of raising children easier than a chaotic
spontaneity.
Most people are afraid of change, are uneasy when there is unpredictability or unfamiliarity.
We have a hard time letting go of control, of our habits and of most cherished prejudices
Nothing is more devastating in life than the loss of a parent or a divorce,
Even a move or change of jobs seems a trauma. It feels, as if we were being uprooted, or the
ground is being pulled away from our feet.
And yet:
b) We also dread monotony, boredom, routine.
We hate being called old-fashioned, backwards or outdated.
The desire for new adventures, new sensations and cultures, or just for a change of scenery
makes people travel and keeps them on the run after ever new fashions and gadgets of
technology.
c) Perhaps most of the time, we have mixed feelings about the fact that life goes on and we
have to keep up.
We think with mixed feelings of the time when children will leave the nest empty,
or when retirement sets in.
We wonder how we will cope with illness, old age, loss of a spouse or friend, and we know, life
will be quite different, and we dread it.
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Life brings change, requires growth, develops rapidly and presents us with a never ending need
of adjustments. “No one steps twice into the same river.”
The last two centuries have seen more changes in society, in technology and mentality than in
previous centuries. It is hard to keep up physically, mentally, financially.
God who has always been thought to be unchangeable and most steadfast, seems to be always
on the side of life and growth and surprises.
What is stable in the world?
What remains?
The physical body grows and develops, -- yet remains still the same body.
The spiritual life requires constant conversion as new ways of thinking and acting, yet we
remain the same.
Standing still means slipping backward.
The Spirit thrusts us forward, and we are scared, for we cannot see the path nor the goal ahead.
All we can do is to give God our trust in faith and obedience.
The fact is:
We need both:
-stability, order, security and reliability
and
-flexibility to move on when it is time
The opposite of flexibility may not be stability, but rigidity, laziness, or fear.
Our Christian Life is pending between Stability and Change:
Christianity is always living with contradictions, this tension between two extremes,
Q 1 Share your own experiences with mixed feelings between holding on, letting go and
reaching out to new opportunities.
Q 2 How can we know when it is time to do either the one or the other?
2. The Need for Discernment
We need discernment and make informed choices in regard to the objects of our
decisions, as well as a sound assessment of our own situation. As our body grows, our mind
develops, our values of life change, they acquire greater intricacy and depths. This calls for
discernment.
Likewise, history moves on, (our own life history, as well as the history of our society, our
nation and the world.) Past cultures and mentalities have shaped our history negatively or
positively. Discernment decides what to hold on to, develop further, what to discard in order to
move into the right direction of our lives.
The most important insight is:
Divine and human values,
spiritual and material goods,
traditional customs and acquired habits are not on an equal level.
They have made an impact on our lives, but we have to discern their importance, their value for
our times, whether they are transient or permanent, and have to foresee the direction in which
they will take us in order to know whether we want to follow their lead
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As Christians, we can hold:
There are basic values that cannot change: Faith in God’s promise, Truth, Goodness, Life,
Obedience to God’s will, etc.. These are the foundation of our stability and fidelity.
However, they are not offered to us full and ready-made: they need to unfold, grow, be
applied to our daily lives and its ever changing situations.
This may look like change, but it is a necessary development in the same direction.
Even the language and expression of our faith can and must grow toward further clarity and
authenticity, however not away from it, nor toward its opposite direction.
There are also lesser values in our life that will change and disappear to be replaced with
something new or different.
We ourselves and our own interests are among them.
Human beings grow old, pass away, new life replaces us.
The first letter of Peter reads: “ You have been born anew, not from perishable but from
imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God, for: ‘All flesh is like grass, and all
its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower wilts; but the word of the
Lord remains forever." (1 Peter 1:23-25)
We are only pilgrims on earth, we have here no eternal home.
Discernment decides whether the new is better and consistent with basic unchangeable values
or not.
God who is the God of Fidelity and ever new surprises will bring His plan and purpose to His
end. If we thwart his original plan, He usually has a back-up plans that ultimately lead to the
same goal, however often in detours and greater costs.
God is always Mystery that surprises us, God is not predicable, nor maneuverable, but faithful
to His word and His goodness toward us.
But God has also given us the freedom to make our own decisions regarding our life on earth
and even our eternal fate.
We have the responsibility to make decisions regarding others, a new generation, our Church,
our country, our society and culture, and our earth.
A fundamental consistency lies in our commitment to doing His will. But this will is often not
easy to discern. We needs prayer, earnest searching and humility and obedience. God’s ways
may not always be according to our human understanding and choosing, but when we dare to
follow Him, courageously and consistently, they will lead us to a life of love and joy which “no
eye has seen, no ear heard of and no human heart could ever imagine” (RB 4: 77)
II. Christian Life Includes Polarity
1. Opposites Need to be Balanced
The art of Christian living consists in keeping a proper balance between opposites.
Remember an old fashioned scale, as a piece of medieval art sometimes depicts it in the hand
of St. Michael. He holds on a ring or string the center of a movable horizontal bar that has two
flat plates or a shallow bowls on either end. In one bowl sits a tiny person, in the other its good
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deeds represented by pieces of gold. “You will be weighed and found wanting” said Daniel to
Belshazzar (Daniel 5: 27).
In our life, we have to balance several opposite tasks, obligations, and favorite
occupations which are all clamoring for our time and attention. It is often hard to choose to
which we should devote the 24 hours of the day; for all of them seem to clamor for our time
and attention. We have to make choices and to parcel out our resources according to
priorities.
Likewise, in our state of mind, there are opposite attitudes that need to be properly balanced
so that they can be integrated without weighing down our life to one side more than to
another.
These opposing elements, whether they are time consuming occupations, or mental attitudes,
or religious habits are countless in number.
E.g.
a) Devotion to our spiritual Life versus our material and social obligations.
b) Times for Togetherness versus Solitude
c) Consistency versus Flexibility
d) Regularity versus Spontaneity
e) Speaking versus Silence
f) Work versus Leisure/ Recreation
g) Asceticism / Discipline versus Trust in God’s Grace
h) Sorrow for our Sins versus Joy in God’s Forgiveness
i) Frugality versus Generosity
j) Seriousness versus a Sense of Humor
k) Self – Confidence versus Humility
l) Obedience versus Freedom
m) Prudence versus Trust in God’s Providence and Care and several more.
Q 3 Discuss each line and find out whether the opposite poles exclude each other, or need to
be employed alternately? Give examples.
Some people have accused St. Benedict’s chapter four as “Pelagianist”. (Pelagius taught that
humans can achieve salvation by their own good works and power of will, if only they work
hard enough and apply themselves thoroughly.)
Q 4. How far do the instruments listed in chapter 4 may justify this accusation?
Q 5 Are there exceptions?
In former centuries, the question whether we are justified by God through our good works or
by faith in Jesus Christ has separated denominations and countries. By now, we have come to
agree that our salvation comes from God’s grace and faith in him.
Q 6 Look up Titus 2: 1 – 3:8 and find there the balance between God’s grace and our response.
Q 7 Do you think that the term “reward” is still usable?
2. For Personal Reflection
Q 8. Does your life feel balanced in regard to the opposite elements mentioned above?
Q 9. On which side do you tend to place your priority?
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Q. Reflect on the following statements:
“Always fall in love with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given and make it over your
way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against, with.”
(Robert Frost).
Our Christian life can be seen as two parallel lines that meet only in God, while we have not
depth enough to follow up to the point of convergence.
(J. Henry Newman).
CHAPTER FIVE
OBEDIENCE
And Chapters 7 and 68
“YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”
(Matthew 6: 10)
Thomas Merton wrote early on in his monastic life:
“A spirit that is drawn to God in contemplation will soon learn the value of obedience:
the hardships and anguish he has to suffer every day from the burden of his own selfishness
and clumsiness and incompetence and pride will give him a hunger to be led and advised and
directed by somebody else. His own will becomes the source of so much misery and so much
darkness that he does not go out to some other man merely to seek light or wisdom or counsel:
he comes to have a passion for obedience itself and for the renunciation of his own will and of
his own lights. Therefore he does not obey his abbot or his director merely because the
commands of the advice given to him seem good and profitable and intelligent in his own eyes.
He does not obey just because he thinks his abbot makes admirable decisions. On the contrary,
sometimes the decisions of his superior seem to be less wise; but with this he is no longer
concerned, because he accepts the superior as a mediator between him and God and rests
only in the will of God as it comes to him through the men that have been placed over him by
the circumstances of his vocation.” ii “Obedience is the primary obligation of the monk,” he
says.
Later on, he found out, like everyone else, that obedience is also the primary stumbling
block for the monk, and often enough an object of fear for many religious vocations. It may be
the greatest obstacle for everyone in our journey through life. Although we have experienced
the absurdity of our own self-will run wild often enough, although we pray the “Our Father”
every day, we still hug our own will tightly as our most precious good, our privilege, our
entitlement, and are very reluctant to let it go in order to take up the will of God, let alone that
of another person.
Q 1: Is obedience an obligation only for monks?
Q 2: While most people will agree that it is our duty to obey God, many have difficulty to
understand why they should do so by obeying our superiors. What is your opinion?
Q 3: How does Merton’s text (above) answer this problem?
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I. Obedience in the Rule
1. Motives of Obedience
Perhaps the next question to ask is why we should obey, or why we even would want to
obey. It is with this question that St. Benedict begins his chapter:
Benedict links obedience automatically with humility and love for Christ. This is how he expects
monastic obedience to be. But there are other motives that can prompt a person to obey:
Q 4: Read the paragraph RB 5: 1-6, name and discuss the motivation St. Benedict lists here.
Q 5: Can you think of other motivations that make people obey?
2. Attributes of Benedictine Obedience
Benedict is not only concerned that we obey at all. He describes how this obedience is
to be given:
a) Promptness.
Q 6: Read verses 5: 1 – 9, note all the attributes that describe this immediate obedience on the
part of the monk.
For Benedict, a prompt response manifests best the detachment of a person from his/ her own
will and occupation.
b) Willingness
The following two paragraphs lead us a step deeper into the mind and heart of the obedient
person.
Q 7: Read 5: 10 – 19 and describe the motivations for this willingness.
3. Obedience as Indicator of Other Virtues:
Already in the first sentence of chapter five, St. Benedict binds obedience to humility and love
for Christ. In Chapter 7, he says the monks should be on guard against his own will and desire.
Q 8: Read chapter 7: 12, 19 – 21; 31 – 34. Where do you find allusions to self-will versus
obedience ?
Q. 9: Describe the connection between humility and obedience
Q 10: Describe how love makes obedience “natural” and relatively easy
II. The Nature of Obedience in a Lay Christian and in a Monk
1. Difference in Extent
All human beings, in so far as they believe in God, naturally feel the obligation to obey
the will of their Creator and Giver of Life. Christians insofar as they wish to be genuine disciples
of Christ obey Christ’s teaching and conduct their lives according to God’s commandments.
Obedience unites us and brings us into solidarity with Christ, for Jesus said: “It is my food to
obey the will of Him who sent me.” (John 4: 43). We imitate his example and let our minds be
inspired and guided by His teaching. Therefore, in areas of moral, social, and religious behavior,
we comply with Christian principles.
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But God gave human beings the freedom to obey or not to obey, and thus determine
the fate of their own lives. They can take any job in compatibility with their conscience, they
can marry, own property or give it away. They can live where and how they want. God respects
our freedom, and we also protect it or fight for it as our most precious privilege, often at great
cost in an oppressive regime. But this freedom is also our most serious responsibility.
For the monk, obedience to the superior is a vow that he takes on freely, a vow that
goes beyond the obligation of all Christians. It is an expression of faith, a willingness to give
himself over to God. The monks has dedicated his life for God’s glory, wants to serve Him with
all the gifts, God has given to him. Totally belonging to God the monk forgoes his own right to
determine the place and manner of his service. It is God who disposes over the monk’s life.
The strongest motive for any obedience is love; and only people who are or have been
deeply in love will understand this desire for obeying the Beloved in order to please and bring
happiness to the other person. The monk likewise aspires to union with Jesus Christ. Therefore
He imitates Him and joins Him in His obedience to the Father. Therefore the monk’s obedience
goes further than that of the lay Christian. It affects the whole of his life.
2. Areas of Obedience to God’s Will
As Creatures, we owe obedience to God who gave us life.
a) Acceptance of our Humanity as Created Beings
The very first and basic act of obedience is an acceptance of our status as creatures:
Acceptance of the fact that we are human, not divine;
that we are not God, not perfect,
not without error and mistake,
not without weakness and pain,
We are limited in our ability to know, to do, to experience everything.
We are restricted to a particular time and space.
One day, we will die.
b) Acceptance of Self
Secondly, acceptance of our individual human personality is an act of obedience: where we
come from, our gender, our parents, our genes, our gifts and talents, our shortcomings, the
shape of our body, the skin color, our face. We have to accept the conditions of our health, our
age, our strength and the way we develop and age. For all that fits mysteriously into God's plan
and is the raw material that we need, to become what we are supposed to be. Acceptance of
oneself is a basic act of obedience, and simultaneously an act of gratitude, trust and faith.
This acceptance leads us from the illusion of a false ego – the person that I want and dream to
be and make other people believe that I am - to our true Self, the Self that God knows and
loves. This is the self that with our willing cooperation, God wants to work with in order to form
it more and more into the image of Christ.
c). Acceptance of the Present Situation if it is beyond our Control:
We need to discern whether a certain dissatisfactory situation in our life is within our control to
change, or whether we need to accept it. Often, to change an unjust situation might ask a high
price, and we have to prayerfully consider whether we are asked to pay this price and whether
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our efforts will have success; whether we would inflict hardships also on others, and whether
the result would justify the hardships and costs. With other words, we have to consider what
we are called to do, whether we should try to escape or to fight the evil, or in patience to bear
our present trials in union with the suffering of Christ and for the good of all humankind.
We can trust that once we have done all that is within our power that God will do the rest in His
own time. We also need to believe in the redemptive value of suffering.
Q 16: Read and share your experience with Romans 8: 28.
d) Obedience to the Word of God as Disciples of Christ
Through God’s grace we have come to know Christ and to believe in Him: He is our Teacher, our
Savior, and Lord: The Father sent His Son in human nature to live a model human life. Jesus is
our example. In imitating Him, we show Him obedience.
Christ came into the world also as our teacher and our guide to the Father. No one else knows
who God is and what God wants of us. We accept His Word in trust, faith, and obedient actions.
For: "It is not anyone who says to me: ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.....". (Mt 7:21)
Christ chose not to do the work alone by Himself, He wanted our cooperation. Nor did he force
His will upon us. We are supposed to give him our willing and free trust, for He gave His life for
us. No one has greater love than that he lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
He alone is able to lead us to eternal life, for He is the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep,
who alone knows the Father, and knows the way to the Father. “My sheep hear my voice, and
they follow me.” (Cf. John 10:27)
III. Biblical View of Obedience to God
1. Obedience in the Old Testament
a) As Creatures, we owe Obedience toward God as our Creator:
God called all creation into life, and creation responds to the innate law by necessity:
(He) sent forth the light, and it goes;
he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling;
the stars shone in their watches, and were glad;
he called them, and they said, "Here we are!"
They shone with gladness for him who made them.
This is our God;
no other can be compared to him. (Baruch 3:30-35)
b) The Prototype of Obedience is Abraham:
Q 11: Read Genesis 12: 1 – 9; 22: 1-19; Hebrews: 11: 8- 9; 17 – 19.
By his obedience Abraham became the father of faith. But obedience in faith has its roots in
trust.
c) Disobedience is Lack of Trust in God and Unfounded Trust in One’s Own Will and Judgment:
Q 12: See Genesis: 2: 15 – 17 and chapter 3.
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God had offered the first parents the unfathomable gift of life: The were allowed to eat freely
from the fruit of the tree of life; but the LORD withheld from them the fruit of “knowledge of
good and evil”. Human disobedience consists in the wish to determine right and wrong for
themselves, rather than have God tell us.
For his disobedience, Saul was deposed from his office as King and replaced by David, the man
after God’s Heart. Samuel said to Saul:: "Does the LORD so delight in holocausts and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and
submission than the fat of rams... Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too,
has rejected you as ruler." (1 Sam 15:22-23)
2. Obedience in the New Testament
c) Obedience of Faith Glorifies God:
Obedience of faith means the acceptance of God’s word as being truthful. Our trust and
obedience acknowledges the truthfulness and goodness of God. Thus our obedience
contributes to His greater glory. Lack of obedience is lack of trust which does not acknowledge
the greatness and truthfulness of God, but diminishes them.
Q 13: See Romans 1: 5-6; 16: 26; 2 Cor. 9: 13 – 14. Discuss the meaning of these phrases.
d) The Example and Efficacy of Jesus’ Obedience:
Luke 2: 51-52; Philippians 2: 5 -11; Hebrews: 5: 7 - 10;
Q 14 Explain the nature of obedience in each of these statements and the fruit / reward that
followed.
As Christians, we are members of Christ’s Body; therefore we live in union with Him. Thus his
obedience has to become our own obedience.
By his obedience as man, Jesus grew into the fullness of his vocation as Son of God. The same
can be said of us that by obedience in union with Jesus Christ, we become by adoption what He
was by nature: child of God.
Q 15: Where do you find the necessity for obedience to God in your personal life?
IV. The Cross of Obedience
There seem to be good easons enough for our obedience, but these reasons don’t make
it any easier. St. Benedict knows the difficulty of obedience. He calls it “ the narrow road that
leads to life “ (RB 5:11), the labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you
have drifted through the sloth of disobedience . (RB Prol. 2) Jesus himself was in agony when
confronted with the decision of His Father that led him to the cross. Obedience will never be
easy, for it goes against our pride, our rampant self-will, and stubborn sense of autonomy. Only
love and humility can help us overcome these obstacles to obedience.
Where is the “labor of obedience” is most strongly felt?
1. In Matters Above our Understanding
The hardest cross is obedience in areas that we do not understand.
Q 16: Read the context of John 6: 52 - 71.
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“When Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him,
"Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Because he trusted Jesus, Peter could
give this answer and accept the Master’s teaching without understanding.
When our mind hits a closed door, we "need to fold the wings of our intellect" as
Catherine Huick de Doherty says and get down on our knees; for if God were not greater than
our intellect and our reasoning, He would not be God. There are Mysteries in this world that we
cannot grasp with our mind, for they are greater and deeper than our mind. It is with our heart
that we accept them.
Dietrich. Bonhoeffer writes about people who feel they cannot follow Christ; for their
faith is not strong enough. He says: Obey, and your faith will grow. First comes obedience, then
faith, not the other way around. He wrote: "There is something wrong about all these
questions. Every time we ask them we are retreating from the presence of the living Christ and
forgetting that Jesus Christ is not dead, but alive and speaking to us today through the
testimony of the Scriptures. He comes to us today, and is present with us in bodily form and in
his word. If we would hear his call to follow, we must listen where he is to be found, that is, in
the Church through the ministry of Word and Sacrament. The preaching of the Church and the
administration of the sacraments is the place where Jesus Christ is present." iii
2. Obedience to Other Human Beings
Our obedience to God would be so much easier, if God Himself would tell us directly
what to do. But as it is, for reason of His own, He uses human instruments, weak, fallible, sinful
instruments, just like we ourselves are. St. Benedict is adamant: “Obey the orders of the abbot
unreservedly, even if his own conduct – which God forbid—be at odds with what he says.
Remember the teaching of the Lord: Do what they say, not what they do.” (RB 4: 61) and: “The
Lord tells teachers: Whoever listens to you, listens to me. “(Luke 10:16) “ God’s choice to use
ordinary human instruments is His prerogative and is an extension of the Mystery of the
Incarnation. Jesus subjected himself freely to his parents. He denounced the hypocrisy of the
religious leaders, but followed the custom and demands to pay the temple tax. In his passion,
he submitted to the interrogation of the High Priest, the abuses of his torturers and the cruelty
of his executioners. He surrendered his Spirit to the Father in obedience to his will. By His
obedience and love he redeemed the whole human race from our disobedience.
During the centuries after his resurrection, He gives himself into the hands of the priests, any
ordained priests, who will change bread into his body. And in communion he gives himself to
us. This is the extent of his self giving, his love for us, his faith and trust.
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3. Obedience in “Impossible Situations”
Chapter 68: “ASSIGNMENT OF IMPOSSIBLE TASKS TO A BROTHER”
Q. 18 Read Chapter 68.
Chapter 68 is a counterpart to chapter 5. Here St. Benedict admits that the monk can
find himself in situations where it is impossible or very difficult to carry out chapter five.
Although he seems to negotiate the demand for immediate and unquestioning obedience, he
does not abolish it altogether. The monk should
- accept the task in complete gentleness and obedience,
- deliberate whether or how he can do it and/or even try.
