THE RULE OF BENEDICT: INSIGHTS FOR THE AGES
Joan Chittister, OSB
CHAPTER 73. THIS RULE ONLY A BEGINNING OF PERFECTION
May 1 - Aug. 31 - Dec. 31
The reason we have written this Rule is that, by observing it in monasteries, we can show that we have some degree of virtue and the beginnings of monastic life. But for anyone hastening on to the perfection of monastic life, there are the teachings of the early church writers, the observance of which will lead to the very heights of perfection. What page, what passage of the inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is not the truest of guides for human life? What book of holy writers does not resoundingly summon us along the true way to reach the Creator? Then, besides the Conferences of the early church writers, their Institutes and their Lives, there is also the Rule of Basil. For observant and obedient monastics, all these are nothing less than tools for the cultivation of virtues; but as for us, they make us blush for shame at being so slothful, so unobservant, so negligent. Are you hastening toward your heavenly home? Then with Christ's help, keep this little Rule that we have written for beginners. After that, you can set out for the loftier summits of the teaching and virtues we mentioned above, and under God's protection you will reach them. Amen.
Even at the end of his Rule, Benedict does not promise that we will be perfect for having lived it. What Benedict does promise is that we will be disposed to the will of God, attuned to the presence of God, committed to the search for God and just beginning to understand the power of God in our lives. Why? Because Benedictine simplicity gentles us into the arms of God. Benedictine community supports us on the way to God. Benedictine balance makes a wholesome journey possible.
PROLOGUE
Jan. 1 - May 2 - Sept. 1
Listen carefully to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedience will bring you back to one from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for Jesus, the Christ.
First of all, every time you begin a good work, you must pray to God most earnestly to bring it to perfection. In God's goodness, we are already counted as God's own, and therefore we should never grieve God by our evil actions. With the good gifts which are in us, we must obey God at all times that God may never become the angry parent who disinherits us, nor the dreaded one, enraged by our sins, who punishes us forever as worthless servants for refusing to follow the way to glory.
The person who prays for the presence of God is, ironically, already in the presence of God. The person who seeks God has already found God to some extent. "We are already counted as God's won," the rule reminds us. Benedict knows this and clearly wants us to know it as well.
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 2 - May 3 - Sept. 2
Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: "It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Rom. 13:11)." Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from the heavens that every day calls out this charge: "If you hear God's voice today, do not harden your hearts (Ps. 95:8)." And again: "You that have ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev. 2:7)." And what does the Spirit say? "Come and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of God (Ps. 34:12)." "Run while you have the light" of life, "that the darkness" of death "may not overtake you (Jn. 12:35)."
As important as the content of the scriptural quotations themselves is the very message of their presence: the life laid out in this rule is a life based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not the prescriptions of a private guru. It is an immersion in the Gospel life so intense that we never forget for a moment what we are really about.
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 3 - May 4 - Sept. 3
Seeking workers in a multitude of people, God calls out and says again: "Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days (Ps. 34:13)?" If you hear this and your answer is "I do," God then directs these words to you: If you desire true and eternal life, "keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; turn away from evil and do good; let peace be your quest and aim (Ps. 34:14-15)." Once you have done this, my "eyes will be upon you and my ears will listen for your prayers; and even before you ask me, I will say" to you: "Here I am (Is. 58:9)." What is more delightful than this voice of God calling to us? See how God's love shows us the way of life. 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 God "who has called us to the eternal presence (1 Thes. 2:12)."
Benedictinism is a call to live in the world not only without weapons raised against the other but by doing good. The passage implies clearly that those who make God's creation their enemy simply do not "deserve to see the Holy One." It is a strong passage clothed in words long dulled by repetition.
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 4 - May 5 - Sept. 4
If we wish to dwell in God's tent, we will never arrive unless we run there by doing good deeds. But let us ask with the prophet: "Who will dwell in your tent, O God; who will find rest upon your holy mountain (Ps. 15:1)?" After this question, then, let us listen well to what God says in reply, for we are shown the way to God's tent. "Those who walk without blemish and are just in all dealings; who speak truth from the heart and have not practiced deceit; who have not wronged another in any way, nor listened to slanders against a neighbor (Ps. 15:2-3)." They have foiled the Evil One at every turn, flinging both the Evil One and these wicked promptings far from sight. While these temptations were still "young, the just caught hold of them and dashed them against Christ (Ps. 15:4; 137:9)." These people reverence God, and do not become elated over their good deeds; they judge it is God's strength not their own that brings about the good in them. "They praise (Ps. 15:4)" God working in them, and say with the prophet: "Not to us, O God, not to us give the glory, but to your name alone (Ps. 115:1)."
Benedict wants "good deeds" but he does not want pride. We do what we do in life, even holy things, the Prologue teaches, not because we are so good but because God is so good and enables us to rise above the misery of ourselves. Even the spiritual life can become an arrogant trap if we do not realize that the spiritual life is not a game that is won by the development of spiritual skills. The spiritual life is simply the God-life already at work in us.