If he sees the order still as impossible to fulfill, he will
-choose the appropriate time,
-explain patiently the reasons why he cannot obey, without pride, obstinacy or refusal.
If the superior insists,
-he must trust in God's help and in love obey, recognizing that this is best for him.
Q 19 What may be the reason that Benedict asks the brother to accept the task first and not to
object immediately?
Q 20 List impossible cases.
Q 22 Describe the attitude which Benedict demands of the brother when he presents the
impossibility of the task to the abbot.
Q 23 What do you think of the end of this chapter?
There is one area, where the disciple cannot and should not obey: when the task
assigned to him stands against his own conscience. Every person is asked to follow one’s own
conscience and cannot excuse himself with stating the order was given by others. This refusal
may cost him his life or his job, his reputation or his freedom, as we know too well from history.
However, our consciences must also be formed and informed by the Word of God and in
harmony with our faith.
4. Obedience versus Human Freedom and Dignity
God has given us the freedom to choose the good. If we misuse our freedom, we have
to accept the consequences. As humans, we are accountable to God and imbedded in the
whole human family. There are reasons that make us willing to restrict or even to give up our
freedom to live as we want, for a greater good to succeed. The greatest incentive to give up
human freedom is love. But in love we truly find ourselves in a way we could not find by
pursuing our own selfish desires.
The Document of Vatican II on the Renewal of Religious Life describes religious obedience thus:
“Let (religious) bring to the execution of commands and to the discharge of assignments
entrusted to them the resources of their minds and wills, and their gifts of nature and grace.
Lived in this manner, religious obedience will not diminish the dignity of the human person but
will rather lead it to maturity in consequence of that enlarged freedom which belongs to the
sons of God.” iv
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It is by obedience that we become truly mature and free to participate in the dignity and
richness of God’s children and contribute to the well-being of all.
Obedience makes us truly free:
The Psalmist sings: "I will run the way of your commandments and you gave freedom to my
heart.” ( Ps.119 : 52)
V. The Blessing of Obedience
For religious, the Evangelical Counsel or Vow of Obedience goes beyond the duty of
every Christian. It is a deliberate and free surrender of one’s own decisions out of love for Christ
and in union with Him to whom they belong. For Jesus, who was the freest and most mature
person in this world, this obedience was a means to bring his vocation to perfection. By
obedience he became fully what He truly was: Son of God and Savior of the world.
"We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, because he suffered death, he who for a
little while was made lower than the angels, that by the grace of God he might taste death for
everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing
many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering”
(Hebrews 2:9 )
“In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud
cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of
his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he
was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”.
(Hebrews 5:6.)
Obedience allows the person to become vulnerable. But it is also a gift of true and
genuine love: It is an unmistakable sign of love and it generates love in return.
Abbot André Louf writes:
“ Here we mean by obedience the giving up of one's own longings and desires - My Will - for the
Will of another - Your Will - specifically in this case the Will of the Father. This surrendering of
oneself, this setting aside of one's own desires in favor of someone else's, of another's, puts the
one who obeys in a new relationship to that Other. Obedience is a language and a sign. It also
effects something in the one who obeys. It lays his life entirely open to the requirements of an
Other and binds him fast to that Other. More, much more even than that. It can engender new
life. By laying someone open to an Other, it alters him in the deepest sense of the word. It is a
new life-style, whereby a person can detach himself more and more from his own constricted
state, so as to be engrossed in the richness of an Other and to share that richness with Him. This
is assuming, of course, that the obedience is spontaneous and free, and never degenerates into
slavery. This calls for a pure love and a great love on both sides. Of His Father's love Jesus was
totally sure.” v
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CHAPTER 6
SILENCE/ TACITURNITY
See also:
CHAPTERS 7, 20, 42, 52,
“I do not know the hidden strength,
of a saxifrage who can break rocks.
it does its work in its own quiet way,
and all without noise -For God loves silence .” Heinrich Waggerl, (translation: MT))
1. Silence, Desired or Feared ?
People who visit a monastery are frequently impressed by its silence. “It is so quiet
here!” is an often-heard remark. Some say it with genuine appreciation, others with a bit of
bewilderment or with apprehension. Silence has evidently become a rarity in our world. There
is noise and racket everywhere: air-planes overhead; semitrailers, motorcycles, and ambulance
sirens in the streets; cell phones, intercom systems, radio music in the stores; washing
machines, kitchen mixers, vacuum cleaners in our homes: most of our work is done
accompanied by noise; and at night, people relax and fall asleep with the Television set on,
taking its sound into their slumber.
One young man who stayed as guest in our hermitage could not fall asleep and drove
away in the middle of the night, because, as he later said, he could not stand the quiet.
People today apparently need noise as comfort against their loneliness or as protection
from their own thoughts and feelings that might come up when the noise ceases. Pauses during
a conversation are felt as embarrassing; and a popular sport commentator brags himself at his
ability to fill every second of a game with words, even if they consist only in needless
descriptions and explanations, as if the viewer would not be able to figure what is going on
without his constant babble.
Silence creates emptiness and invites thoughts, and this is what many people fear: an
empty space makes room for repressed images and past hurts to emerge from the unconscious.
But this is exactly what needs to happen for the healing of our memories and for releasing the
pressure of pent- up emotions. At some time in our life, we need to confront our shadows; we
need to listen to our deeper self, the cry of our soul and the longing of our unknown desires. All
this can only happen in silence and leisure when the racket of external voices has been muted
and faded away.
But the silence in the monastery has a greater value than just being a means of physical
relaxation or psychological therapy. We learn to listen to the still, small voice within, the
expressions of our truest self, the stirrings of our conscience, the message of God to us, and His
silent Presence with us that otherwise get drowned by the powerful cacophony that constantly
assails us on the outside.
2. Silence in the Rule
The sixth chapter of St. Benedict's Rule is entirely dedicated to monastic silence. RB 80
calls it: “Restraint of Speech”, or "Taciturnity”, which means a” habitual reserve in speaking”.
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Q 1: Read chapter 6: 1-6:
What seems to be St. Benedict’s greatest concern when imposing silence on his disciples?
Q.2: Look up the Scripture references quoted in this paragraph.
Q.3: Three times Benedict mentions that silence is better than even “good words”.
What could be his reasons for such a statement?
Q. 4 Think of situations where silence may be more appropriate than words.
Q. 5: Verse 7 links silence to humility and reverence. Show how verse 7 is connected to the
statement in verse 6.
Q 6: Compare verse 6:8 with the ninth, tenth and eleventh step of humility (chapter 7: 56 – 60).
Verse 8 lists three different kinds of talk. We might join Benedict in his distaste for “vulgarity”
and “gossip”, but it is hard for us today to see why one should not use “talk leading to
laughter”. Benedict stands in the spiritual tradition of his time, where the monastic life was
considered a life of penance and sorrow for sins. Therefore, loud and boisterous laughter was
regarded as inappropriate for a serious ascetic. However, this does not preclude humor.
Monastic life, as all human life, can get us into situations that are plain comical, and a good
portion of humor is often the best way to cope with them. However, humor as it appears in
monastic writing always has a note of compassion with others and laughter over oneself, not
vice versa. See the following anecdotes:
“Abba John the Little said: We have abandoned a light burden, namely self-criticism, and taken
up a heavy burden, namely self-justification.” vi
“Some old men came to see Abba Poemen, and said to him: Tell us, when we see brothers
dozing during the sacred office, should we pinch them so they will stay awake? The old man
said to them: Actually, if I saw a brother sleeping, I would put his head on my knees and let him
rest.” vii
Note: Monks at St. Benedict’s time did not have a time for recreation in their daily schedule. In
later centuries, with the growing awareness of human psychology, the need for relaxation has
become widely known, and a daily period of recreation was prescribed as obligatory for the
well-being of any community. There is a monastic saying: “Whoever knows a good joke is
bound in conscience to tell it at recreation -- and the others are bound in conscience to laugh!”
Q 7: Discuss how humor can be helpful in building up a community, but also: what kind of
humor tends to tear people down.
Q 8: Read Chapter 42. Explain why silence in the evening is especially appropriate for the
spiritual life.
Q 9: Read Chapter 52 and explain the reasons why Benedict wishes that all should leave the
oratory after prayer in silence.
Chapter 52 shows that we can be boisterous and noisy, not only in our words, but in our whole
way of moving about. Monastics will make an effort to preserve the stillness of the atmosphere
even in their footsteps, how doors are closed, how pots and dishes are handled. External
silence exudes from an inner attitude of stillness, gentleness, and peace.
3. Silence in the Bible
Q 10 Look up the following Scripture quotes and find the underlying motivation for stillness,
taciturnity, as well as proper speech.
Job: 40 3-5
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1 Kings 19: 9 – 18; pay special attention to 9: 13;
Is. 30: 15
Is. 42: 1 -4
Is 53:7
Habakuk 2:20
Zechariah: 2:17
Mt. 27:11-14
James 3:1-18;
4. Silence, a Fruit of the Heart
Silence in itself is ambivalent; it can bring forth life or death, good or evil. It is an
expression that makes manifest the content of the heart. The human heart determines the
quality of silence. A living silence comes forth from a heart of love; it is not incompatible with
words. In contrast, a dead silence can be a sign of inertia, laziness, lack of effort, of imagination,
or can grow out of fear, resentment, or contempt. This kind of silence creates an atmosphere
filled with unspoken negative emotions. True silence comes from a heart that has calmed down
all inner turmoil, has become empty of self in order to make room for the presence of others,
and to hear the voice of God. “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who
cultivate peace”. (James 3:18). Inner peacefulness brings forth a peaceful environment.
“ Abba Poemen said: There is one sort of person who seems to be silent, but inwardly criticizes
other people. Such a person is really talking all the time. Another may talk from morning till
night, but says only what is meaningful, and so keeps silence.”
“Abba Isidore of Pelusia said: Living without speaking is better than speaking without living. For
a person who lives rightly helps us by silence, while one who talks too much merely annoys us.
If, however, words and life go hand in hand, it is the perfection of all philosophy. “ viii
Thus silence is not an absolute good in itself, but an expression of our inner being, and can be a
means to create a spiritual environment.
Q.11 List positive attitudes that cause a person to become silent
Q. 12 Remember experiences in your life where you naturally felt the need to be quiet.
Q. 13 Can you remember instances where you did not speak, but later on felt you should have
said something?
Q. 14 What do you see as the spiritual values of regular times of silence in your life?
5. Prayer of Silence
When we mention prayer, we might immediately think of words we have or want to say
to God. Prayer words are certainly appropriate when we wish to address God. However, St.
Benedict and many spiritual leaders before and after him tell us that prayer does not need
many words: There is foremost Jesus’ injunction in Matthew 6:7f: “In praying, do not babble
like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like
them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” And then Jesus taught his
disciples the “Our Father”. St. John Chrysostom wrote: “ As the eyes of the body are
enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his
infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not
confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night… Prayer stands
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before God as an honored ambassador. .. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God,
love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God’s grace.” ix
Q. 15 Read Chapter 20.
Note: During the psalmody, the monks inserted a period of silence after each Psalm in which
they lay prostrate in quiet, personal prayer. This period of silent prayer was supposed to be
short.
The ancient monastic practice of Lectio Divina also concluded with a period of silence in which
the monk savored the presence of God, or a particular meaningful word of God in
contemplative stillness. During the following decades, this ancient practice had been widely
neglected and got lost in prayer texts and methods. Only in recent times it has been revived
again by religious and lay people who promote ways of contemplative Prayer. Here the flow of
words and thoughts is reduced to a single meaningful word that is being repeated every so
often between periods of quiet attention. It intends to calm down the continual inner stream of
thoughts to a single awareness of being in God’s presence in trust, gratitude and love. Many
people of all denominations feel drawn to this kind of prayer aware that God does not need to
be informed of our requests and our feelings, but that He seeks our very presence in trust and
loving attention. Of course, this is not the only type of prayer: as in every love relationship,
times of silence and times of conversation go hand in hand and complement each other.
CHAPTER 7
HUMILITY
Phil. 2: 1 – 11
1. What is Humility?
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul urges his congregation to strive for humility: “Do
nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important
than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of
others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,” Phil. 2: 3-4.
Then Paul sets before his hearers the image of the Lord, descending from the heights of his
Godhead into the low state of human nature, becoming a slave, obedient even unto death.
Therefore the Father exalted Him above all as Christ and Lord”. What Jesus did in his selfemptying is a model for all Christians. However, Christ’s self-emptying was a freely chosen
condescension out of love for us, (He became what he was not), while our striving for humility
would simply be a return to the awareness of our true existence as created beings, prone to
self-aggrandizement, self-deception, and sin.
Thus, humility is perhaps the least understood virtue in our contemporary world, and is most
repugnant to our own human nature.
Q. 1 Why would anyone want to strive for humility in the first place?
Q 2 When do we feel spontaneously and genuinely humbled?
Humility is basically accepting the truth with all its implications and consequences: that God is
God and we are creatures and not gods; that we owe all our gifts and our whole being to Him;
and that God loves all people with their imperfections and their destiny for greatness.
From here it becomes clear what humility is not: It is not an inferiority complex, not a tendency
to self-deprecation, or low self-image. It is not caused by feelings of guilt or by depression.
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2. Humility in St. Benedict’s Concept
St. Benedict puts us onto our rightful place – the place of truth: We are both small and
great, sinful and forgiven, dependent and free, accountable and redeemed, not perfect, but on
the road to salvation. God has destined us for sharing eternal life with Him. He accompanies us
in our journey through life and helps us to reach this wondrous goal..
Q 3 Look up the context of the following references in the Rule:
God is our Creator who made us and has counted us already as His children. (Pr. 5)
He gave us many good gifts: (RB Pr. 6). These are not meant as reward for anything we might
have done, so that we might become elated. (Pr. 29).
We are to give Him glory and not to attribute any good deeds to ourselves. (Pr. 30 – 32)
Since we are tempted to stray from the way to God, we need to call on Him for help (Pr. 2, 4).
We need His light and guiding voice (Pr. 8 – 12; 15 – 20); we pray for strength and grace to
resist our temptations (Pr.28; Pr. 41).
St. Benedict dedicates his the whole of chapter 7 to humility which is his longest chapter
in the rule. Aware that human nature likes to exalt itself, Benedict, following the Rule of the
Master, compares the individual’s journey to God with a ladder. He takes this image from the
biblical patriarch Jacob who saw in a dream angels going up and down a ladder that reached
from earth to heaven . (Gen. 28: 10 – 22). The trick in Benedict’s ladder is, however, that you
ascend by going down to ever greater humility. If you try to climb up by your own efforts, you
will find yourself landing at the bottom, because this is an inverted ladder: “We descend by
exaltation and ascend by humility”. We can experience this already in everyday social life:
Persons who are forever boasting of their rank or achievements, or in constant need to
asserting their egos, are usually held in contempt by others; while those who make light of their
accomplishments and possess true humility gain the respect of others
Q. 4 Read RB 7: 1 - 9
3. The Twelve Steps of Humility
th
Since the Rule is a 6 century document, we need to translate it into the theology,
psychology, and language of our time. This is especially true with the twelve steps of humility.
Q. 5: Read RB 7: 10 - 30
1st Step: “Fear of God” = Awareness of God’s Presence and Omniscience:
Benedict’s first and longest “step” introduces the “fear of the Lord”. The basic truth of
this first degree is that God is present to us at all times and knows all we think, feel, desire,
speak, or do. The many Scripture references Benedict uses here support our faith, and Jesus
confirms this when he repeats three times in one chapter: “Your heavenly Father who sees
what is hidden, will reward you.” (Matthew 6: 4,6,18)
Human beings are not autonomous and may not act arbitrarily. Our thoughts, our
words, and deeds matter; they are seen by God, and we will be held accountable for them.
Because God is invisible to our senses, we are likely to forget Him; therefore we need to make it
a habit of remembering God. The remembrance of God is the beginning of a holy life.
Since we are weak and prone to sin and self-will, we need to be vigilant; remembrance
of God will prevent us from sin. The term “Fear of God” will depend on our image of who God
is for us. At first, it may be a fear of punishment, but the more we become aware that God is
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compassionate and loving, wishing to help us in our efforts, our fear will gradually become a
fear of offending God or losing His friendship and help, and eventually turn to a reverent awe
and amazement at God’s grace that we experience in our life.
Psalm 111:10 says: “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. St. Benedict says: The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of humility.
Q 6: Show how the beginning of humility is related to the beginning of wisdom.
Q 7 : What does the term “fear of God” mean for you?
Q 8 Read: RB 7: 31 - 33
2nd Step: Obedience to God’s Will:
If we have come to respect and to honor God’s presence with us, we will naturally strive
to do His will. The more we love God, the more we wish to please Him. We might also have
experienced that our own will often runs rampart and wild, and that God’s guide and correction
was our greatest grace. This naturally leads us to trust in God’s good will for us, even if it
sometimes contradicts our own desires.
Benedict points to the example of our Lord who in his humility became obedient to the Father’s
will because of His love and trust as His Son.
Q. 9 Recall incidents in your life where God’s will proved to be the better course than the one
you had originally intended to take.
Q 9 Read RB 7: 34
3rd Step: Obedience to Human Beings:
One of the most amazing sentences in the Gospel says that Jesus was obedient, not only
to God but also to his parents. After having become aware that God is His Father and he is
called to “be about his Father’s business (cause)”, he went down with (his parents) and came to
Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. .And Jesus
advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man. (Luke 2:51-52). As a boy, Jesus
had to learn in order to grow in wisdom and favor with God and man. And he trusted and
obeyed. Later on, he sent out his apostles and gave them authority to speak and act on his behalf:
St. Benedict was convinced that “ the obedience shown to superiors is given to God as he himself
said: ‘whoever listens to you, listens to me” (RB 5: 15). Obedience to other human beings as
agents of God is not our invention and would certainly not be our preference; it is God’s choice.
And it is also a sign of God’s humility. God accepts human beings who can be blind and
stubborn as His agents. If mistakes are made, God has a way of dealing with them, while at the
same time holding both servants accountable: the one who is speaking God’s word as well as the
one who is to obey. If we accept God’s will in faith, we follow the example of him who “became
obedient even to death” (RB 7:34) Benedict goes even further: He wants us to comply to the
wishes of each other, as chapter 71 points out. (71:1-4) Anyone who chooses to live together
with others can only do so only when one is willing to fulfill the wishes of others in love,
respect, and a readiness to serve.
Q 10: Relate how this rule applies also to family life and/ or in the workplace.
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Q. 11: Read 7: 35 - 43
4th Step of Humility: “Putting up with Hardships”
(Cf.2 Tim 4:5)
Christian life is discipleship of Jesus Crucified and Risen. Jesus invites all his followers to
partake in His Paschal Mystery. It would be erroneous if we expect our Christian life to be
without trials and hardships. St. Benedict paints the worst scenario of a dysfunctional
community, such as has probably never existed in reality: “difficult, unfavorable, even unjust
conditions (35). Contradiction (38); hardships and unjust treatment (42) false brothers,
persecution, curses (48)” He speaks of being struck, deprived, persecuted, put to death, etc.. It
seems he wants us to be ready for any kind of trial and for the worst, and just asked us to
remember the Lord’s example, rely on his strength and be comforted by his love.
Q 12 Search the text of the fourth step (R 35 – 43) for the disciple’s response.
Q 13 Point out where he is quoting passages from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Benedict is not saying that these conditions will or even should exist in a monastery, but
wants to warn us that when we meet some of them, we are to regard and endure them in a
spirit of discipleship.
Q 14 Describe how endurance of hardships can be a sign of humility.
Q 15 Are there other options as well?
5th Step: Willingness To Admit One’s Sins:
Usually, our first reaction at some wrongdoing would be to lay the blame on others and
to excuse and justify ourselves. For some people this reaction has become a deeply ingrained
habit. The trouble with is, we convince only ourselves, not others, and the wrong does not go
away. Sin will only be eliminated by acknowledgement and by asking for forgiveness, not by
self-justification. In any conflict we might ask ourselves: What might be my share in it?
St. Benedict normally sees the abbot as spiritual father. Later on in history, a superior was not
the confessor in a community, and today the abbot/ abbess does not have the right to request
a revealing of conscience from a community member. There are the “elders” or one’s spiritual
director.
Q 16 Read RB 46: 3- 6;
These spiritual elders were often the ones who could encourage a sinner by acknowledging
their own struggles, weaknesses, and failures. See the following story:
“ A brother who had sinned was expelled by the priest from the church. But Abba Bessarion
stood up and went out with him, saying: ‘I too am a sinner.” x
Q 17 Show how such an acknowledgement is an excellent means to heal the sins of others.
Q 18 Read RB 7: 49-50
6th Step: Living Simply and Being Content with Basic Needs.
“Being content with the lowest and most menial treatment” (RB 7: 49) can be widened
to contentment with a frugal lifestyle. Being able to leave fancy or better portions to others,
because one does not need luxury, is a sign of graciousness, generosity, and inner freedom.
Q 19 Compare with RB 34: 3
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Proud people assume they have a claim on the good things of this world; they feel entitled to
the kindness and generosity of others. Humble persons know that all things in life are gifts.
Nothing is to be taken for granted. Such attitude makes life simpler and happier.
Q 20: Give examples to this truth from your own life experience.
Q 21: Luke 17: 7 – 10 What did Jesus mean when he exhorted the disciples to regard
themselves as “useless servants?”
Q 22: RB 7:51-54
7th Step: Refraining from Comparison with Others
This step of humility may be the most difficult to understand and to practice in our
times. It seems too negative and even exaggerated, unnatural. How can we be “convinced in
our hearts to be inferior to all people and of less value”, when we compare ourselves with
criminals who lie and cheat and are merely out to hurt and kill innocent people?
We might agree that we should not just “use humble talk”; or belittle ourselves in order to
invite contradiction and “fish for compliments”. Our humility should come from the heart and
should be genuine, not artificial. For this we have to come to treasure humility above our own
aggrandizement. We have to come to know ourselves and to detect our innate, ever present selfcenteredness and self-seeking. It comes with our human nature and will probably also only die
with our human nature. However, there are genuinely selfless people in this world, and these we
admire; they are truly holy. When we have been hit over our head by our own self-centeredness
over and over again, we get rather desperate enough so that we honestly want to be get rid of our
continual self-absorption. We want to become empty of ourselves and be open for and focused
on others. However, this is the task of our life-time, and meanwhile, we will have plenty
opportunity to feel frustrated over our self-seeking and our mixed motives. Perhaps, God leaves
us these obvious faults for us and others to see so that we do not fall too into the illusions that we
should be called “holy before we actually are.” (Cf. 4: 62)
The real problem lies in our attempt to compare ourselves with others. What do we know
about others to be able to judge them? We know little or nothing of their genes, their heritage,
their troubled childhood, their temptations and impulses, their weakness of will, their spiritual
graces, etc… What if we were in their shoes? How would we know that God judges us more
favorably than others? All human judgments on others are limited, if not plainly wrong, because
only God knows the heart of every human being intimately. The safest way of following
Benedict’s lead to humility is to try to improve our own shortcomings, and not to compare
ourselves with others at all. This is what the Saints did, and they have been given the grace to see
their sins clearly. The brighter the sunlight hits our windows, the more spots and streaks we will
see - the closer we come to God, even our “perfections” seem to us marred and sullied, not to
speak of our mixed motives. “All of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are
like polluted rags” Isaiah 64:6
The quote from Psalm 22, “I am a worm and no man” leads us to the Passion of Christ
who prays this psalm verse while hanging on the Cross. (Benedict counts its author David among
the prophets, for he prophesized the humility of Jesus).
Q 23: Have you experienced how a humiliation has turned into a blessing?
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8th Step: No Pretention of Being Special
Most people regard themselves as exceptional and better than others. Even children are
told: You are so special! The holier-than-Thou mentality lurks deep within us. We strive to be
better informed, smarter, and more efficient than others. Some see themselves continually on
center stage with other people as audience that owe us admiration and applause. Benedict’s
eighth step of humility curbs this ambition. It is remarkable that Jesus who was the only
exceptional person in this world was rejected as Messiah, because he was so ordinary, so
human. He was considered the son of Joseph the carpenter, and throughout his public life he
most often worked his healings in quiet and obscurity and forbade others to make known who
he really was: The Son of God as an ordinary human being, a man among men, our brother.
Adolescents wish to be different from the older generation and know always better
ways to holiness than the proven methods of old. Benedict prohibits the novice to show off by
extra-ordinary means of asceticism. First do as the elders do, who have lived the monastic life
in fidelity for years.
Q 24: Read the Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18: 9 – 14. What was the
real problem of the Pharisee?
Q 25: What is wrong with a devotion that is only concerned with “Jesus and my soul”?
9th Step: Not Being Talkative:
St. Benedict repeats here and in the two following steps what he had said already in
chapter 6: Not being a compulsive talker, not giving one’s opinion at any cost, not interrupting
other people’s speech, not being a “Know-it-all”, needing to prove one’s knowledge and
experience at every occasion. It is amazing how little people can actually say in a flood of
words. Jesus teaches us reverence for every word: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people
will render an account for every careless word they speak. .. By your words you will be
acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:34-37).
We might improve our speech when we remember the saying: Sift your words through the
threefold sieve: Is it true, is it good and helpful, is it necessary?
The Apostle Paul exhorts the people of Ephesus to use rightful and controlled speech:
Q 26 Find all references to the quality and the reasons for controlled and appropriate speech in
Ephesians: 4: 17: 25 – 32.
10th Step: Not Ridiculing Others
Some people tend to avoid any serious topics or books. They only look for cheap
entertainment. Comics, cartoons, the funny paper may be popular, but there is more to feed
our minds and hearts.
Laughter is healing and freeing, it is necessary in our lives, but one can overdo it.
Benedict wants us to keep it controlled, dignified. Uncontrolled, boisterous laughter can come
from an unconscious need of drawing attention to oneself.
There is a fine line in our humor that divides good-hearted hilarity from the intention to
ridicule and hurt others.
When humor is born of criticism, it becomes sarcasm, a negative attitude toward life and the
world that grows lastly from haughtiness and pride.
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Q. 17: Read the episode of Benedict’s last meeting with his twin sister Scholastica told by
Gregory the Great: Find the author’s sense of humor in the dialogue between the two holy
siblings. xi
11th Step: Avoid Drawing Attention by Loud and Boisterous Behavior
Love for silence will monitor our voice. Some people talk so loud as if the whole world
were hard of hearing. You may have noticed how often people talk about themselves,
regardless whether an episode may be of interest to others or not. This tendency is rather
natural, but can be curbed and controlled once our attention has been drawn to that fact.
Loud and boisterous speech is a means to control the conversation, to discourage others
from engaging in a different topic and to impose our own opinion on others. All this stems from
often unconscious tendency to self-elevation.
Q 18 Read 1 Cor. 3: 16 – 23. Find the true reason for Christian dignity that is compatible with
humility.
12th Step: Avoiding Extravagance:
Expressing our True Selves in Behavior, Deportment, Clothing,
St. Benedict wants the monk to express his humility by keeping his head bowed and his
eyes downcast. This is a figure of speech. The main reason is: remember who you are before
God and express this reality in your external appearance and behavior. With other words, be a
person of integrity. When you have come to know yourself before God you will know your
dignity as well as your shortcomings and failures. You will also know how to dress according to
your status, your age, and the occasion. Often people like to appear differently: younger, richer,
more beautiful, more self-confident. This does not mean, we should not strive to be more selfconfident and more courageous, but it should not be an empty show.
More important: Benedict wants us to live always in the presence of God, wherever we
may be, whatever we are doing. God sees us as we truly are, with our sinfulness and
shortcomings, with our weaknesses and our good intentions. “God does not look at the
appearance but in the heart, “ Samuel heard the Lord saying as he tried to find the future king
among the sons of Jesse. (1 Sam. 16:7)
Q. 17 Read Psalm 139 and notice the Psalmist’s awareness of God’s presence.
4. The Fruit of Humility
St. Benedict does not end his chapter on humility with the twelfth step: Humility is
merely a ladder, a means, a staircase to reach God. The tricky thing with this particular ladder
is, we can never tell where we stand. If we think we have reached a certain step, we can be sure
to be wrong. Humility cannot really be obtained by our own efforts, although it can be desired
and cherished. It is an inverted virtue, so-to-speak; a grace that is given to us unbeknownst in
the measure as we strive to uphold and serve others. And the best way to learn to appreciate it
is our awareness of God’s humility and the humility of Jesus.
What will we gain by climbing up or down these steps? “A perfect love of God which
casts out fear”. (RB 7:67) Here, Benedict ties his beginning of “loving fear of God” with the end:
Loving God without fear. Freedom from fear: What a glorious freedom this will be!
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Most of our fears come from our pride and our anxious self-assertion. If we would not
fear what other people will think of us, whether we find the approval of those who have power
over us, or protect ourselves from those who are envious or jealous of us, we would be able to
live a free, happy life. Had we arrived already on the lowest place, like children, we could not
fall much lower and would not get hurt if we tumble down.
Freedom of fear would be ours if we dare to imitate Christ and witness to our faith. The
disciples of the early Church experienced a tremendous joy in the midst of all tribulations and
humiliations: After they were flogged and ridiculed, “they left the presence of the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. “
(Acts 5:41)
The deepest insight about the fruit of humility was given by the Holy Spirit to St. Paul. He shares
this mystery with the Corinthians: “My strength lies in my weakness – I boast of my
weaknesses”
Q 28 Read the passage: 1 Cor. 1: 11 – 2:4. Explain the power of the wisdom of the world and of
the humility of Jesus Christ.
Benedict ascribes the fruit of humility in the language of transformation:
We don’t have to make an effort to be good; it comes quite natural. It has become a habit:
We have become good and generous in heart, we have become persons of integrity, not by our
own efforts, but by the Holy Spirit who has cleansed us from all falsehood and self-illusions and
has made us instruments of truth.
5. St. Benedict’s Chapter on Humility for our Personal Reflection
Step Humility in the Rule
of St. Benedict
Meaning for our Time:
Examination:
1st
Living under the eyes
of God
2nd
Obedience to God’s
will, as we perceive it
in our lives: God’s
commandments,
Christ’s teachings of
love, of forgiveness,
of generosity and
trust.
Submission to
superiors as God’s
instruments .
Faith in God as our Creator :
Our thoughts, desires, struggles are
known by Him.
We are not autonomous – deciding
good and evil by ourselves;
someone Greater made us and has
a certain plan for the human race
to live together peacefully on this
planet. Humans are called to be
free responsible partners in God’s
plan of salvation.
We accept and co-operate with
God’s plan to accept His will in
obedience to legitimate authority.
We strive to obey one another in
love.
We are disciples of our Crucified
Savior. He remains on our side and
Our words and actions begin with
our thoughts. We can nourish and
dwell on them or reject them.
How do I perceive God’s will in the
present circumstances of my life?
What does this obedience asks of
me every single day? How is my
attitude in accepting or refusing His
will? Is it a problem of faith? Or do I
feel I know better what is good for
me?
Is it hard for me to submit to
authority? Have I experienced that
obedience was easy when I fulfilled
the wishes of a person whom I
loved?
Am I seeing myself as victim?
Do I get easily discouraged?
3rd
4th
Willingly, patiently
accepting hardships
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5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
and adversities in
solidarity with Christ.
Honestly confessing
one’s sins and faults
to a confessor or
spiritual director, but
also admitting our
faults to those with
whom we live.
Being content with
less – Not claiming to
deserve better
treatment than
others.
Being painfully aware
of not living up to
God’s expectation and
the Gospel message.
No competing,
pretending to be
exceptional and
special.
Not being talkative –
but expressing oneself
in few, precise and
reasonable words .
No chatterbox.
Serious-minded – not
making fun of
everything and
everyone.
Not speaking in a
boisterous or
booming voice in
regular conversation .
Speaking truthful and
appropriate.
Knowing oneself as
sinner before God,
showing modest,
reverent behavior.
Living in mindfulness.
RB MONASTIC ATTITUDES
will strengthen us.
No hypocrisy, no self-justification.
Ready to apologize, honestly
acknowledging one’s own
imperfections, seeking God’s
forgiveness and willingness to
forgive others.
Not being demanding, seeking out
the best share for oneself.
Living simply. not insisting on my
rights, Not taking anything for
granted.
Knowing oneself as sinner,
compared with the goodness of
Christ. Never taking God’s
forgiveness for granted
Not looking down on others,
feeling superior, better, smarter.
But being content to be treated
like everyone else.
Not always give my own opinion or
have all the answers. Willingness to
let others express their thoughts,
Listen to others without
interrupting them.
Not ridiculing sacred and spiritual
matters.
Not ridiculing others or being
sarcastic.
Not raising one’s voice. Not using
“inflation of words”, no
exaggeration or dramatizing, or
“twisting” the truth.
Exercising self-control even in
laughter.
Not being haughty, bullying,
controlling, intimidating others; not
using arrogant gaze. Being modest
in dress, speech and behavior.
Striving for integrity.
Am I over-anxious regarding the
future?
Do I easily blame others, the
circumstances, make excuses?
Do I ask myself what may be my
share in a conflict?
How hard it is for me to apologize?
Do I strive to know the truth about
myself?
Do I expect privileges on account of
my achievements, my age, my titles
or status?
Do I crave luxury, or am I content
with basic needs?
Is it important what other people
say or think of me? Do I need to
please others? Do I want to please
God?
Am I a perfectionist? Do I get
discouraged when I don’t receive
recognition? In what area does God
expect me to do better?
Is my speech appropriate? Do I use
too many words? Is my speech
artificial and pretentious? Do I need
to talk a lot about myself? Am I
willing to learn from others?
Do I distinguish between humor and
ridicule? Am I able and willing to
read serious material, or do I only
seek to be entertained?
Do I hear my own noise? Am I loud
with my voice, my footsteps, with
doors and things I handle? Do I
respect the need for silence of
others? Am I disturbing in quiet
places?
Do I show superiority over others?
Do I need to draw attention to
myself? Do I like to impress others?
Am I controlling or disrespectful?
Do I discourage others?
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i
RB MONASTIC ATTITUDES
Office of Readings According to the Roman Rite, Boston, 1983 © Daughters of St. Paul, Pg. 178
ii
Thomas Merton:”Seeds of Contemplation” Pg. 111
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Cost of Discipleship p.250.
iv
The Documents of The Council of Vatican II. Perfectae Caritatis Nr. 14
v
Andre Louf "Teach us to pray" pg.20
vivi
Yushi Nomura: Desert Wisdom – Saying from the Desert Fathers, 1982,Garden City, New York, p. 7
vii
Ibidem, Pg. 17.
viii
Ibidem Pg. 82f
ix
“The Office of Readings According to the Roman Rite”. St. Paul Aditions, Boston, 1983. Pg. 347
x
“Yushi Nomura: “Desert Wisdom – Sayings from the Desert Fathers” 1982,Garden City, NY, Pg. 34
xi
The Life of Saint Benedict by Gregory the Great Nr. XXXIII.1-4; Commentary by Adalbert de Vogüe. OSB,
Petersham, 1993. Pg.154f.
iii
The call of an abbess is for service in the community. Here the abbess washes the foot of a sister at the Holy Thursday ceremony .
Part IV
M
P
I
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„
„
„
I. ON MONASTIC PRAYER
II. THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS
III. THE PSALMS
IV. SPIRITUAL READING
Part IV
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I. ON MONASTIC PRAYER
CHAPTER 8 – 20;
CHAPTER 52; 48
1. Various Types of Prayer throughout the Monastic Day
Someone has phrased the rhythm of a Benedictine day as an alternation between
Prayer and Work: “Ora et Labora”. This would be quite correct, if we count Lectio Divina,
spiritual reading, and Scripture Study among the forms of prayer. Thus the spiritual activity
offers a counterpart to the monastic work, be it manual labor, service to others, or intellectual
and administrative endeavor.
It had been argued that the whole of the monk’s life is “prayer”, lived in God’s presence,
whether the monk chants the Divine Office, or is reading, studying, or meditating; whether he
or she serves the community or guests, or works in the gardens and fields. Although the
activities are alternating, the monk’s mind and heart are fixed on God.
But Benedict’s Rule dedicates particular chapters to “prayer” per se: chapters 8 - 19 to
liturgical prayer, chapters 20 and 52 to personal prayer, chapters 42 and 73 deal with spiritual
reading, while in chapter 48 he speaks of the daily schedule and mentions implicitly Lectio
Divina.
Q 1 Read these chapters in the rule and find the allusions to a particular spiritual activity.
There is a balance also between choral and personal prayer, between praying with preformed
texts and the free outpouring of the heart in spontaneous prayer; finally, there is the prayer of
silence and reflection.
Likewise, we find listening to spiritual texts, either in community, whether in the oratory or at
table, and quiet reading by oneself.
As in our natural breath, we inhale and exhale alternatively, so our prayer is an intake of God’s
word spoken to us, and in turn a response or an expression of our own minds and hearts
directed to God.
Between these two, listening and responding, there is the mental reflection on Scripture in the
form of Lectio Divina. This ancient activity combines listening to the Word, taking it into our
mind, our hearts, and our lives, and then expressing our response, or pondering it more deeply
in silent meditation.
2. Prayer of the Desert Monks
Prayer had always been the most important task of the monks, already in preBenedictine times. Their great concern was unceasing prayer, according to Our Lord’s
command.
Q. 2 Read: Luke 18:1; 1Thess 5: 14 -18.
How do you think one could pray without ceasing?
Here are solutions of desert fathers and mothers who tried to implement the Lord’s injunction
to pray continually:
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a) Alternating Work with Prayer
Some monks tried to recite their Psalms continually, knowing them by memory. They went
systematically through the Psalter, one by one, while their hands were busy with simple manual
work.
Others thought that work would be an obstacle to prayer without ceasing; one should do away
with all work. However, this opinion was not adopted as being in harmony with the teaching of
Christ and Paul.
Abba Lucius showed that even work does not interrupt ceaseless prayer.
'I will show you how, while doing my manual work, I pray without interruption. I sit down with
God, soaking my reeds and plaiting my ropes, and I say 'God, have mercy on me, according to
your great goodness and according to the multitude of your mercies, save me from my sins.' So
when I have spent the whole day working and praying, making thirteen pieces of money more or
less, I put two pieces of money outside the door and I pay for my food with the rest of the
money. He who takes the two pieces of money prays for me when I am eating, and when I am
sleeping so, by the grace of God, I fulfill the precept to pray without ceasing.' i
And so it was generally held that even work can be prayer: Any occupation undertaken through
obedience, offered to God and accompanied with short invocations frequently renewed is in
itself prayer. Only by thus sanctifying all one's daily actions can one pray without ceasing. For it
is impossible even for a monk to say prayers uninterruptedly.
“The angel showed Anthony a monk who was sitting at his work, then getting up from
his work to pray, thus alternating work with prayer. He said to Anthony: 'Do this and you
will be saved.' ii Thus the notion of praying during certain times of the day was held as
the best possible way of implicating the Lord’s command of continual prayer.
b) The Problem of Ongoing Attention:
Another concern was persevering prayer without giving up or giving in to distractions:
We have the story of Abba Arsenius who on Saturday evenings, preparing for the glory
of Sunday, he would turn his back on the sun and stretch out his hands in prayer toward
the heavens, till once again the sun shone on his face. Then he would sit down.' iii It was
difficult for the desert monks to ward off distractions altogether, even as it is for us
today: The desert monks and nuns had their particular advice:
A good preparation before prayer is necessary. The soul should become recollected and drive
away all cares and all thoughts that might agitate it or turn it away from God. For whatever
occupies the mind before praying is apt to return by way of distraction, unless one gets rid of it
as soon as one desires to enter into communion with the Lord.
Amma Theodora said,' It is good to live in peace, for the wise man practices perpetual
prayer. It is truly a great thing for a virgin or a monk to live in peace, especially for the
younger ones. However, you should realize that as soon as you intend to live in peace, at
once evil comes and weighs down your soul through accidie, faintheartedness, and evil
thoughts. It also attacks your body through sickness, debility, weakening of the knees
and all the members. It dissipates the strength of soul and body, so that one believes one
is ill and no longer able to pray. But if we are vigilant, all these temptations fall away.
There was, in fact a monk who was seized by cold and fever every time he began to pray
(However)… he did violence to himself and prayed. When he had finished the fever
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abated also. So, by reasoning in this way the brother resisted, and prayed and was able
to conquer his thoughts.' iv
Most important was the struggle against evil in one's heart that could lead to sin and thus
become an obstacle to prayer. The monks strove for an inner stillness and freedom from all
desire, all passions and inner turmoil.
Q 3: Can you share from your own experience how inner turmoil often prevents us from
attentive prayer?
c) Ejaculatory Prayers:
Usually, the monk’s "prayers" were very brief and to the point. They believed that God
knows our situation and our needs. Thus prayer became a frequent call upon God for help in
various needs, or for strength against temptations, or intercession for others. These short
utterances came straight forth from the heart. They were called ejaculatory prayers. Their
brevity did not weary the mind and gave no time for distractions. They were regarded by the
ancient monks as the best form of continual prayer. One could repeat them over and over.