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 5 - May 6 - Sept. 5
Paul the apostle refused to take credit for the power of his preaching. He declared: "By God's grace I am what I am (1 Cor. 15:10)." And again Paul said: "Whoever boasts should boast in God (2 Cor. 10:17)." That is why it is said in the Gospel: "Whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise person who built a house upon rock; the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, but it did not fall: it was founded on rock (Mt. 7:24-25)."
With this conclusion, God waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, these holy teachings. Therefore our life span has been 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 (Rom. 2:4)?" And indeed God assures us in love: "I do not wish the death of sinners, but that they turn back to me and live (Ez. 33:11)."
All life takes on a new dimension once we begin to see it as spiritual people....
We begin to find God where we could not see God before, not as a panacea or an anesthetic, not as a cheap release from the problems of life, but as another measure of life's meaning for us. Clearly, living life well is the nature of repentance. To begin to see life as life should be and to live it that way ourselves is to enable creation to go on creating in us.
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 6 - May 7 - Sept. 6
Now that we have asked God who will dwell in the holy tent, we have heard the instruction for dwelling in it, but only if we fulfill the obligations of those who live there. We must, then, prepare our hearts and bodies for the battle of holy obedience to God's instructions. What is not possible to us by nature, let us ask God to supply by the help of grace. If we wish to reach eternal life, even as we avoid the torments of hell, then - while there is still time, while we are in this body and have time to accomplish all these things by the light of life - we must run and do now what will profit us forever.
"God," the elder said, "is closer to sinners that to saint." "But how can that be?" the eager disciple asked. And the elder explained: 'God in heaven holds each person by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot--bringing the sinner a little closer. Again and again sins cut the string--and with each know God keeps drawing the sinner closer and closer."
PROLOGUE - Continued
Jan. 7 - May 8 - Sept. 7
We intend to establish a school for God's service. In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and 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, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. Never swerving from God's instructions, then, but faithfully observing God's teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in God’s eternal presence. Amen.
God is calling us to more than the material level of life and God is waiting to bring us to it. All we have to do is to live well with others and live totally in God. All we have to do is to learn to listen to the voice of God in life. And we have to do it heart, soul, and body. The spiritual life demands all of us.
CHAPTER 1. THE KINDS OF MONASTICS
Jan. 8 - May 9 - Sept. 8
There are clearly four kinds of monastics. First, there are the cenobites, that is to say, those who belong to a monastery, where they serve under a rule and a prioress.
Second, there are the anchorites or hermits, who have come through the test of living in a monastery for a long time, and have passed beyond the first fervor of monastic life. Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against evil. They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the ranks of their members to the single combat of the desert. Self-reliant now, without the support of another, they are ready with God's help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind.
Third, there are the sarabaites, the most detestable kind of monastics, who with no experience to guide them, no rule to try them as "gold is tried in a furnace (Prv. 27:21)," have a character as soft as lead. Still loyal to the world by their actions, they clearly lie to God by their signs of religion. Two or three together, or even alone, without a shepherd, they pen themselves up in their own sheepfolds, not God's. Their law is what they like to do, whatever strikes their fancy. Anything they believe in and choose, they call holy; anything they dislike, they consider forbidden.
Fourth and finally, there are the monastics called gyrovagues, who spend their entire lives drifting from region to region, staying as guests for three or four days in different monasteries. Always on the move, they never settle down, and are slaves to their own wills and gross appetites. In every way they are worse than sarabaites.
It is better to keep silent than to speak of all these and their disgraceful way of life. Let us pass them by, then, and with the help of God, proceed to draw up a plan for the strong kind, the cenobites.
In this chapter, Benedict describes each of the four main classes of religious life that were common at the time of his writing. The effects of the descriptions and definitions are apparent. He is for all intents and purposes telling us the characteristics that he values most in spiritual development and emphasizing the qualities that in his opinion are most important to spiritual growth.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS
Jan. 9 - May 10 - Sept. 9
To be worthy of the task of governing a monastery, the prioress must always remember what the title signifies and act accordingly. She is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery. Therefore, the prioress must never teach or decree or command anything that would deviate from God's instructions. On the contrary, everything she teaches and commands should, like the leaven of divine justice, permeate the minds of the community.
Like Christ, this leader does not lead with brute force. This leader understand the leavening process. This leader, called appropriately abbot or abbess or prioress, is a spiritual parent, a catalyst for the spiritual and psychological growth of the individual monastic, not a border guard or a warden. This leader is not a parent who terrorizes a child into submission; this leader believes in the best and gives people the opportunities to make the mistakes that lead to growth.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 10 - May 11 - Sept. 10
Let the prioress always remember that at the judgment of God, not only her teaching but also the community's obedience will come under scrutiny. The prioress must, therefore, be aware that the shepherd will bear the blame wherever the owner of the household finds that the sheep have yielded no profit. Still, if she has faithfully shepherded a restive and disobedient flock, always striving to cure their unhealthy ways, it will be otherwise: the shepherd will be acquitted at God's judgment. Then, like the prophet, she may say to God: "I have not hidden your justice in my heart; I have proclaimed your truth and your salvation (Ps. 40:11), but they spurned and rejected me (Is. 1:2; Ez. 20:27)." Then at last the sheep that have rebelled against her care will be punished by the overwhelming power of death.