Abba Macarius was asked, ‘How should one pray?’ The old man said, ‘There is no need
to make long discourses, it is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, Lord, as
you will, and as you know, have mercy.' and if the conflict grows fiercer, say, 'Lord, help.'
He knows very well what we need and he shows us his mercy.” v
Q 4: Do you have a favorite short prayer that you like to repeat on certain occasions?
d) Prayer of Stillness
Early on, many monks strove for “pure prayer”, prayer without words, images, or
even feelings. This tradition was based on the awareness that God is beyond anything
that we can imagine or think of. He knows what we need and what is in our hearts,
before we even formulate it. We approach him rather by stillness of heart. This
spirituality is known as “apophatic”, (apo = away from) in contrast to kataphatic. (kata
acocrding to), Thus apophatic prayer avoids words and images, while kataphatic prayer
employs both. Apophatic prayer was later called ‘Prayer of Stillness”, Prayer of Silent
Regard” or “Prayer of the Heart”. The monks used both types, prayer with or without
words, at the end of the psalms, when they prostrated themselves for a short silent
prayer period.
3. Liturgical Prayer in St. Benedict’s Rule
Q 5: Read Chapter 19; What is the most often repeated thought in this chapter?
Q 6 What is it that links the three Psalm quotes in vs.19:3-5 together?
Q 7 How do you explain verse 19:7?
Q 8 Find similar expressions in vs. 9:7; 11: 3; 11: 8 – 9;
Q 9 Chapter 13: 12 – 13 introduces a new requirement for our prayer being acceptable by God.
Q 10 Comment on 18: 22-25;
For Benedict, as also for the monastic fathers before him, the Divine Office was an obligation, a
duty that belonged to the state of a monk. In later times, when some community took on more
time-consuming work, the revised document of the Liturgy recommended a division of the
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Psalter into two, resp. four weeks. It was up to the individual community to decide which
system to adopt for their daily liturgical prayer.
Q 11 Comment on vs. 43: 1-3.
Q 12 Share with others what the prayer of the Divine Office mean to you in your daily life.
We do not hear anything specific about the celebration of the Eucharist in St. Benedict’s time.
Since Benedict was not a priest himself, he had one of the monks ordained. It is assumed that
the monks did not have daily Mass, but might have had a type of communion service.
De Vogüé writes: “At most it is possible that a conventual mass in St. Benedict’s monastery was
celebrated on Sundays and feast days. But perhaps Mass was celebrated less often, even
without fixed regularity.” vi
Altogether, we can find in the Rule of Benedict various kinds of prayer:
4. Forms of Prayer
(Summary)
I.VERBAL PRAYER
1. BIBLICAL AND LITURGICAL PRAYER e.g. The Psalms. “Our Father” the Liturgy of the
Hours; (RB chapters 9-19)
2. OTHER PRE-FORMED PRAYER TEXTS e.g. Prayers of Blessing (Chapters 35:15f 38: 3-4)
3. SPONTANEOUS PRAYER
a) free outpouring of the Heart e.g. (Chapters 20 and 52)
b) Intercessions for various needs, e.g. for healing of a brother (Chapter 28: 4-5;
4:72)
c) “Ejaculatory Prayer” = “Arrow Prayer” e.g. Good intention before work ; (Prol. 4;
chapter 4:57; 66: 3-4)
II. LECTIO DIVINA
The Latin form for this prayerful Scripture reading is “meditare” (compare our meditation) It
was done in a slow, reflective and often repetitive way of murmuring the sacred words:
(Chapter 8: 3; 48: 13-23; 58: 5).
Q 13 Find the chapters in Benedict’s Rule mentioned above
III. CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
John Cassian speaks of “Pure Prayer”, an advanced type of prayer without images or words. vii
“Prayer of the “heart” means that contemplative prayer takes place at the center, the most personal
core of our being. The hesychast prayer was basically the simple, though difficult discipline of
'keeping one's mind in the heart' as the desert fathers teach us.
In the prayer of the heart our focus moves from the periphery of our rational and cognitive
faculties and our senses to the center, from the surface to the depth, from the head into the heart.
“Can you not see, then, how essential it is that those who have determined to pay attention to
themselves in inner quiet should gather together the mind and enclose it in the body, and especially
in that 'body' most interior to the body, which we call the heart?” writes Macariusviii
Q 14 Discuss how all these forms of prayer are valid even for a lay Christian in order to come to
a well balanced prayer life.
The Abbey Chapel at Christmas time. The Chapel was designed by David Barrett Studio, and solemnly blessed by Most Rev.
Archbishop Charles Chaput,
on Nov. 7, 1999.
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5. Reflection
Reflect on the text about prayer by St. John Chrysostom: (347-407):
“Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with
God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent
on God, is illumined by his infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but
prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the
day and night.
Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in
meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy,
performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for
God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love.
Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to
the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift
not given by man but by God’s grace. The apostle Paul says: ‘We do not know how we are to
pray but the Spirit himself pleads for us with inexpressible longings’.
When the Lord gives this kind of prayer to a man, he gives him riches that cannot be
taken away, heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. One who tastes this food is set on fire with
an eternal longing for the Lord; his spirit burns as in a fire of the utmost intensity.
Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and
humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good
deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of
prayer. In this you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive
him as in a splendid palace, and through his grace you will already possess him, his image
enthroned in the temple of your spirit.” ix
Prayer: Psalm 145
Colossians 3: 16 - 17
II. The Liturgy of the Hours
1. The Nature and Meaning of the Liturgy of the Hours
It is the privilege of Oblates to participate in the “Liturgy of the Hours”, also called “the
Divine Office” of their particular monastery, as far as their circumstances permit.
What is the Divine Office?
It is the earliest Christian common prayer, continuing the Jewish tradition of Temple worship
and prayer service in the Jewish Synagogues where the people gathered at certain times of the
day to pray. “Seven times a day I praise you because your edicts are just.’ (Psalm 119:164) and
62
At midnight I rise to praise you because your edicts are just.” Psalm 119:62
The Christians also prayed together in their homes at particular times.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles:
“They went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and
Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the
Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:13-14 )
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“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking
bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God
and enjoying favor with all the people.
“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o'clock hour of prayer
And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called "the
Beautiful Gate" every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple” (2:46- 3:1)
Peter said "It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. 3 Brothers, select
from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall
appoint to this task, 4 whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the
word." (6:2-4
“Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime” . (10:9)
Even the pagans observed the customary prayer times: Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this
hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was at prayer in my house. (10:30)
Q 1: Note the various locations for prayer from the Scripture examples above.
The Liturgy of the Hours intends to continue this tradition to sanctify certain hours of the day
by prayer and praise and thus make all time holy.
Thus the various Liturgical Hours were developed:
Lauds:
Morning Praise
Terce:
Prayer at the third hour; (ca. 9:00 A.M; counting from daybreak ca. 6:00 A.M.)
Sext:
Prayer at the sixth hour: (Noon prayer)
None:
Prayer at the ninth hour: (ca 3:00 P.M.)
Vespers:
Evening Praise
Compline:
Night Prayer.
Terce, Sext, and None were called Little Hours, for they were shorter than the others.
The structure of each of the Liturgical Hours was fairly consistent:
A Hymn, one or several psalms with antiphons, a Scripture reading, a response, a Canticle with
Antiphons (for Lauds the Canticle of Zechariah; for Vespers, the Canticle of Mary; for Compline,
the Canticle of Simeon) concluding prayers.
The Christians would also gather on the eve of a particular feast day, or anniversary of the
death of a Martyr, to celebrate the Vigil which lasted throughout the whole night and was
divided into three sections: (called Nocturns or night watches). They spent the night praying the
Psalms, listening to readings and to homilies, and chanting hymns.
From this tradition was developed the Office of Readings.
If it is held in the evening before the feast, it was called Vigils,
if it was held in the morning, it was called Matins.
Q 2 Share with others your experience with the Divine Office, e.g. what book you use, what
time is best for your prayer, and what it means to your daily life.
2. The Pre-eminence of the Liturgy of the Hours
St. Benedict placed so great an importance on the Liturgy of the Hours that he called it
“the Work of God” (Opus Dei) He coined the phrase: “Nothing is to be preferred to the Work of
God.” 43:3 and insisted that it should be done with dignity, and at its proper time.
Q 3 Read chapter 47 and comment on it.
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The Decree “On the Renewal of the Liturgy” says of the Liturgy of the Hours:
“ Christ Jesus, high priest of the new and eternal covenant, taking human nature, introduced
into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He
joins the entire community of mankind to Himself, associating it with his own singing of this
canticle of divine praise. For He continues His priestly work through the agency of His Church,
which is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the whole
world. This she does not only by celebrating the Eucharist, but also in other ways, especially by
praying the Divine Office.” x
“By tradition going back to early Christian times, the divine Office is arranged so that the whole
course of the day and night is made holy by the praises of God. Therefore, when the wonderful
song of praise is worthily rendered by priests and others who are deputed for this purpose by
church ordinances, or by the faithful praying together with the priest in an approved form, then
it is truly the voice of the bride addressing her bridegroom; it is the very prayer which Christ
Himself, together with His body, addresses to the Father.” xi
Q 4 What is it that gives this prayer pre-eminence before all other devotions?
3. The Liturgical Calendar
People who had not had much contact with our Abbey, - or with any Benedictine
monastery – might think that monastic life must be pretty boring: “Always the same”. As soon
as they come in closer contact with us, they see that our life is far from monotonous, despite
our “strict regularity” and “tight schedule”: Every day is different and brings new challenges and
unforeseen surprises. The main difference, however, that makes the monastic day unique, lies
in the calendar of the liturgical Year which forms the Mass texts in the Lectionary as well as the
texts and melodies for the Divine Office. The whole liturgical year was divided into three
seasons:
a) Advent and Christmastime: From First Sunday of Advent till Epiphany.
b) Lent and Eastertide: from Ash Wednesday till Pentecost.
c) The Ordinary Time: from the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord till the beginning of Lent;
and from Pentecost till Advent.
In all seasons, there are special days celebrated as
Solemnities: These are of the highest liturgical order.
Feast days: These have medium importance; they can be feasts of the Lord, or of saints.
Memorials: These have a lower liturgical significance.
All other days are celebrated as weekdays or “ferial days”.
The “horarium” or timetable for the community is orientated on the seasons of the year
and its liturgical feasts; the liturgical Hours are like fixed points around which everything else
rotates. There can be variations in regard to the exact times; two liturgical Hours may be be
contracted into one; but there can never be a question in a monastery, whether a particular
Hour should be prayed at all or where it will be prayed, or perhaps just skipped altogether. St.
Benedict planned the structure of the Divine Office according to the monastic custom of his
time, (the Psalms following each other in numerical order). However, he foresees that there
may be changes in the order of the Psalms, according to the particular time of the day or the
seasons, or the occasion. At the prompting of the Council Decree on the Reform of the Liturgy,
Prime was suppressed for most monasteries, since it lies too close to Lauds. The main concern
Outside view of the Chapel building at night.
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of the Council was that a particular liturgical hour should be prayed at a time that is closest to
its natural hour; i.e. Lauds in the morning, Vespers not before 3:00 PM and Compline before
bedtime. The Office of Reading can now be held any time of the day or night.
Q 5: Read chapter 18. From here you might understand better why the Liturgy of the Hours
were called Opus Dei: the Work of God for the monk.
3. The Liturgy of the Hours for Oblates
The Oblate pamphlet says: “(Oblates) strive each day to pray some part of the Divine
Office or Liturgy of the Hours, as the circumstances of their lives permit.
They strive to appreciate the beauty and spiritual wealth contained in the Psalms which form
the core of the Church’s prayer. They harmonize their private and public prayers and devotions
with the liturgical seasons and feasts of the year…” xii
Because of its high value in the Church and its ancient origin, the Divine Office carries
priority over every other devotion. There is no way to pray the Divine Office “privately”. It is
always the public prayer of the whole Church.
At their final Oblation, Oblates receive officially their prayer book from the hands of the abbess
(abbot) with the words:
“Receive this book prayer and join our community in the praise of God.
What you sing with your lips, believe in your heart,
What you believe in your heart, carry out in your life.” xiii
III. THE PSALMS
Most of the body of the Liturgy of the Hours comes from the Book of Psalms:
The Book of Psalms consists of 150 Psalms. (Some manuscripts list 151). They are grouped in 5
Books in orientation to the five Books of Moses. In former times, it was thought that all the
Psalms were composed by David. Today we know that some 82 are attributed to him, the rest
to different authors. Various Bibles use different numbers.
1. Various Kinds of Psalms
There are different types of Psalms, composed for all situations of life:
• Story-telling Psalms (Ps. 78; 105; 106)
• Community Laments (Ps. 44; 60; 74; 79; 137)
• Individual Laments ( Ps. 3; 7; 13; 41; 42; 69)
• Penitential Psalms (Ps. 32; 38; 51)
• Songs of Thanksgiving (Ps. 16; 18; 30; 111; 136; 138)
• Hymns of Praise (Ps. 8, 34; 66; 76; 96; 103; 150)
• Festival Songs und Liturgies:
- Evening Prayer (Ps. 4, 91);
- Morning Prayer (Ps.5; 57);
- Coronation ceremony (Ps. 21; 72);
- Procession into the temple Ps. 24; 84);
- Wedding Song (Ps. 45):
- Passover Hymn (Ps.114;)
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• Songs of Trust and Meditation (Ps.11; 25; 27; 33; 46; 121; 131;)
• Psalms of Instruction (1,15, 19, 37; 107,109; 119)
• Messianic – Prophetic Psalms (Ps. 2, 22, 23, 24, 72; 110,)
• Psalms of Pleas and Intercession (Ps. 20; 86 )
• Psalms of Desire for God ( Ps. 42-43; 63)
• Praise of God in Nature (Ps. 29; 93; 98; 104; 148; )
Q 1 Pick one Psalm of each group and mark the verses that are characteristic for that particular
group.
Most of the Psalms are mixed: They begin with pleas for help, proceed with a description of a
desperate situation and end in an anticipated picture of help received.
Q 2 Follow Psalm 56 through those themes.
2. The Psalms as Poetry:
a) Psalms are Songs, Canticles that need to be sung.
Most Bible translations give in a second line below the number a particular theme for
the Psalm and in the third line some instructions for the singer (s), or even the instruments that
are to accompany the Psalm; finally a note about the (alleged) author. They do not necessarily
imply that the author named actually composed the Psalm, but that he had some kind of
relationship with the text.
(Q 3: More information on authors and dates: see the Introduction to the psalms in your Bible).
Q 4: List the musical instruments in Psalm 150 that were used to accompany the singing of the
Psalms.
b) The poetic structure of the psalms is expressed mainly by parallelism:
Two (or more) lines belong together; because
aa) they express the same thought in different ways and images,
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty. “ (Ps. 91,1)
bb) or one line expresses a thought positively and the next one in negative terms:
“I will walk with blameless heart within my house;
I will not set before my eyes whatever is base.” (Ps. 101,2 )
cc) the second line gives a stronger emphasis to the first:
“Show forth your work to your servants,
let your glory shine on their children” (Ps. 90, 16)
dd) the second line continues, or specifies what the first line had expressed.
“The Lord does deeds of justice,
gives judgment for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses
And his deeds to Israel’s sons.” (Ps. 103, 6)
Q 5 Show this parallelism of two consecutive lines in Psalm 47
Q 6 Look at Psalm 146 and explain the reasons why in newer Bible translations, usually four
lines are grouped together in one stanza.
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c) There are Psalms with verses or sections that follow the order of the Jewish alphabet;
(Although this alphabetical structure has not been maintained in the translation, the particular
Jewish letter is still set at the beginning of a new stanza.)
Q 7 e.g. the Jewish letters in Psalm 25, 119.
d) At times, a Psalm is sung alternately between cantor and choir: the cantor tells a story, while
the choir responds with a refrain that remains constant:
Q 8 See Psalm 136.
d) Sometimes we find the remark: Selah. This word indicates a pause for reflection between the
various sections.
3. The Psalms are Religious Poems:
a) They are literary expressions of Israel’s faith,
This faith is not a lifeless tradition, but a personal or communal experience in the psalmist’s life.
The Psalms express in song how the psalmist has experienced his God:
Q 9: Note the Names and images of God, in Ps. 18
b) The frequent use of metaphors and images for God express a deep and personal relationship
of trust, not only of an individual, but also as a member of God’s people. This trust is based on
God’s mighty deeds and help in the past, and thus gives confidence in present situations and for
the future.
Q 10 Show this trust experience in Psalms 71; 107;
c) There is a deep sense of God’s real presence: God knows, God cares, God hears, sees, and
answers. This sense of God’s pervading presence is expressed in terms of awe or fear, humility,
or confidence in God’s mighty help.
Q 11 Show the many expressions of God’s presence in Psalm 139. Do you detect a shift in the
relationship between the praying person and the All-present, All-knowing God?
d) The Psalms also speak about God’s anger, judgment, and punishment.
Often, the Psalmist wishes to convey what evil will ultimately befall the evil-doer, while the
upright will be saved and rewarded.
Of course, in the course of history, Israel’s faith had to develop and mature from that simple
concept of: God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. God is mystery, is totally free, and
cannot be manipulated, or predicted. But even if people are suffering, God will be with them
and strengthen them. Finally, faith in an afterlife grew up in some groups with the notion that
the Messiah will bring ultimate justice on the Last day.
Q 12 See how Psalm 73 grapples with this problem. Notice the change of mood in this Psalm.
e) The Psalms carry an optimistic tone: They are songs of hope
Sr. Irene Nowell O.S.B. who had once given our community a retreat on the Psalms stated in her
first conference:
“It is interesting that the very first word of the Book of Psalms is the word: Happy! “Blessed is
the man”. (Ps. 1) and the last word of the Book of Psalms (Ps. 150) is: “Alleluia”. What a good
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book this must be! In between is written all we need to know in order to live a happy life and
praise God with a joyful Alleluia.” xiv
In the midst of trials, laments, even situations of utter helplessness, we find in the Psalms a
sense of anticipated hope.
Q 13 Find the changes of mood between anguish and trust in Psalm 31.
4. Certain Characteristics of the Psalms
a) The Psalms are poems of Incarnation: Prayer is a bodily exercise, not only a thought in
one’s head or pious words in one’s mouth. The whole body is mentioned in the Psalms: My skin
clings to my bones, my heart rejoices, I lift up my hands, my feet walk in your ways, my eyes
have seen your wondrous deeds, …. Therefore, it is good to pray the Psalms aloud, or better
chant them. The Psalmist moves and walks, the people process, dance, bow down, they are
lying prostrate; you stand still and look up to heaven, you sit listening and pondering.
Similarly, God is depicted in anthropomorphic terms: he stretches out his hand, his eyes look
down, He rides on the clouds, His heart is moved. He ponders and relents.
Q 14 Read Psalm 102 and note the images of bodily suffering, metaphors taken from nature
and movements of God.
b) We can find all emotions of the human being expressed in the Psalms, as well as every
human situation. The Psalms teach us in direct and frank language how to get in touch with our
feelings and to bring them honestly before God. In prayer, we may need to correct them
according to our Christian values and Jesus’ teaching; but it is healthy to know our feelings in
order to act appropriately upon them.
They also teach us how we ought to pray: We stand before God with our feelings, our guilt, our
desires, our good intentions, our victories, and defeats. We stand before God the way we are
known and seen by Him. St. Benedict never tires to remind us of this.
Q Look up the many reminders of being seen by God in RB chapters 4: 59, 19 and 7: 3: 10 – 30.
c) They are poems of creation: they are filled with images of nature: Earth, sky, sun, moon, hills,
trees all are involved in singing God’s praises. The trees clap their hands and shout for joy, the
hills dance, the mountains melt and skip, the sun darkens, the sea roars and flees before God’s
command. The human person takes the whole of creation into his prayer. Vice versa, creation
is also a revelation of God’s presence, God’s power and care. It reveals God’s beauty, strength,
and glory for us to take in with all our senses and our intellect. Only humans can be aware that
our surroundings are filled with God’s presence.
Q. 15 See in Psalm 148 how the Psalmist evokes things of nature to join him in his praise.
d) The Psalms are historic: They are telling the history of God with his people. The God of the
Bible is not the remote Highest Being who does not get involved in nor care for what goes on
on this earth. We do not only know and read God’s story, we pray out this story of Yahweh- the
God who is here for us. We remind God of what He has done in the past, how He was mindful
of his covenant, trusting that He will also be present in our own time and our personal journey
of life. xv
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Carroll Stuhlmueller reminds us that the Psalms celebrated Israel’s history in their liturgy, and in
doing so, actually “form Old Testament history.” “The Bible writes its own unique kind of
history. .. The question of history in the Old Testament will be dealt with principally from the
light cast by the psalms. .. The psalms and their role in Israel’s temple liturgy are essential
ingredients in forming Old Testament history.
1) Secular events came to be seen as sacred, because Israel recognized the active presence of
God within them;
2) insignificant events took on mighty proportions, now sacred as the act of God, because of
their impact upon later generations of Israelites art study, prayer, or temple worship.
3) the events were retold, not just as they happened long ago but as stimulants to the people’s
faith – faith in God’s continuous actions now.
4) retold in such a way, liturgical stories absorbed later details.
5) the retelling and re-enactment of the story within the liturgy influencing new generations of
Israelites and of outsiders, ensured a strong impact upon later generations and in this way
enshrined the early events in Israel’s sacred or salvation history. …. What was stressed was the
role of God who will do the same for each new generation. “ xvi
Q 16: Psalm 105 tells the whole story of Israel, now in form of celebration and thanksgiving.
Can you identify some facts this Psalm is talking about?
e) The Psalms are communal songs: Even when you start out alone, pretty soon, all of the
congregation assembles and is called in as witnesses or to celebrate and join in the praise of
God. Likewise, the Psalms invite us to include other nations and all people of good will.
Q 16: Mark in Psalm 118 the shift from the Singular to the Plural.
f) The Psalms are in their outlook eschatological: Although there was no or not much
knowledge about an afterlife, the Psalms almost always conclude with a hope for a “happy
end”. With the exception of Ps. 88, all Psalms indicate that with Yahweh’s help, there will be a
better future, a good end, a happier new life. It is that faith that God will set things right,
because God is just. However, for the ancient Israelites, this justice is supposed to be
established here on earth. For only here on earth is life. There are some notions that God will
reign from Jerusalem over other nations, even over the whole earth. But Jerusalem will still be
“the City of God” forever.
Q 18 Find an image of Eschatological happiness in Psalm 145.
g) Water as gift of life or threat of death: Palestine is a desert land. Therefore water, rain,
snow are life-giving blessings.
On the other hand, Israel is also a coastland. There is the sea as source of nourishment (fish)
and a bridge between other cultures and nations, necessary for travel and trade.
But water is likewise the threatening, uncontrollable element. The sea can be turbulent with
storms and waves, then It is the abode of the dark and evil forces “sea monsters”. However,
God is Lord also over storm and sea, and Leviathan has beens created “for God’s pleasure and
play.”
Q 19 Look up the role of water in Psalms 1; 18; 19; 32; 74; 77; 104; 126; 147 and determine its
quality as life-giving or threatening.
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h) The Psalms are celebrations of life. For the ancient Jewish faith, everything good was to be
expected in this life. There was no sense, no belief in, nor notion of an eternal life. Those who
sleep with their ancestors have gone down to Sheol, the realm of shadows, where they cannot
praise God nor enjoy the beauty of God’s face.
Q 20: See the appreciation of life as contrasted with the view of Sheol in Ps. 6; 16;
5. How to Pray the Psalms
a) The Psalter, an Ancient Prayer Book
The Psalms are God’s Gift, God’s Prayer Book for us: They show us how to pray; they teach us
about God and ourselves and the world. We take the words into our mouth. We give them
sound and thus bring the word of the book to life. We let it “take on flesh” once more in our
lives: In this way, we repeat “the Incarnation of the Word” within our own being.
The Psalms are our teachers; we listen and learn.
We hear God’s word in the voice of our Jewish brothers and sisters, of Jesus himself who
prayed the Psalms, as did his parents and the Apostles. The Psalms unite Jews, Christians and
Moslems. They are also the common prayer book of Christian denominations today.
The Psalms have been poetic communications between human beings and God, well over three
thousand years. They carry a legacy of spirituality within them: the give voice to the experience
of who God is for us human beings.
Since the beginning of Christianity, it was the custom to pray the Psalms (as the whole Old
Testament book) from a Messianic point of view :
Q 21 Read: Luke: 2 : 28 0 36; 1 Cor. 10:4; 2 Cor. 3: 12 – 18;
b) How Benedict uses the Psalms in his Rule
Living sixteen hundred years closer to the time of the Psalms’ origin, St. Benedict suggests we
can and ought to pray all 150 Psalms at least once a week.
Q 22 Compare RB 18: 24 -25.
It is worthwhile to find out how he uses Psalms as Christian and monastic prayer.
aa) Most of the verses he takes quite literally, adapted to the “Here and Now” of a particular
community.
Q 23 Compare RB 7 verses 14 – 18 and the Psalm verses quoted within this text.
(Note: Benedict, following his predecessor, uses the term “prophet” regardless whether he
quotes from the book of Psalms or a prophetic writing. The ancient writers often quoted
Scripture by heart and were not concerned with giving exact references.)
Q 24 Find quotations from the Psalms in the Prologue of Benedict’s Rule verses 10; 12,15,17,
23;
bb) Benedict feels free to apply a Scripture text that comes to his mind when writing about a
certain situation, either when it fits exactly and literally, or if it matches when taken out of its
content and being slightly adapted or even interpreted metaphorically.
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(The biblical references in our various editions of the Rule have been added much later. But
they can give us valuable hints of how Benedict understood and interpreted the Psalms, and
thus very likely also prayed them that way.)
c) Summary: How to Apply the Psalms to our Life.
From the quotations of the Psalms throughout the Rule, we can distinguish four kinds of
application to the life of the monk:
aa) Immediate, Literal Application: We identify with the voice and sentiments of the
Psalmists.
We can apply them directly, identifying with the situation of the Psalmist. This is the case with
most songs of praise and thanksgiving.
Q 25 Compare the original context of the quote from Psalm34:12f to the context of the Rule in
4: 51.
Often, a text from the Psalm can enrich the statement of the Rule:
Q 26 See Ps. 119: 5-8 and RB 58: 21.
Sometimes, the context is quite different, yet the words apply.
Q: 27 Compare Psalm 39: 2-3 with RB 6:1;
Instead of conversing with men, the author of psalm 39 “swallows” his words, talks to God in
his heart, and then remembers his own mortality, which often makes our annoyances in this life
somewhat irrelevant. Benedict just uses the message of remaining silent for his chapter on
taciturnity.
bb) Modified Application: St. Benedict takes a phrase out of its historical / literal context and
applies it to a situation with quite a different context.
Q 28 Compare Psalm 51:15-17 to RB 38: 3. The Psalmist speaks from his experience of past
sins, while Benedict uses it as protection for potential future sins.
Q 29 Can you find the reason why Benedict quotes Psalm 70:1-5 in his chapter on the table
server? ( RB 35:17). Describe who are the “poor” and “those who long for your help” in the
case of the monastic meal?
We often need to “transpose” a Psalm – apply its words to a situation of today, here and now,
even if original context is quite different.
cc) Metaphoric Application: We interpret the images and phrases of the Psalm in their spiritual
or contemporary meanings, often alien to the literal intention of the Psalmist.
We would call this process “spiritualization”.
Q 30 Compare: Psalm 48:9-11 with RB 53: 14.
How do the words “in your temple” match the scene of receiving guests into the monastery and
washing their feet?
Q 31: The most famous metaphoric adaptation in the Rule is the gruesome image of Psalm 137:
9 which nowadays is almost universally suppressed. Compare this text with Prologue 28 and
4: 50 where the same Psalm verse is quoted.
We often need to translate a particular literal image into something similar in the spiritual life.
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d) Challenges for Praying the Psalms
Some people have a hard time using the Psalter for their prayer. They might say: Yes, most of
the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving or perhaps the greatest part of it we can make our own.
In this case, mark certain meaningful verses in your prayer book and focus on them, while you
pray the whole Psalm.
However, others are difficult to accept:
aa) The Psalms come from such a foreign background that is it hard to identify with them. After
all, history has changed, and we are not living in Palestine of 1000 years B.C. or even at Jesus’
time. How can we make the Psalms our personal prayer?
- Perhaps in every Psalm there might be one verse that is easily understand, and we
can identify with the sentiment of the author. If we focus on this particular verse, we
can then pray the rest in the light of this verse.
bb) Others take issue with the language of war and revenge.
- We have to understand these themes historically, considering that Israel had always
been a nation involved in battle and war. In their view, war was justified, if God
helped them; if not, it was because of their infidelity that God had abandoned them
to their enemies. This demanded conversion on their part. In recent times, we have
become more concerned about peace, human rights, the value of life and freedom
and wish that such an attitude were prevailing universally! But have we as a nation
and as society really so far progressed beyond hatred, bias, discrimination,
oppression, exploitation, injustice etc.. ?
- In most liturgical books, too “scandalizing” texts have been set in parentheses or
printed in smaller font, offering the option to simply skip them.
- Some people insist on praying the whole Psalter, but want to “Christianize” it:
instead of praying against human enemies, they suggest praying for the elimination
of evil in all its forms: falsehood, injustice, exploitation, violence etc.. here we can
also include evil elements like natural disasters, hunger, poverty, illness, war.
- We can use the war images as metaphors for spiritual and ascetic warfare. After all,
there is still a battle to be fought against evil in the world, and in our own hearts. St.
Paul himself was one of the first to employ warlike terms in a spiritual sense. We can
ask ourselves, which are my enemies, my shadows and temptations I have to fight
with? What weapons do I use?
Q 32 Read: Ephesians 6: 10 – 17 in this light.
cc) Many may feel the Psalms emphasize too much the wrath and of anger of God. They
wonder whether this is not a subjective projection of the Psalmist’s own feelings?
- We all carry a particular image of God in our hearts often from our childhood. The
Psalms might challenge us to examine our own image of God and correct it
accordingly to what Jesus told us about the Father. The great Hebrew scholar
Abraham J. Heschel speaks of God’s “Pathos”: “The God of Israel is a God Who loves, a
God Who is known to, and concerned with man. He not only rules the world in the majesty
of His might and wisdom, but reacts intimately to the events of history. He does not judge
men’s deed impassively and with aloofness: His judgment is imbued with the attitude of
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One to whom those actions are of the most intimate and profound concern. God does not
stand outside the range of human suffering and sorrow. He is personally involved in, even
stirred by, the conduct and fate of man.” xvii We know from the NT message that God is
Love, even if at times we experience this love as “ tough love” in order to understand His
concern.
dd) There are cases where we cannot identify with the author, for we are not in his situation.
Or: what if we are in a different mood?
- The Psalms are greater than our individual or present feelings. We do not pray just
as individuals from our own heart. The Psalms are corporate prayers – of the Jewish
nation, - of the Church – of humankind. We can pray their pleas vicariously for
others who are in such a situation: We can pray for a sick person, for the poor and
exploited, for people attacked by evil, for those who are persecuted and imprisoned
for their faith or conscience etc…
- We can pray many Psalms in the name of Jesus. He identifies with the suffering. We
pray with him to the Father in his own suffering, his betrayal and abandonment.
Especially, where the speaker of a Psalm insists on his innocence and guiltlessness:
There it is Christ who speaks and prays the Psalms to the Father, while we join him in
his prayer.
The Psalter should become our favorite prayer book. It can be used for our own personal
prayer, replacing certain devotional texts of less literary quality.
Mark your favorite Psalm verses in your liturgy book, write them out as short prayer words and
learn them by heart. You can use them frequently in a particular situation, or as your mantra
while walking or waiting or working when your hands are occupied and the mind is free for
prayer. In this way, we will not only practice continual prayer, we will become prayer.
IV. SPIRITUAL READING
Chapters 42,48,49,73
and others
1. Reading in St. Benedict’s Rule
We marvel at the amount of time St. Benedict’s rule prescribes for quiet reading: about
three hours every day, besides listening to the word of God in Scripture or to spiritual writers in
Matins, during meals, and before Compline. How could the monks of old get any work done?
Benedict solves this problem by drawing up a daily schedule that assures a balance between
times of manual activity and hours dedicated to reading and listening, This schedules varies
with the seasons.
Q 1 Read chapter 48 and find the various activities that filled every monastic day.
In the following chapter 49, Benedict again mentions the practice of reading during Lent.
Q 2 Read chapter 49 and discuss what “reading throughout a whole book during Lent” would
mean for the monks of the 6th century.
Even if all monks had to learn how to read once they entered the monastery, there were still
great obstacles to overcome, and reading was “hard work” for some.
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Q 3 See in chapter 48: 17 how Benedict assures that his monks will not waste the allotted
reading time.
Q 4 Find out from chapter 48: 22 how monks are to spend Sundays.
Evidently, reading is placed on an equal footing with work: both required effort, both were
necessary. We will understand the reluctance of some monks to read for two or three hours,
when we consider that the books were hand-written in Latin which may have been a little more
familiar to Italians of St. Benedict’s time, but certainly not to the Goths, nor to brothers of
different tongue. Also, these books were heavy and cumbersome; they were immensely
precious, written on parchment, often had fine leather covers and were decorated with handpainted Initials and illuminations. When St. Benedict mentions Scripture reading, it is assumed
that each monk received one particular book from the Bible, like one Gospel, or one Epistle,
and he was to read this through in a slow, reflective, prayerful way, something that we would
call today Lectio Divina.
There were other books available in St. Benedict’s library. He mentions “explanations of
Scripture by reputable and orthodox catholic Fathers.” (RB 9:8)
Q 5 Look in chapters 36 and 42 what Benedict suggests for reading in community
Q 6 Why did he want to have the Heptateuch or the Books of Kings excluded from the nightly
reading?
Benedict’ monks did a lot of reading: The day started with the “Office of Reading” which
is also called Matins, at daybreak, or Vigils, when recited at night or the previous evening. The
time after that was used for studying and memorizing the Psalms. The quiet period of Lectio
Divina on scriptural texts was done in the forenoon. At meals, the monks listened to table
reading. After lunch, they rested for their Siesta; but whoever wanted to read, was admonished
to do so quietly to himself in order not to disturb the others. (Usually the people in the early
Middle ages read aloud. St. Augustine marveled when he saw St. Ambrose reading silently to
himself, his eyes moving quietly over the page. ) The afternoon again foresaw some reading
period between prayer and work, and finally, before Compline everyone gathered to listen to
the common reading of the monastic or Church Fathers.
2. Reading a Spiritual Book
Q 7 Read Chapter 73 and write out the reading material that St. Benedict suggests there.
[Q 8 If the full edition of RB 80 is available, consult the information given in the footnote to 73.5
and glance over the list of ancient writers on page 600 – 609 whom Benedict might have
quoted or alluded to. (Aug. = Augustine; Ambr. = Ambrose; Hier = Hieronymus, engl Jerome;
Vita Patrum = The Lives of the monastic fathers; Cypr. = Cyprian of Carthage; Ps.Macar. =
Pseudo-Macarius etc… )
Who has read any of the books that St. Benedict suggested? We might readily agree that
reading through a spiritual book is “work”; often hard work to keep up our attention and try to
apprehend what the writer is saying.
No wonder John Cassian suggests that we invoke God’s help: .
"When I want for the sake of steadfastness of heart to apply myself to reading a headache
interferes and stops me, and at the third hour sleep glues my head to the sacred page..I must cry
out: 'O God make speed to save me, O Lord make haste to help me. “ xviii
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Q 9: Discuss your own experience and the reasons for the difficulty in reading certain older
spiritual books.
To overcome such obstacles, some suggestions might be helpful:
1. Choose the right book with discernment. Today, there is a great selection of religious and
spiritual literature on the market. These newer writings or translations are easier to read and
also nourishing. Not all books are meant for everyone at any time. What topic or title interests
you? What are you grappling with in your spiritual life? What is important in your faith journey?
etc..
Often a book has a message for a particular phase in a person’s life, an answer to a question
asked a long time ago.
2. Spiritual reading is not speed reading, nor information gathering: It is meant to nourish the
soul. Therefore, one or two pages, one short paragraph, might be enough. Quality surpasses
quantity. It is better to read a short paragraph slowly, perhaps even twice with full attention,
than just race through the page remembering nothing.
3. Read with a prayerful mind asking for God’s message. Be open to what the book wants to
say, even if the language or the images are outdated or too convoluted. (Sometimes God’s gifts
are offered to us and are being rejected because we don’t like the “wrappings”.)
4. There are spiritual classics that we might want to read for information, even if we don’t have
a lot of interest in a particular topic. Our curiosity might grow with the information obtained.
After all, reading and listening are for growth in our spiritual life, for a widening of our horizon
and the deepening of our prayer life. If we read only books that affirm what we already know,
what we think, what has always been our opinion, we can’t grow, and become stagnant in our
spiritual life. Sometimes God challenges our self-inflicted limitation or surprises us with
messages we had never thought about.
5. A good book is worth reading twice. Therefore one would want to own such a book in order
to mark important passages, write them out in a reading journal, make comments, share them
with others. In this way, a book truly “nourishes” our spiritual life. It becomes an essential part
of us. When I discover such a book, I mark valuable pages with pencil, copy them in the
computer or in a journal, in order to have them available as in a “spiritual treasure box”.
Q 10: Name some of the spiritual books that were helpful to you.
3. Spiritual Classics
In a pamphlet I saw lately a list of suggested “Spiritual readings for Lent” There were
Classics like: “the Cloud of Unknonwing”, “The Imitation of Christ”, by Thomas a Kempis, “The
Ascent to Mount Carmel” and “ The Dark Night” and other books by St. John of the Cross, “The
Way of Perfection” by Teresa de Avila, “The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux…”
Most of these were examples of Carmelite spirituality.
Q 11 What would be the equivalent in the Benedictine/ Cistercian tradition?
Find out about writings by St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Gertrude, St. Mechtild of Magdeburg or
Mechtild of Hackeborn.
Cistercian classics would include writings by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Aelred of Rivaulx, or
William of St. Thierry, and of course, books by Thomas Merton.
Q 12 Share information on Websites that list books like these.
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Today, there are older translations available in series of Latin or Greek Patristic writings by the
Fathers and Doctors of the Early Church: Names like Athanasius, Irenaeus, Augustine, St.
Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, Ephrem the Deacon, John Chrysostom, Origen, and John
Cassian, etc .come to mind. If only more people would be interested in the theological giants of
East and West that forged our Christian faith in the early third and fourth centuries, newer,
more digestible translations might appear.
We may be more familiar with the “Lives and the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers”
because their anecdotes and stories have been made accessible through recent translations
and are easy to read. .
Q 13 Discuss the advantage / disadvantage of reading a book that has been made into a movie
or into a DVD.
4. Various Modes of Reading
Of course, we still read today, from bill boards on the road, advertising in the papers to
articles in periodicals of interest. We might even buy a paperback novel or a magazine to have
some entertainment on a plane. Students study their text books with highlighters in order to
mark important information for easier memorizing. This type of reading is, as Father Greg
Cleveland calls it, “utilitarian in nature. The aim is to gather and manage information that may
be useful in our daily life. During this process we are in charge. .. Informational reading satisfies
the hunger of the mind to know and understand things. It helps us to achieve much and bring
order into the chaos of our lives. .. Spiritual reading, by contrast, is formative in nature to us as
Christians. It is much more reflective and demands a different mind-set and whole new set of
attitudes. We move into the slow lane of life. There is no reason to feel we have to get through a
certain amount of chapters or pages in one session. On the contrary we may spend 30 minutes
on a few pages or lines of a text. “ xixSusan Muto calls this a “special kind of reading that can
console us in sorrow, deepen our joy, prompt a transformation, aid growth in reflection, orient
our whole being toward the Divine. It is the kind of reading, in other words, that nourishes the
life of the spirit. .. Under the pressure of daily preoccupations, we become distracted from
dimensions of the spirit. The inner person in us does not, for all this activity, cease to cry out.
Something in us is serious about living a spiritual life. We do not want to forget about ultimate
concerns. That is why we know, deep down, that we must nourish this desire for God by
availing ourselves of certain religious practices that foster nearness to him. “ Reading becomes
a form of prayer, and an extension of the art of Lectio Divina. xx This is what St. Benedict may
have had in mind. Of course, in his time, reading was the only source of information. Today, we
have to make a deliberate choice to take time out for reading a spiritual book. It costs extra
effort, but the effect will prove it worthwhile.
Has our day become so much shorter that we don’t find twenty minutes for a quiet
spiritual reading? Or is our day too full with business, banalities, and information gathering that
a spiritual book does not fit in? Even we nuns without TV must make an honest effort to stick to
our daily Lenten book, otherwise, time slips by, and in the evening, we may be too tired for
concentrating on deeper reading material.
And yet, have we not all experienced how a spiritual book can open new horizons for
us? Good reading nourishes us and can truly “form” our spiritual lives, not only in-form us. This
is the type of reading we want to choose. A few pages, or a few paragraphs can inspire us with
food for thought. Sometimes it can happen that the right book at the right time can give a
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whole new direction to our spiritual life. We make the thoughts of the author our own, we
assimilate his point of view, and it stays with us, it becomes part of our philosophy of life.
Q 14 Make a list of spiritual books that have been nourishing in your spiritual life.
Q 15 Select one book that is presently most meaningful to you and share this treasure with
others.
5. For Reflection:
A spiritual director was asked:: If I had a few minutes before going to bed and want to connect
with God, is it better to read or to pray?
The director answered: “ In reading, we listen to God, in prayer, we respond to Him. It’s like
inhaling and exhaling. Both are necessary.”
Q 16 Which book would be most suitable for you to practice this kind of dialogue with God?
6. Prayer: Ps. 119: 55 - 68
i
“The Desert Christian: Sayings of the Desert Fathers The Alphabetical Collection., trans. Benedicta Ward, New
York, McMillan, 1979, Pg. 121
ii
Ibidem Pg. 2
iii
Ibidem Pf. 14
iv
Ibidem Pg. 83
v
Ibidem p.131
vi
RB1980; The Rule of St. Benedict In Latin and English with Notes. Liturgical Press Collegeville, 1981 pg. 412.
vii
John Cassian: “The first Conference of Abbot Isaac ” A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
Christian Church, Second Series. translated into English .. under the Editorial Supervision of Philip Schaff, and
Henry Wace., Vol. XI Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1991, Pg.396 .
viii
Gregory Palamas “The Triads”trans. Nicholas Gendle (New York: Paulist Press. The Classics
of Western Spirituality, 1983, p.43
ix
“The Office of Readings According to the Roman Rite. Pg. Boston, Daughters of ST. Paul. ©1983. Pg. 348.
x
Decree on the Laity of Vatican II Council, Chapter IV # 83.
xi
Ibidem Nr. 84
xii
Guidelines Pg. 5.
xiii
From the Pamphlet of Final Oblation, © Abbey of St. Walburga, CO
xiv
A quote from Sr. Irene Nowell when she gave a retreat to the Abbey on the Psalms.
xv
These are notes taken from the retreat conference by Sr. Irene.
xvi
Caroll Stuhlmueller: “the Spirituality of the Psalms” The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2002; Pg. 44.
xvii
Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Prophets, Volume II, Harper & Row 1962 Pg. 4
xviii xviii
See: John Cassian: “The Second Conference of Abbot Isaac ” A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series. translated into English .. under the Editorial Supervision of Philip
Schaff, and Henry Wace., Vol. XI Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1991, Pg. 406
xix
“Reservoir, Vol. 6, Issue 1, Spring 2011, Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality.
xx
Susan Annette Muto: “A Practical Guide to Spiritual Reading”, Dimension Books Denville NJ 1976 Pg.11.
View into the Lower Library of the Monastery.
Part V
Monks and
Material Goods
I
„ I. OWNERSHIP
„ II. THE ART OF STEWARDSHIP OR
"STRESS MANAGEMENT"
„ III. THE WORK OF THE MONKS
„ IV. INVOLVEMENT OR DETACHMENT?
Part V
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MONKS AND MATERIAL GOODS
I. OWNERSHIP
CHAPTER 33 - 34
1. Rich and Poor in the Bible
Q 1 Read Matthew 19: 17 - 27
Jesus offered a disconcerting message for the young man in the Gospel story, as well for
as for Peter and the other disciples.
In ancient Jewish times, wealth was seen as a blessing from God, a reward for an upright
life, while poverty, illness, misfortune were regarded as punishment for sin.
The Book of Job challenges this assumption; but in the end, God still holds up this
ancient mentality by rewarding Job with even greater wealth.
Q 2 Read the end of the book of Job: (Job 42: 10f)
Although the Prophets never tire to proclaim that God stands on the side of the poor;
that He protects and vindicates widows and orphans and will punish their oppressors,
they did not succeed in changing the social conditions of injustice, exploitation, and
usury.
Jesus brings something totally new:
He offers the young man something greater than earthly possessions: the gift of
discipleship. For that purpose he will have to free himself from his attachments to
earthly goods by giving his possessions to the poor.
Thereupon Peter reminds Jesus that he and the other apostles had likewise left their
possessions; and now he wants to know what their reward will be. It all ends in an
unexpected statement that God is Savior of all.
Q 3 See Matthew 19: 20 – 30 and try to articulate the changing mood in the persons
involved.
Jesus himself lived the life of a poor man, from his birth in Bethlehem, in the
simple household of Nazareth, as a wandering rabbi “who had nowhere to lay his
head”(Matthew 8:20) to his extreme self-emptying on the cross.
Paul showed Jesus as the paradigm of poverty who through his self-emptying bestows
on all of us ultimate riches.
Q 4 See 2 Corinthians 8: 9
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encouraged his hearers to lay aside all worry
about material goods and entrust themselves to the care of the heavenly Father.
Q 5 Read: Matthew 6: 28 – 34.
However, Jesus did not reject the financial help of the women who supported him, nor
disdained a good meal with some tax collectors or at the house of Bethany.
He upbraided Judas when the latter was upset that Mary used precious oil on his feet,
instead of giving it to the poor.
Q 6 Read: John 12: 1-13.
Later on in the history of the early Church, we read that not every Christian was
expected to sell all his property, but all were morally obliged to assist their poor
brothers and sisters in the faith. Some people contributed voluntarily to the need of
Abbey entrance: The North wing with a formal entrance was added in 2010. Landscape created and planted in 2011 by a
volunteer friend Mike Endicottand now tended by the sisters.
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others by selling a particular parcel of land and giving the money to the apostles for
those in the Church who were in dire need.
Q 7 Read Acts 4: 32 -34.
Q 8 Suggest why the first Beatitude in Matthew was modified by the words “in spirit”, in
contrast to the parallel phrase in Luke 6:20 and 24?
2. Renunciation of Material Goods in later History
St. Anthony, the founder of hermit life, became aware of his vocation when he
heard in church Jesus’ call to abandon all riches and follow Him. Thereupon Anthony
sold his grand estate, made provision for his sister, by giving her together with a dowry
to a monastery, and then became a hermit. He lived an extremely poor and austere life,
but he also worked with his hands, sold his products on the market, bought what was
needed, and had still money left over to give to the poor.
Later on, church officials often became very rich; they had forgotten Jesus’
example and teaching of poverty and humility. In the 13th century, it was St. Francis of
Assisi who felt himself called to renew the Church by embracing poverty as his “bride”
and becoming a homeless beggar. He found great joy in his personal deprivation and felt
akin to all of God’s creatures whom he regarded as his brothers and sisters. Later in his
life, he became extremely upset, when his fellow brothers in the Franciscan order
intended to purchase a house so that they could take care of their older members, train
and educate the young, and live together as a Franciscan community.
From this time on, religious – except those who followed the Benedictine rule took the three classical vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. For Benedictines,
poverty and chastity seemed to be included in their vow of Conversatio Morum i.e.
living the monastic life. , in addition they vowed stability and obedience.
Thus, renunciation of personal goods became a characteristic of religious life.
Q 9 Discuss how it makes more sense for a religious to renounce all property than for a
lay person.
However all religious communities need some assets to survive and to live out their
vocation:
A group of monks or nuns who are dedicated to spending a great portion of their
time praying and studying the Word of God, will need funds for their sustenance, health
care, education, care of the elderly. They will need a church with decent liturgy, study
rooms, a library etc. and means of income to keep the monastery viable, often over
centuries.
Poverty as “destitution”, with all its sad consequences: hunger, homelessness, illness,
illiteracy, crime, insecurity, overcrowded spaces, unemployment, exploitation etc.. are
not spiritual values, but conditions to be improved and eliminated as much as
possible.
3. St. Benedict’s Concept of Ownership.
Q 10 Look up allusions to material goods in the following chapters: 31, 32, 33, 34, 55, 58,
59.
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Q 11 How far would the following maxims apply to your own life?
- The cellarer is not to be wasteful, not dilatory, not prone to greed, not
extravagant, but temperate and act with moderation.
- He is to keep a list of all tools and knows what he gives out and what he receives
back. (RB 31)
- The cellarer should regard all utensils and goods as sacred vessels of the altar (RB
31)
- Nothing is to be neglected. (RB 31) Whoever fails to keep (the goods and tools)
clean should be punished. (RB 32)
- Private ownership is regarded as an evil practice. All goods are held in common.
(RB 33)
- No one is to receive, give or retain something without permission. (RB 33)
- For their needs all are to look to the father. Distribution should be made
according to their needs. Whoever needs less should not be distressed, whoever
needs more should be humble. (RB 34)
- Over-indulgence to be avoided, in all matters let frugality be the rule. (RB 39)
- Everything superfluous is to be taken away. (RB 55)
- Use what is available in the vicinity at reasonable cost (RB 55)
- If the novice has possessions, he should give them to the poor or to the
monastery, not keeping back a single thing for himself. (RB 58)
- Parents are not give the boy anything so as not to tempt him to leave the
monastery. (RB 59)
-
4. Spiritual Benefits Gained from Detachment
a) Simplicity of Life:
Someone has coined the word: “Live simply so that others can simply live”.
[compare: simple ply–fold versus complicated i.e. folded in several ways}.
What is a simple life-style?
It has the connotation of clearness without confusion, without clutter;
of necessity without luxury or fanciful things,
of directness versus ostentation over-concern, or guile;
of acquiring and keeping only what is needed, useful, and manageable.
etc …
Q 12 What does a simple lifestyle mean for you?
Q 13 What is the difference between simple and simplistic?
b) Freedom from and freedom for: Possessions are not only assets; they are also
liabilities. Detachment from liabilities gives freedom to pursue more important matters.
We learn the difference between what we need and what we want, and appreciate
more what we have than what is lacking.
Material possessions are not the only property that we claim ownership to:
We can hold fiercely on to our rights, our opinions, our work assignment, our ideas,
even persons who are close to us.
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Often through such possessive love, we lose more than we gain or retain.
Q 14: Explain the parable of the treasure in the field and the precious pearl in this way.
(Matthew 13: 44 – 46).
c) Learning to Let Go of Control
As we grow older, we experience a greater tension between what we used to
achieve and what we now no longer accomplish as easily than in younger years. We may
want to resist the truth of our aging or fight it, trying to make greater efforts; but we
cannot halt the process of advancing in years, nor turn the wheels of our life back.
Another tension pops up in the relationship to the younger generation. Here are those
young, energetic, smart people like we once had been, waiting for us to hand over
control and entitlement to them. This is a natural process, and we might as well
cooperate with it and keep our minds and hearts at peace. We have better things to do
in order to use the time well that is still granted us.
Some people, however, have the hardest time letting go of control. Control of
others, the spouse, the children, the students, the colleagues and associates, the family,
the business, the Church choir, the steering wheel, the pulpit etc.. Eventually, we are
fighting a losing battle, making our own and other people’s life only more and more
miserable. Every age has its rights and responsibility, its needs and assets, and one has
to learn to grow old with grace and joy, wisdom and love. This means a natural letting
go, even of the right to be informed about everything that goes on around us and have a
voice in the decision-making. As one learns to give up unnecessary duties and claims,
one will experience a greater freedom to place one’s energy on the things we always
wanted to have time for. There is so much in life that is still waiting for us to explore.
Carl G. Jung tells us that in the first half of life, the human person is busy building his or
her external life and developing it outwardly.
In the second half of life, there is a call and a need to turn inward , to withdraw the
energies from meddling with external work in order to dedicate our attention to interior
business and to values of culture, beauty, truth, human relationships, and the spiritual
life with God.
Q 15 share your own experience with the issues of control.
5. Call to Responsible Stewardship
a) Solidarity with the poor: From the ever greater awareness that we humans are one
global family, we will gain a greater appreciation for and take better care of what we
own and use. When one considers that three fourth of the population on earth have to
share in one fourth of all the goods and resources, while the rest is consumed and used
by a small minority of the wealthy, one would not want to use more than what is truly
needed. We are all connected and interdependent, and nature’s goods are meant for all
and shared by all, not just by a few. Thus our more modest lifestyle will also come from
a sense of solidarity with the poor who lack basic means of life.
b) Stewardship with all of God’s Gifts
Benedict uses the word “God fearing”. With that term he calls for responsible
stewardship with all the gifts God has granted us. Things are entrusted to us. We do
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not “own” them. In a monastery, material goods belong to all members of the
community, and they will have to give an account of how they use and handle the
common property.
Q 16 How does this view sound to you as lay Christian?
Benedict also sees farther than material goods. He writes: “With his good gifts
which are in us, we must obey him at all times ….” (Prol.6)
Q 17: “What kind of ‘good gifts’ may St. Benedict be thinking about?
Q 18 Discuss the meaning of the adage:” We have not inherited the earth from our
ancestors, but borrowed it from our children.”
A steward will use the entrusted talent to make the best use in the interest of
all and will strive to maintain or replenish what has been used.
It is interesting that St. Benedict who did not know of an energy crisis demands that the
monastic schedule should be adjusted so “all should be done by daylight” ((RB 41:9)
Good stewardship in general will help us use our possessions justly and properly. It will
make us careful in our choices of spending it according to our obligation for our own
and others’ physical, intellectual, and spiritual growth and well-being as well as that of
our children and the next generations on earth.
e) Sacredness is Found in the Ordinary:
The most astonishing sentence in the whole rule may be the one in the chapter on the
cellarer: “He will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels.” (RB
31:10) We know that there is a difference between a cooking pot and a sacred chalice.
Q 19 What does Benedict mean by this metaphor?
In Benedict’s vision, there is nothing merely profane. Our whole life, the persons
who live with us, our environment, cities, land, house and garden, kitchen and oratory,
all things are sacred; for the goal of our work is “so that God may be glorified. (RB 57:9)
Our work becomes service to others: in the family and community, a contribution to the
future generation of our Church, our country, our world. Whether it is the care for
house and garden, or our prayer, writing, and reading and reflecting, all are done in
communion with Jesus Christ and are intended for God’s greater honor.
But there is more: Benedict cites a quote from the conclusion of the book of Zechariah.
Q 20: Read Zechariah 14: 30-31.
This is a vision into eschatological times: At that point, there will be a transformation
and completion of all things. All human life and all of creation will have a share in this
great transformation when God’s Kingdom comes in its fullness. Therefore, already now
all things deserve to be handled with respect and reverence, for they are destined to
serve the Great King who is Lord of the universe.
f) The Courage of Empty Hands
Why do we actually crave for material possessions and hold on so fiercely to
them? It is for the dubious sense of security, of self-worth, independence, and
happiness. But none of these assumptions are actually true. History has taught us that
possessions do not guarantee us a carefree and happy life, that we cannot hold on to
them indefinitely, nor that they will enhance our self image and self worth.
Yes, Jesus called for abandonment of earthly goods, but as more an investment. “You
will have treasures in heaven” (Matthew 19: 21). He wants to give the disciples
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something more and greater; but one cannot receive a big gift, unless one’s hands are
empty. Jesus promises the Kingdom to the childlike who expect everything from Him
and cannot secure any goods on their own.
Ultimately, neither material, nor intellectual, nor spiritual possessions can
guarantee us our eternal salvation. We cannot gain heaven by our own efforts. The
Kingdom of God is a gift of God that He has prepared for those who have nothing to
show on their own, and therefore can trust to receive everything from Him. For
receiving, we need empty hands and an empty heart, for God’s gifts are so immense
that we could not hold any of them if our hands were already full.
Our salvation is the sole work of God, and -- whether we have been blessed with
poverty or with riches, -- if we have lived in love, God will make our hands and hearts
pure and empty and will stretch them wide in order to pour into them His riches, such
as: “no eye has seen, no ear heard,” (RB 4:77) that He has been preparing for us all
along and is doing it right now.
6. Prayer of Abandonment
Take O Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding
And my entire will.
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me. i
(St. Ignatius of Loyola)
i
Suscipe (Traditional) St. Ignatiu of Loyola in “Hearts on Fire – Praying with the Jesuits” Edited by
Michael Harrer, SJ St. Louis, 1993. Pg.84
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THE ART OF STEWARDSHIP
OR
“STRESS MANAGEMENT”
Chapter 31: The Monastic Cellarer
When we were building our monastery at Virginia Dale, I needed to do some fundraising at
the monasteries in Germany. On that occasion I met F. Anselm Grün, OSB, who was then the
financial administrator at the Abbey of Münsterschwarzach. He understood our needs for funds
and suggested to his abbot that they loan us half a million DM without interest for nine years. I
was amazed at their generosity and deeply grateful. But my amazement grew when I heard that F.
Anselm had been the cellarer for many years, not only of his own monastery but also of all their
dependent houses oversea, the mission stations in Third World countries. He was well acquainted
with the money market in Europe and worldwide; but I learnt that he is also a much demanded
retreat master and a prolific writer. His books cover areas from the Benedictine Rule over the
spiritual life to Contemplative prayer. Lately, he had been invited to a Conference of CEOs in the
United States, and had used chapter 31 “On the Cellarer” as example of Stress Management. At
that time, he was working to turn these conferences into a book.
1. The Cellarer in the Benedictine Rule
The title “cellarer” comes from the original word cellar, which since ancient times had
been a place where wine, dry goods, and even the harvest from various fields were stored. A
cellarer then is a person assigned to administer these goods and to care for the necessary supply
for the community. He is also the accountant and consultant, as well as the book keeper for the
financial affairs of the monastery. Besides, he is responsible for the maintenance of the buildings
and grounds, for timely payments for purchases, insurances policies, taxes, and salaries to
employees of his own monastery, as well as their dependent houses. I marveled at this man with
the long bushy grey beard and kindly eyes. How he could be at home in both worlds, the spiritual
as well as the secular? If anyone is really busy, it is he. And yet, first of all he is a monk and a wellliked member of his large community. Besides, being a contemplative by nature, he still preserves
his prime time for meditation and contemplative prayer. I asked him, how he could manage all
these diverse tasks, he told me, he strictly dedicates three days in a week for his writing and the
retreat work, while the rest belongs to his secular duties. Besides, he said, the chapter on the
Cellarer really helps him to stay focused and balanced.
Q 1 Read chapter 31 and list the work St. Benedict has plotted out for the cellarer of his
monastery.
One of the major tasks is to keep the members of the community well supplied and happy.
St. Benedict writes:
“Necessary items are to be requested and given at the proper times, so that no one may be
disquieted or distressed in the house of God.” (RB 31: 17).
It is interesting that Chapter 31 does not read: “What the Cellarer should do”, but “The
Qualifications of the Cellarer” or in other translations: “What kind of person the Cellarer should
be”.
Q 2 Comment on this difference.
Q 3 Listing the character qualities that are demanded of a good administrator.
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Which one seems most important to Benedict?
Q 4 What does this chapter suggest to the cellarer that he can stay “calm, cool, and collected”
even in trying situations?
Q 5 What do you think is the most difficult attitude for him?
Q 6 Benedict places the Cellarer in charge of the monastery’s property, of supplies, of people, of
finances, Can you detect an order of priorities?
Q 7 How important is for Benedict the fact that the administrator is also a monk?
Q 8 Is it not confusing that the cellarer should be “like a father to the whole community”
while the abbot is the actual father (RB 31: 2)?
Q 9: Try to balance the following verses: RB 31: 3, 4, and 5.
We can imagine that such a variety of tasks could induce a lot of stress, and stress is an unhealthy
condition for an individual as well as for the group of people. It is also incompatible with
contemplative prayer.
Q 10 What are the dangers Benedict foresees if the cellarer is under too much stress?
Q 11. RB 31: 17 gives one example of stress - related abuses. Can you find others in this chapter?
Some chapters in the Rule deal with delegating some of the administrative duties to several
officials.
Q 12 See Chapters 21, 32; 35: verses 1-6; 36; 53: verses 19 – 20; and chapter 65.
List the areas that are usually delegated to others in the community.
It seems that a monastery is like a pyramid with various tasks delegated down to an ever wider
group of people. In the end, everyone is responsible to do his/ her job properly if the monastery is
supposed to be a well-ordered house of God. (RB 31: 19)
The Keywords for “Stress Management” are “Priorities – Delegation –Teamwork – Personal
Responsibility of each member.”
2. Assignments in Today’s Monasteries
Today, in our complicated world of technology, the work load of the cellarer has been
divided into various offices: The cellarer still has the administration of finances of the monastery,
he/ she handles bills and writes checks, makes transactions, investments; he/she is “ Treasurer”.
He/ she also provides for the necessary goods for the community; makes purchases and keeps
supplies in storage. Thus the cellarer is sometimes called “Procurator”.
Other tasks may be shared with different members of the community:
Someone might be an accountant for the book keeping, another is the abbot’s secretary.
An individual or an agency will take care of the maintenance of monastery buildings. Someone
else keeps the grounds in good shape. One member of the community will coordinate the
domestic work of the monks and make the schedule; while the various operations of the
monastery have their own responsible managers: the farm, the gift shop, the guest house, the
school and/or seminary, the infirmary, particular industries or work shops . There will be
formation directors for postulants and novices, juniors, etc. Even so, all are under the control of
the abbot who makes the ultimate decisions.
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3. The Monastery is the House of God
Benedict ends this chapter with an idealistic statement: “No one may be disquieted or
distressed in the house of God.” (RB 31: 19).
To call the monastery the house of God is Benedict’s coinage. It means: a house where God can
dwell. He uses this term also in other chapters.
Q 13 Look up the context in 53: 22 and 64:5 and imagine the negative vs. the positive
consequences that can occur if the monastery were not administered by a God-fearing person. .
Q 14 Can you recall a special occasion when you have experienced your own house to be a house
of God?
Q 15 What makes it difficult for contemporary families to turn their home into a house of God?
4. Beware of Grumbling
Benedict certainly knows that it depends not only on the abbot or the cellarer that the
members of their community are happy and in good cheer. There can be distress, discontent or
division in a family that are not caused by the persons in charge, but by a wrong attitude on the
part of the individual member. The community may just be in the habit of grumbling, no matter
what the superior does or does not do. This attitude can gradually affect the whole group.
Benedict condemns the “evil of murmuring”, because it is often thoughtless, selfcentered, and destructive. It is contagious and can rob even simple and happy minds of peace.
St. Benedict prompts his monks toward positive thinking:
Q 16 See chapter 40: 8, and chapter 48: 7-8;
Yet there are cases, however, when the abbot needs to look at his own style of government, to
prevent the spirit of grumbling which Benedict calls “justifiable”.
Q 17 See RB 41: 5. 35:12-13;
But not all causes for unhappiness in the community are to be blamed on the abbot or the
officials. Most of the dissatisfaction can be self-chosen and self-afflicted.
Q 18 See RB 34: 3- 7; 36:4-5; 54:4; What are the real causes of the individual’s distress?
5. Beware of Pride
Benedict writes in 31:13 about the Cellarer “Above all let him be humble.”
Q 19 List the occasions and need for humility in chapter 31. Why could a cellarer be tempted to
be proud more than other members of the community?
Q 20 Why is it so difficult for all of us to say “No” graciously and with reasons?
Benedict demands: “He will take care of everything, but will do nothing without an order from the
abbot. Let him keep to his orders.” (31:3,4) The first sentence should throw anyone into a panic.
” Who in the world can take care of everything? Does this mean we are not to neglect or spoil or
throw away anything? Who could do that and still remain sane and calm?
Most of our irritations and vexations might be caused by our own ambitions to do all things by
ourselves and do it perfectly.
We have some examples of this tendency in Scripture:
Q 21 Read Ex 18: 13-27 and Matthew 11:28; Mark 6: 30 – 32. What are the various suggestions to
reduce stress?
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Jesus’ advice is to take his yoke upon ourselves. A yoke is most often fitted well onto the shape of
the animal. Sometimes it is made for two animals. Jesus is carrying the load on the other side, and
He is stronger. Pope John XXIII used to tell:
“At one evening prayer, I used to complain to the Lord about all my problems and my heavy
workload. Then I heard the Lord say: ‘Johnny, don’t take yourself too seriously!’ So, I said:
“ Here, Lord,! It’s your Church. You take care of it, while I am going to sleep now.”
The good news for a manager under stress is: Do not try to do everything, and know who is
ultimately in charge. Most of us are not the top decision makers but have someone over us who is
in charge. And all of us are merely God’s helpers who has ultimate responsibility and without
whom we could do nothing..
Q 22 Apply the verses in the Prologue 29 – 32 to the situation of an administrator.
6. Beware of Perfectionism.
There is a second answer to stress management hidden in chapter 31.
Most of us would marvel at verse 10: He will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as
sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected”. Our age had become even
much more complicated than Benedict’s time was. We could not write a list of all our inventory
today (32:2) and each time when the work team changes, go over the whole list and cross off
what we had given out and received back. I wonder whether this was ever done at any time?
In chapter 55, Benedict writes: Whenever new clothing is received, the old should be returned ..
and given to the poor ( if they are still good enough for them to wear!). The cellarer as anyone
else in the community needs to use his sense of discretion. Some things are just too worn out or
of no value and should be discarded. One cannot keep everything. Thus: Know your priorities,
select, discern, discard worthless things, dare to throw away and make space and give your
attention to what is valuable and lasting. This also is good stewardship.
RB 31:10 is a hint toward the eschatological time, since it is a quote from Zechariah 14:20. All
that the cellarer can do with the regular pots and pans as well as with the people God has
entrusted to him, is to faithfully administer to his best abilities. In the end: God needs to
transform all our work to be complete. We can only do so much, even if we do our best.
God does not ask us to be successful or perfect, but that we are faithful and do what is in our
ability. God needs to transform all our work and bring it home into his great kingdom. We work
with our little strength, as much and as well as we can, and ask God to perfect our work as only He
can.. (Prologue 4) This is also stress management: We do our best, let God do the rest.
A prayer for Spiritual Freedom:
O Spirit of God, we ask you to help orient
all our actions by your inspirations,
carry them on by your gracious assistance,
that every prayer and work of ours
may always begin from you
and through you be happily ended.
(Jesuit Prayer) i
i
“Hearts on Fire – Praying with the Jesuits” Edited by Michael Harter SJ St..Louis, 1993.
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III. THE WORK OF THE MONKS
“Give success to the Work of our Hands” (Ps.90:17)
1. Popular Misconceptions of Work
In the course of history, people had different misconceptions about work:
a) “Work is punishment for human sin. It is supposed to be toil and labor in the sweat of our
brow, wrestling with thorns and thistles” See: Genesis 3 : 17 – 19)
b) In ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and other parts of the world it was thought:
“Work is for women and slaves. Free men have better things to do”.
Today, it’s
c) “Life starts when work is over: in the evening, on weekends.”
d) “If I could not do my work anymore, I would lose my self-esteem and the respect of others”
e) “I cannot afford to take time off. What will my company do when I am not working anymore?
No one can take my place“.
f) “I am depressed on Sundays and holidays. TV helps me to kill the time.”
g) “I feel guilty when I take time away from prayer. Work seems to be an obstacle to my spiritual
life.”
h) “God is not concerned with my work, whether it is done well or superficially. He is concerned
with my soul.”
i) “What’s the use of it? When Christ comes, everything will pass away. Why should we be
concerned with the conditions of this world?”
j) “Today, our science and technology threaten to do the work of God. ”
Q 1 Discuss each of these attitudes:
Most of these contrasting concepts have their origin in either an identification of the
person with one’s work, or from a lack of integration of work into the rest of one’s life, so as to
make whole and sacred all of one’s time and one’s whole self.
We experience that work is not only a necessity and hard labor, nor do we work only for
our sustenance, but our work brings us likewise joy and fulfillment, a feel of accomplishment.
We grow and develop ourselves in our work. It becomes part of who we are. However, we are
more than our work. Any serious effort that enhances and enriches our own and other people’s
life can fill us with joy and gratitude. It is in God’s will and plan.
The Vatican Council Document on the Church in the Modern World teaches:
On Human Work
“Those who believe in God take it for granted that, taken by man’ s activity, both individual and
collective—that great struggle in which men in the course of the ages have sought to improve
the conditions of human living—is in keeping with God’s purpose.
Man, created in God’s image, has been commissioned to master the earth and all it contains,
and so rule the world with justice and holiness. He is to acknowledge God as the creator of all,
and to see himself and the whole universe in relation to God, in order that all things may be
subject to man, and God’s name be an object of wonder and praise over all the earth.
This commission extends to even the most ordinary activities of everyday life. Where men and
women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate
service to society, they can be confident that their efforts promote the work of the Creator,
confer benefit on their fellowmen, and help to realize God’s plan in history.
So far from thinking that the achievements gained by man’s abilities and strength are in
opposition to God’s power, or that man with his intelligence is in some sense a rival to his
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Creator, Christians are, on the contrary, convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a
sign of God’s greatness and the effect of His wonderful providence.” i
Q 2 Sum up the ways how our work could be regarded as a collaboration with the Creator and
can benefit humankind, even if only in our own family or neighborhood.
2. Tasks in a Benedictine Community
Chapters 46, 48, 57
Some people are curious, what monks and nuns do all day long. “You can’t be praying
the whole day?” No, we can’t, because we are human and therefore need food, a clean house,
and medical care like everyone else. So, we have to work.
As in the family, so also in the monastery, there are four types of work,
1) Simple community services, in which everyone shares.
Q 3 See St. Benedict’s chapter 35: The servers of the community.
There are chores of pure service that every healthy person can do: Cleaning, serving at table,
dishwashing, laundry, answering phone and door.
2) Then there are chores that are assigned to persons who are especially skilled: for cooking,
baking, sewing, gardening, farm work, esp. work with animals and machinery.
3) In addition, there are special responsibilities assigned to individuals for a year or longer:
Sacristan, infirmarian, (a nurse for the sick and elderly), librarian, cellarer, book-keeper,
manager of gift shop, secretary, guest master, novice master, vocation director, oblate director.
These officials hold their job usually for a longer period of time, for the sake of consistency.
4) Finally, there are those jobs that are revenue producing so that the community can pay their
bills. There are practically no limits to what this work can be, as long as it is economically viable,
and compatible with the prayer schedule of the monks as well as the community’s mission
statement, economical assets and personal expertise and skills..
Monasteries have engaged in production of wine, cheese, fruit cake, bread, altar bread, coffee,
popcorn. They have raised cattle, chickens, dogs, have grown vegetables, fruit trees, animal
feed,.
Individual members contribute to the whole through weaving, embroidery, printing, wood
work, pottery, computer work or book repair. Others do literary work, research, translations of
old manuscripts.
Religious are often trained as teachers, nurses, counselors, retreat masters, or give pastoral
care.
Almost any type of work could be done in a monastery, but it had to be compatible with the
regular schedule of the community, and thus should be done on the premises of the monastery,
so that all can participate in the liturgical Hours.
Preference was given to work that was a natural expression of the monks’ vocation and skills,
like teaching, retreat conferences, writing books, art work, or producing articles for religious
services.
Working for the needs of the community was seen as service to one’s neighbor and works of
charity.
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From the beginning of monasticism, the monks regarded the work on their land as stewardship:
a sustainable use of their woods, water courses, fields and gardens, as well as animal- friendly
husbandry.
Besides, every monastery had several workshops where works of art and craft were produced
by masters of their trade who in turn instructed the younger generation in their skills.
Scholars offered education for the young, both for those who entered as novices, as well as for
children and youths from the surrounding countryside who were entrusted to them for a
certain time.
In the scriptorium monks were busy with book copying and illuminating, an art that handed on
the knowledge in theology and philosophy as well as in liberal arts. Today this trade has been
replaced by high-tech printers in monastic publishing houses.
3. Principles Governing Monastic Work:
a) Work in the monastery is most often performed as team work. One has to learn to work
together with others. Thus one’s attitude toward others is as important as the work done.
b) It is done under obedience. Even if the individual can make suggestions, the last decision has
the abbot.
c) Domestic chores are usually rotated among the members. For tasks that require experience
and consistency, certain Individuals are usually assigned for a certain period, but according to
the abbot’s bidding can change workplaces.
d) It is service to the community, not self-service or self-aggrandizement
e) It is a means to an end, not an end it itself.
f) There is no “menial” work that a monk would feel below his dignity or education.
g) All work is done for the glory of God. Therefore it is to be done with precision, dedication,
love, and integrity. “We cannot always do what we love, but we can always love what we do.”
h) However, work does not determine the ultimate value of a person.
Q 3 Are these principles different from the concept of work in contemporary society?
Such a work attitude cannot be taken for granted, even in the monastery, as we will see chapter
57.
4. St. Benedict’s Concept of Labor
St. Benedict believes that “Idleness is the enemy of the soul” (RB 48: 1)
“Then they are truly monks when they live by the labor of their hands" (48:8)
Yet, he also gives priority to the “Work of God” and says that there are to be times for work and
times for reading. For him, even reading was serious work that some might want to avoid by
idleness and empty chatter.
Q4 Find the context of the following lines:
I. Hard Labor In the Literal Sense
35:13 Hardship in serving their brothers
39:6 When work is heavier, more food should be granted
40:5 Hard labor in the summer heat
41:2 the laborers in the field
46:1 work (can be) in the kitchen, in the storeroom, in serving at the bakery, in the garden, in
any craft ..
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48:24 They should not be idle, but also not be oppressed by the work
Q 5 See what the Rule says concerning workplaces and attitudes, in chapter 7 vs. 63, chapters
46, 48: 7-9; chapter 53: 16-22; and chapters 57 and 66,
II. Spiritual Effort.
Prol. 2 “by the labor of obedience”
4: 78 “The workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks is the enclosure of the
monastery and the stability in the community.”
7:68 Once perfect humility has been obtained, virtue does not require labor or effort anymore;
It comes naturally.
Q 6 Find the context of these passages from the rule. What kind of “labor” is envisioned here?
The monastic fathers distinguished between the active life and the contemplative life;
but these terms carried quite different meanings from how we understand them today: The
active or practical life is the monk’s endeavor to acquire virtue and to overcome his passions.
There is also work to be done on their character, on their souls, their personalities.
The contemplative life is the life of prayer, of contemplation, of tasting the goodness and love
of God.
5. Work Ethics
CHAPTER 57
The Artisans in the Monastery
Q 7 Read Chapter 57. Can you find similarities with chapter 31?
Q 8 What is the wrong attitude that St. Benedict describes?
Q 9 Can you imagine the life and feelings of the rest of the community in a case shown in
chapter 57?
Q 10 Is this scenario pure fiction or can such abuses truly happen elsewhere?
Q 11 What is Benedict’s solution?
This “solution” might be a hard decision for the person involved as well as for the community.
But, for Benedict, it is better that there is less financial income than to give scandal or that the
individual’s or the community spirit are suffering “spiritual death”.
Q 12 What does St. Benedict mean by that term “spiritual death”? Look up the references in
Acts 5: 1: 11. Although the situation is different, the dishonesty is the same.
St. Benedict’s suggestions to lower the price may today be regarded with suspicion by
concurrence businesses in the area. But Benedict lived in a simpler world. He is concerned with
providing affordable goods for the poor and does not think in terms of economical fairness to
other businesses. Besides, monasteries have always been agents providing social help to the
poor and the disadvantaged. Many communities today even try to create work places for the
population in the neighborhood and thus work harmoniously together with employees from
the outside.
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6. Work Even After Chores are Done
People who are entering retirement, often feel strangely out of place and confused.
Now that their external work has ceased and the last farewell wishes have faded away, the
question is: What now? The renowned Psychologist Paul Tournier advises us: Start to prepare
before retirement begins. Look into yourself and find out what it is that you always wanted to
do, to learn, to collect or to know more about. There are so many interesting things in our life,
there is so much beauty, so much mystery around us, that one never had time to explore. Now
is the time to take them up. It is never too late.
Besides, there is everywhere the great opportunity for volunteer work which gives us a
sense of service and keeps us in contact with people. Besides, there is the next generation
waiting for us: grandchildren or young people who need someone who will listen to them or
who can offer time, personal affection and encouragement that they so badly need. Journaling
and scrapbook making are fascinating opportunities, that enhances your own life with beauty
and wonder, and are also valuable legacies for the next generation. Older people need to see
themselves as guardians of the past, and as link between generations. Today, the art of letter
writing has been replaced by email and short texting of messages. However, a thoughtful letter
or handwritten card can make a deeper impact on friends or family members, and can be
preserved and read over and over long after we are gone.
Most often, we see our work only from the external, practical aspect and forget that
there are interior areas which need attention and effort: We need to form our character: how
we will be remembered by our successors.
St. Benedict states emphatically that our time is given us for the important work of our
conversion; “Run while you have the light of life lest the darkness may overtake you” (Prologue
13) and “Our life span has been lengthened by way of a truce, that we may amend our
misdeeds. “ (Prologue 26) In the workshop of chapter 4, Benedict is not talking about hammer,
broom or shovel, (nor computers and I-Pads) ! but one of his most important tools is: “ Not
wanting to be called holy before one is, but first to be holy, in order to be more rightfully called
so” (RB 4:62).
One of our major tasks in the second half of life is to come to a better self-knowledge, a
truer sense of reality, a greater urgency to work for peace and harmony within the human
family and to an honest acknowledgement about our own part in areas of conflict that we
might never have looked at seriously and thus strive for reconciliation. With other words: Come
to know yourself.
But then there is also time available for more prayer, a greater commitment to Scripture
reading and Lectio Divinia, to reading of spiritual books and learning more about our faith. Thus
we can spend more time in getting to know God and in conversation with Him.
Q 13 Discuss your own experience with difficulties of finding new meaning in life after retiring
from your former work.
Carl Gustav Jung divides the tasks in human life into two halves: in the first half of our
life, we busy ourselves with the external world, while in the second half, we need to turn to
inner realities, toward reflection on values and toward contemplation.
The first part he calls “The task of ‘initiation into outward reality’. Through consolidation of our
ego, the differentiation of the main function and of the dominant attitude type, and the
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development of an appropriate persona. This work aims at the adaptation of the individual to
the demands of his environment.” ii
According to the psychology of child development, we spend our early years in learning
to fit into the social and cultural environment around us. We reach out to become acquainted
with and master tasks and skills that secure us a place in this world, so that we can make a
living for ourselves and our families, and through our efforts contribute to the progress of
human life, if only on a small scale. We adapt to outward reality and help shape it to make it
more beneficial for our own life and happiness and those of others close to us or even far off.
Dr. Jung sees the task in the second half of our life as an ‘initiation into the inner
reality”, through
a) A deeper self-knowledge and knowledge of humanity,
b) A turning back (reflection) to the traits of one’s nature that have hitherto remained
unconscious or become so.
c) By raising these traits to consciousness, the individual achieves an inward and outward bond
with the world and the cosmic order.
d) It is foremost this second task that is understood as ‘Individuation Process’.
This Individuation Process means for Jung:
a) an honest dealing with one’s “shadow”. Jung’s shadow consists in the dark side of our
personality that we prefer to repress or leave in the unconscious, but that makes itself known
by certain unexplainable traits quite contrary to our principles and values. Here is the
accumulation of our unfavorable character traits that haunt us, our mistakes, embarrassments,
sins, wrong actions, reactions, and decisions and their consequences. About the shadow
qualities he writes: “ It is in ourselves that we most frequently and readily perceive them …
provided that we are willing to acknowledge them as belonging to ourselves: for example,
when an outburst of rage comes over us, …. When quite against our will we act antisocially,
when we are stingy, petty, or choleric, cowardly, frivolous or hypocritical, so displaying qualities
which under ordinary circumstances we carefully hide or repress and of whose existence we
ourselves are unaware. When the emergence of such traits of character can no longer be
overlooked, we ask ourselves in amazement: How was it possible? It is really true that things
like this are in me?” iii We come to accept these realities as our own and thus become more
humble, more realistic and wise, and more compassionate with others. Our unconscious
shadow needs to be acknowledged and integrated.
b) Another task consists in integrating character traits of the opposite type . We all have
certain dominant traits that are characteristic of “me”: this is who I am, this is how I usually act.
We know our specific gifts and ways of approaching others and dealing with the world .
However, if we were to rely completely on these specific traits, we could drive them to the
extreme, which will harm us and others. We have to “work” on deliberately striving for and
practicing traits that are not easy for us to obtain, for they are not part of our “nature”.
There are obviously different and opposing character traits in the psyche of women and
men, of introverts and extraverts, of abstract, logical thinkers versus people with greater
intuitive perception, of people who live and work frugally and economically, versus persons
who are quick in spending. Some are good in talking and expressing themselves, others love
quiet or are sparse in their speech. Etc.
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Every group has their own dominant features to deal with the world. But this is
necessarily one-sided and when driven to extremes can cause conflicts within relationships.
Maturation and inner growth in later years must strive to include also features of the opposite
type in order to come to personal wholeness
c) Finally, Jung mentions a sober return to realities and a letting go of illusions that one has
taken for realities. This is a different task of discovery: the discovery of self. We need to come
to our true self. Jung describes the accomplishment of self realization in these terms:
“The dark side has been made conscious, the contrasexual element in us has been
differentiated, our relation to spirit and primordial nature has been clarified. The essentially
double face of the psychic depth has been recognized and spiritual arrogance has been put
aside.” iv
This work is probably more arduous than any physical labor; it is more painful and
sobering, but also exciting and ultimately rewarding. There is no growth without growing pangs
and no new life without the labor of birth. Jung says: “The widely prevailing view that psychic
development leads ultimately to a state in which there is no more suffering is utterly false.
Suffering and conflict are part of life; they must not be regarded as ailments, they are natural
attributes of all human existence, the normal counter-pole so to speak of happiness. Only when
from weakness, cowardice, or lack of understanding the individual tries to evade them, do
ailments and complexes arise.” v
“This evading is called denial, in psychological terms repression. Neurosis is always a
substitute for legitimate suffering. Fundamentally it is an ‘inauthentic suffering which we feel to
be meaningless and hostile to life, while suffering from an ‘authentic’ cause always bears with it
an intimation of future fulfillment and spiritual enrichment. In this way there arises a
consciousness which is no longer imprisoned in the petty, oversensitive, personal world of the
ego, but participates freely in the wider world of objective interests. This widened
consciousness is no longer that touchy, egotistical bundle of personal wishes, fears, hopes and
ambitions which has always to be compensated or corrected by unconscious
countertendencies; instead it is a function of relationship to the world of objects, bringing the
individual into absolute, binding, and indissoluble communion with the world at large.” vi
This important work of Individuation is the task in the second half of our life and it is no less
demanding, enlightening, and fulfilling than the self-development and the discovery of the
world in our younger years.
Q 14 Would a better knowledge of these two different tasks in life effect a better relationship
between the older and the younger generation?
7. Our Work for the Glorification of God
St. Benedict ended his chapter 57 with the words “So that in all things God may be
glorified.” (RB 57:9) Many monks and nuns use this statement as their motto in their work.
Sometimes one can see on the top or the bottom of a written page: “UIOGD”, which is the
acronym of that same sentence in Latin.
It comes from the fist letter of Peter: “The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be
serious and sober for prayers. Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love
covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one has
received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever
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preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God
supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. “ (1 Peter 4:7-11 )
Paul in the letter to the Corinthians goes even further: “ Whether you eat or drink, or whatever
you do, do everything for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31 )
Q 14 What kind of work does Peter have in mind ?
Q 15 Look up the context of Paul’s statement. What is similar? What is different between the
two?
Q 16 How are we to make use of this world and our work in it as a glorification of God?
Let us look at St. Benedict’s suggestions:
According to chapter 57 , it is through honesty and integrity of our labor that God receives
glory..
But there is more:
Q 17 Look up Prologue 4 – 6
Q 18 See Prologue 17 – 20.
These passages deserve some deeper thoughts.
“Every time you begin a good work, pray…” (Prol. 4) This does not have to be a formal prayer,
like Christians do before they begin a meal. It could also be interpreted as referring to our
traditional practice of “making a good intention”. Begin with a thought of God, intending to do
all your work and this one in particular out of love for Him and to His honor. This intention will
sanctify our work regardless of what it is.
What Benedict really is saying, goes further: “Do it in obedience to the will of your true
King, Christ the Lord,” (Prol.3), and in union with Him. Ask Christ to help you and “bring your
work to perfection”. Benedict is quoting Jesus’ saying to the Apostles: “Without me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5). We can also connect to it the following verses: Remember that you have
been privileged by His goodness to live as a child of God, and are destined to share in His glory.
(Prol 7). Thus we will do our work not only as best as we can, but also in obedience to God’s
will, in union with God’s love, and in gratitude, using all our “good gifts that are in (us) ” (Prol.
6). In this way, our good intention will prompt us to perform our work with integrity, humility,
and love.
The second passage leads us even further: God is calling us to participate in His work of
bringing His creation to completion:
Q 19: Read Prologue 14- 21.
God seeks workers for His task that is still going on here on earth: “The Father is still at work
and so am I.” (John 5: 17) Jesus told several parables about the Kingdom of God which he
compared to a vineyard. God continually seeks laborers for his vineyard
Q 20 Matthew 20: 1- 16; 21: 28 – 46.
These parables are all about the Kingdom of God. That means that we are co-workers with God
to bring the Kingdom to completion.
Benedict applies this image of the Kingdom to our own work: by our collaboration, we further
God’s kingdom and help bring it to completion. How can we do this?
-Work honestly without vicious talk and deceit; turn from evil and do good, seek after peace.
(Prologue 17)
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-Be aware that God is regarding you with love and eagerness to help you and answer your
prayers (Prol 18)
-Know that God in his love shows you ways that give life. (20)
- Do your good works with faith (21)
- Take the Gospel for your guide. (21).
We all have heard the continual discussions about faith and good works. Sometimes it
seems that if they were a quarreling couple ready for divorce. St. Benedict knows that they
belong together: faith and good works shall be our clothes. They need to match in color and
style.
What are good works? Prayer, fasting, almsgiving? Works of great asceticism?
What about the asceticism of work? Or is cooking a good and nourishing meal not a good work?
Cleaning the house and raising kids, or making the garden beautiful and fruitful? Writing a good
book or inventing a computer program for people to communicate better? Are these not all
good works that let us cooperate in God’s kingdom of life and peace?
It is interesting that Jesus compared the Kingdom with a field, ripe with the fruit for our daily
sustenance ( John 4: 34 – 36; and Luke 10:2) and with a vineyard that produces sweet vine.
Without our labor, however, the best vineyard will not bear fruit.
We humans are privileged to collaborate with God in bringing about the Kingdom, even
by our modest labor of making our own environment a little more enjoyable and lovable.
Jesus took precisely the “fruit of the earth and the produce of our hands” in His hands to turn
these elements into His own Body and Blood. In this way our everyday work contributes to the
up-building of His own Body, Head and Members, which is the growing Kingdom of God. We are
privileged and called to contribute to the growth and completion of the Kingdom, “so that in all
things God may be glorified. “
For Reflection (and dialogue):
Q 21: Compare St. Benedict’s motto in Rb 57: 9 with 1 Corinthians 15: 20 – 28 and reflect how
our efforts at the world and at our own self are furthering God’s kingdom and thus contribute
to God’s glory.
Prayer:
Lord, give me the grace to labor with you
Without seeking myself –
To live the Kingdom
In its full reality.
(John Futrell SJ) vii
i
“The Documents of Vatican II” , Walter M. Abbott, S.J. 1966 Pg. 34
“ the Psychology of CG Jung” by Jolande Jacobi, 1973, Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Pg.108.
iii
Ibidem Pf. 111
iv
Ibidem Pg. 126
v
Ibidem Pg. 128
vi
Ibidem Pg. 129
vii
“Hearts on Fire- Praying with Jesuits” Edited and collected by Michael Harter SJ, St. Louis, 1993
ii
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4. INVOLVEMENT OR DETACHMENT?
1. The Christian in Relation to this Word
In their relation to this world, Christians may ask themselves
a) How much are we to involve ourselves in improving our present world, while we are waiting
and praying for a better world to come?
b) To what extent can we use our material goods for ourselves and our families and still give
God glory?
c) Are we right to love and admire the beauty and grandeur of our world, although we know
that it will pass?
d) Do we honor God more through the use of our material goods, or do we need to strive for
detachment from the world in order to cling to God alone?
e) Is our work more important than our prayer, or the other way round?
f) When Christ comes in his glory, will everything that is in our world be passing away, for He
will make all things new?
Or
g) Will our world undergo a gradual transformation which will be completed by God at the end
of time?
h)) Can we, by our efforts, contribute already something lasting to the future world?
Or
i) Are we to be detached from material goods as much as possible and worship him “in Spirit
and in Truth”, since God is Spirit?
Q 1 Discuss these questions.
In the course of history, philosophers, masters of spirituality, religious teachers have
given contrasting answers to these questions. And the history of monasticism also had its share
in suggesting one side or the other.
St. Benedict usually takes a position in the middle. It is not a question of either-or, but of both
in the right balance. E.g.
“All things should be in common possession, no one presumes to call anything his own.” And:
“For their needs, they are to look to the father of the monastery.” (Chapter 34);
“Nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God” (RB 43:3) And “Idleness is the enemy of the
soul” (RB 48:1)
The traditional motto of Benedictines is: “Ora et labora” = “Pray and work”.
St. Benedict’s overall concern is balance and moderation; avoid extremes. E.g.
“The abbot is to avoid extremes and be discerning and moderate…. Excitable, anxious,
extreme, obstinate, jealous or over-suspicious he must not be. Whether the task he assigns
concerns God or the world, he should be discerning and moderate…He must so arrange
everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak nothing to run from”.
(Chapter 64) There are many more examples in the Rule that show the Benedict is a person of
balance and or moderation.
2. Views of the Bible
The tendency to go to extremes is age-old and has its roots as already in the Bible:
In the book of Ecclesiasts we have a strange and rather pessimistic statement from one of the
sons of David: Qoheleth. (I wonder how he got along with his brother Salomon who was said to
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be wisest person of his time and yet amassed tons of treasures of gold and silver in his palace
and storerooms.
Q 2 Compare: 1 Kings: Chapter 10 and Ecclesiastes: Chapters 1 and 2.
(Note: Even if this text attributes the poetry of Ecclesiastes to Salomon, Scripture
scholars know now, that Qoheleth was not Salomon but one of his brothers).
Q 3 How do you feel about either text? (Remember that in Jewish thought riches were regarded
as God’s blessing and reward for a good life).
In Greek philosophy, especially in Plato, only the world of ideas was seen as real and
important, the material world was inferior, sometimes even thought as evil.
This controversy threads itself even to the times of the early Christians. We find similar
statements in 1 Cor 7: 29 – 31 and 1 John 2:15-17 and many others.
But the Evangelist John also says that “ God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through
him” John 3:16-17
Q 4 Compare the three statements of the NT.
Q 5 Even the story about Mary and Martha used to be interpreted in a polarizing way,
representing the active and the contemplative life which then was assumed to be “the better or
nobler one”, although both are needed in the Church. See Luke 10:38-42.
The early Christians believed that Christ would come during their life time, therefore
they did not want to get too attached to this earth, in order to be ready for him.
However one of the parables states that when Christ comes again, He wants to find His
stewards busy at their task.
Q 6 See Matthew 24: 45f
Non-believers often accuse Christians that they are so deeply concerned with the spiritual life
and the world to come that they neglect to improve our present world.
3. Extreme Positions in the History of Monasticism
During the history of monasticism, we find this dichotomy in the movement of the
iconoclasts in the 8th century when many precious mosaics and icons in Eastern churches were
destroyed in the name of God who is Spirit. Then in the 12 century, there was the fierce
controversy between the grandiose Abbeys of Cluny who had built monumental churches and
used articles and art pieces of great value, for their elaborate worship. The liturgical prayer as
the “work of God” became the sole purpose of their monastic vocation: “All for the glory of
God!” In their zeal for the liturgy these monks practically spent their whole day singing the
Office in Church; while for their necessary work they employed lay brothers.
Against this extreme use of material wealth and the overemphasis on liturgy, the
Cistercians and later the Trappists intended to reform monasticism. The latter deliberately
chose simple buildings, sparse ornaments in their churches, in order not to be distracted in
their worship of God. They also re-introduced hard manual labor and austere asceticism after
the example of the early founders of monasticism.
Writers of mysticism up to our time have much to say about detachment and the “dark
night of the senses” on our spiritual journey: God is wholly Other, different from anything in
this world, and greater than anyone can think or imagine. In order to come to union with Him,
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as is our destiny, we have to let go of all that attaches us to this world. We must become empty
so that God may be all in all. In the history of spirituality, there were two great movements of
prayer, the apophatic and the kataphatic prayer. The first (apo Greek = without) tried to cling to
God in “pure” prayer, without images, or thoughts or feelings, because God is greater than
these. The second movement was the kataphatic spirituality, (kata = according, down) honoring
God by praying with all our faculties and with the aid of all that is good and valuable and
beautiful in human life.
In Bavaria, most Churches are built in the Baroque style. They were constructed after
the 30 year long Swedish war, (1618 – 48) where death, plague, hunger, and destruction had
devastated the country, and no one dared to hope for a life in joy and prosperity. To counteract
this pessimistic mentality in the land, the bishops (who were also governors of their particular
regions) called famous architects from Italy to come to Germany and build new Churches in the
then modern Baroque style. These structures were to give an inkling of the exuberant joy in
heaven; but they also showed the beauty and loveliness of God’s creation here on earth.
Heaven and Earth were to celebrate together the newly forged peace on earth and were aimed
at arousing people’s hope and courage to begin a new, better life.
St. Benedict is convinced that we find God everywhere; that all creation is sacred and can lead
us to God. But we have to seek Him in everything, not ourselves.
It is not easy to find the right balance:
We had once a “holy” novice. She had come to the monastery in order to pray and to
save her soul. She was very eager when it came to prayer, but often did her work without inner
involvement and zeal.
Another one, as soon as she arrived, threw out anything from her cell that smacked of
luxury: any wall decoration, her mattress, her pillow, her floor rug. When she was asked to
restore her cell as it had been, she remarked that it was not in line with her spirituality.
A third woman came with a U-Haul truck and brought with her even her whole kitchen
and household utensils, besides some of her furniture.
Needless to say, neither one made it to the end of the Novitiate.
The tendency toward one extreme or the opposite may depend on the temperament and
upbringing of a particular person:
Q 7: Can you find the presence of God in nature, in art, in family relationship and friendship, as
well as in hardships, poverty and times of loneliness?
Some people find it unnecessary to spend time in prayer, they argue that their work is their
prayer.
Q 8: What do you think about this statement?
4. Attempts to Combine Opposites
Are there ways to combine the opposite poles?
Q 9: How can you do your work prayerfully?
Q 10: Read 1 Timothy 4: 1-6. What does Paul suggest for using this world’s goods according to
God’s will?
One of the great philosophers and scientists of our time, the French Jesuit Father Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin had tried to find a bridge between human efforts at improving this world
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with faith in a world to come, a solution of the dilemma between engagement in this world and
detachment from it.
In his classical work: “The Divine Milieu”, F. Teilhard talks about the popular answer that
have been offered by some spiritual directors of the past:
A: The Christian must detach himself as much as possible from all natural things and use them
only for their spiritual aspect and goal.
B: Make an act of good intention every morning, and then give yourself whole-heartedly to
your task.
Both answers, Teilhard says, contain part of the truth. His way of combining them is as follows:
C: Our soul is made for God and belongs to God. But our soul is nourished by everything in our
world that is true, good, beautiful, and lovable. As we gather and incorporate this world into
our own being, and through our collaboration make it more true, beautiful, and loving, we
prepare and foster within us and around us the Kingdom of God. Throughout our lives, we will
surrender ourselves, -- together with the world we have integrated into our being and which
we have affected through our labor -- to Christ. At the end of time, He will surrender Himself -together with us and our universe,-- to the Father so that “God will be all in all.”
Q 11: See 1 Cor. 15: 28. All labor however requires attachment and detachment alike.
Writers and artists tell us: In all creative work, we find it necessary to abandon our first
cherished drafts and great ideas in order to refine and edit the project to its final completion.
We find this alternation of detachment and attachment also in our daily lives:
All journeys require a letting go of the place where we presently are in order to move on to new
grounds; all growth and conversion, all maturation involve a turning from childish and
imperfect things in order to embrace a new stage that we are being led to, but often do not yet
fully see or know.
In his chapter on “Christian Asceticism” Teilhard de Chardin writes:
“A: First, develop yourself, Christianity says to the Christian ”
A footnote by the French editor explains: ’First’, in this sense, clearly indicates a
priority in nature as much as, or more than, a priority in time. The true Christian
should obviously never be purely and simply attached to whatever it may be,
because the contact he seeks with things is always made with a view to
transcending them or transfiguring them. So that when we speak here of being
attached, we mean something penetrated and dominated by detachment.
Nevertheless, the use and proportion of development in the spiritual life are very
delicate matters, for nothing is easier that to pursue one’s selfish interests under
cover of growing and of loving God. The only real protection against that
dangerous illusion is a constant concern to keep very much alive (with God’s
help) the impassioned vision of the Greater than All. In the presence of that
supreme interest, the very idea of growing or enjoying egotistically, for oneself,
becomes insipid and intolerable.” ( End of the footnote).
“The duty of human perfection, like the whole universe, has been renewed, recast,
supernaturalized, in the kingdom of God. It is a truly Christian duty to grow and to make
one’s talents bear fruit, even though they be natural. “
Teilhard cites it as part of the essentially Catholic vision
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“to look upon the world as maturing – not only in each individual or in each nation, but
in the whole human race – a specific power of knowing and loving whose transfigured
term is charity, but whose roots and elemental sap lie in the discovery and the love of
everything that is true and beautiful in creation. … The effort of mankind, even in realms
inaccurately called profane, must, in the Christian life, assume the role of a holy and
unifying operation. It is the collaboration, trembling with love, which we give to the
hands of God, concerned to attire and prepare us (and the world) for the final union
through sacrifice (bold-face is mine) . Understood in this way, the care which we devote
to personal achievement and embellishment is no more than a gift begun. And that is
why the attachment to creatures which it appears to denote melts imperceptibly into
complete detachment. “
“B:’ And if you possess something’, Christ says in the Gospel, ‘leave it and follow me’.
The Christian who has heard this command understands that all use of material things is
not just to keep them for himself, nor enjoy them solely for his own advantage and
benefit. …
Anyone whose aim, in conquering the earth, has really been to subject a little more
matter to spirit has, surely, begun to take leave of himself at the same time as taking
possession of things and ideas, and sets out courageously on the path of work, inward
renewal and the ceaseless broadening and purification of his ideal. And it is true, again,
of the man who has given his time, his health, or his life, to something greater than
himself – a family to be supported, a country to be saved, a truth to be discovered, a
cause to be defended. All these (people) are continually passing from attachment to
detachment as they faithfully mount the ladder of human endeavor.
C: Thus, in the general rhythm of Christian life, development and renunciation,
attachment and detachment, are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they
harmonize, like breathing in and out…. They are two phases of the soul’s breath or two
components of the impulse by which the Christian life uses things as a springboard from
which to mount beyond them. That is the general solution. In the detail of particular
cases, the sequence of these two phases and the combinations of these two
components are subject to an infinite number of subtle variations. Their exact blending
calls for a spiritual tact which is the strength and virtue proper to the masters of the
inner life. “ i
In Teilhard’s vision, the Christian uses the material goods of this world, not merely to
enjoy them for himself, let alone to exploit them in an egotistical manner, but to regard them
as elements and tools to raise himself and the world to a higher destiny. Chardin uses the image
of a deep sea diver who makes use of the surrounding layers of water in order to make his way
to the surface. He embraces the waves and lets them go as he rises higher.
In reading this, I thought of the ladder in St. Benedict’s chapter on humility.
Q 12: Read RB 7: 5 – 9 Every rung of a ladder is needed, and we rely on it and put our full
weight on it, but then we need to let it go in order to reach for the next. Material goods are
offered to us to help us toward the Kingdom. We need to secure our weight upon it, i.d. to
attach ourselves, but then, we need to let go of it and reach higher in the knowledge that
anything in itself will not bring us to our desired goal.
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However, the way Benedict uses this metaphor is different from our traditional image of
“climbing the ladder of perfection”. By our own efforts, we will never make it to heaven. There
is no ladder long enough to reach it, and the higher we want to rise, the farther we seem to be
from our goal. For, we are not obtaining the Kingdom by our own efforts, but we are to receive
it as God’s free gift of love. Therefore, according to St. Benedict, we need to climb down the
ladder of our own aspirations and let go of our illusions and imagined holiness to the very
bottom of reality. There we will be free to let go even of the sides of the ladder in order to have
our hands empty, and reach out for God’s hands to pull us up to Himself.
5. For your Reflection
Q 13: Do you feel you have the necessary balance in your life or is your home too cluttered with
material things, and your time too filled with work?
Q 14: Or do you feel your life to be empty and meaningless?
Here is a suggestion to make emptiness meaningful:
A Hollowed Space to be Filled
A cup must be empty before it can be filled.
If it is already full, it can’t be filled again
Except by emptying it out.
In order to fill anything, there must be
A hollowed–out space.
Otherwise it can’t receive.
This is especially true of God’s word.
In order to receive it, we must be hollowed out.
We must be capable of receiving it,
Emptied of the false self and its endless demands.
When Christ came, there was no room in the inn.
It was full. The inn is a symbol of the heart.
God’s word, Christ, can take root only in a hollow.
(William Breault SJ) ii
i
ii
Le Mileu Divin – An Essay on the interior Life” by Teihard de Chardin, 1957 Collins, Fontana Books. Pg. 96.
“Hearts of Fire – Praying with the Jesuits. Edited by Michael Harter SJ/ St. Louis, 1993
Sanctuary after the stripping of the altar on Good Friday. The crucifix was made from Boulder clay by Sr. M.John Baptist
Florescu, OSB, now living in St. Mildred’s Priory in Minster, England.