The rule's model of leadership and authority then, is a paradigm for any relationship, husband and wife, parent and child, supervisor and employee. The function of authority is not to control the other; it is to guide and to challenge and to enable the other. Benedictine authority is a commitment to that, a promise of that.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 11 - May 12 - Sept. 11
Anyone who receives the name of prioress is to lead the community by a twofold teaching: she must point out to them all that is good and holy more by example than by words, proposing God's commandments to a receptive community with words, but demonstrating God's instructions to the stubborn and the dull by a living example. Again, if the prioress teaches the community that something is not to be done, then neither must she do it, "lest after preaching to others, she herself be found reprobate (1 Cor. 9:27)" and God some day call to her in her sin: "How is it that you repeat my just commands and mouth my covenant when you hate discipline and toss my words behind you (Ps. 50:16-17)?" And also this: "How is it that you can see a splinter in another's eye, and never notice the plank in your own (Mt. 7:3)?"
The abbot and prioress are to make of themselves the light that guides and the crystal that rings true. Otherwise, why should anyone else attempt the Way at all? "love work and hate lordship," the Hasidim teach their rabbis. It is Benedict's teaching, too.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 12 - May 13 - Sept. 12
The prioress should avoid all favoritism in the monastery. She is not to love one more than another unless she finds someone better in good works and obedience. One born free is not to be given higher rank than one born a slave who becomes a monastic, except for some other good reason. But the prioress is free, if she sees fit, to change anyone's rank as justice demands. Ordinarily, everyone is to keep to their regular place, because "whether slave or free, we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28; Eph. 6:8)" and share equally in the service of the one God, for "God shows no partiality among persons (Rom. 2:11)." Only in this are we distinguished in God's sight: if we are found better than others in good works and in humility. Therefore, the prioress is to show equal love to everyone and apply the same discipline to all according to their merits.
Benedict doesn't just want a business manager who can make money for the monastery. He doesn't want workers for their productivity only. He doesn't take for leaders simply those who know how to control a group or build a business. Whom Benedict wants appointed to positions of responsibility are people who are distinguished "in good works and obedience," in "good works and humility." It is a model for leadership in those places where profit and power and the party line take precedence over what the business or the diocese or the social service agency proclaims it is about.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 13 - May 14 - Sept. 13
In her teaching, the prioress should always observe the apostle's recommendation, in which is said: "Use argument, appeal, reproof (2 Tm. 4:2)." This means that she must vary with circumstances, threatening and coaxing by turns, at times stern, at times devoted and tender. With the undisciplined and restless, she will use firm argument; with the obedient and docile and patient, she will appeal for greater virtue; but as for the negligent and disdainful, we charge her to use reproof and rebuke. The prioress should not gloss over the sin of those who err, but cut them out while she can, as soon as they begin to sprout, remembering the fate of Eli, priest of Shiloh (Sam. 2:11-4:18). For the upright and perceptive, the first and second warnings should be verbal; but those who are evil or stubborn, arrogant or disobedient, can be curbed only by blows or some other physical punishment at the first offense. It is written, "The fool cannot be corrected with words (Prv. 29:19);" and again, "Strike your children with a rod and you will free their souls from death (Prv. 23:14)."
The person who accepts a position of responsibility and milks it of its comforts but leaves the persons in a group no more spiritually stirred than when they began, no more alive in Christ than when they started, no more aflame with the Gospel than when they first held it in their hands, is more to be criticized than the fruitless group itself. It was Eli, Benedict points out, the father who did not correct his sinful sons, whom God indicts, not the sons alone.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 14 - May 15 - Sept. 14
The prioress must always remember what she is and remember what she is called, aware that more will be expected of one to whom more has been entrusted. She must know what a difficult and demanding burden she has undertaken: directing souls and serving a variety of temperaments, coaxing, reproving and encouraging them as appropriate. She must so accommodate and adapt herself to each one's character and intelligence that she will not only keep the flock entrusted to her care from dwindling, but will rejoice in the increase of a good flock.
Abbots or prioresses of Benedictine monasteries, then, parents and supervisors and officials and bishops everywhere who set out to live a Benedictine spirituality, are to keep clearly in mind their own weak souls and dark minds and fragile hearts when they touch the souls and minds and hearts of others.
CHAPTER 2. QUALITIES OF THE PRIORESS - Continued
Jan. 15 - May 16 - Sept. 15
Above all, the prioress must not show too great a concern for the fleeting and temporal things of this world, neglecting or treating lightly the welfare of those entrusted to her. Rather, she should keep in mind that she has undertaken the care of souls for whom she must give an account. That she may not plead lack of resources as an excuse, she is to remember what is written: "Seek first the reign and justice of God, and all these things will be given you as well (Mt. 6:33)," and again, "Those who revere God lack nothing (Ps. 34:10)."
The prioress must know that anyone undertaking the charge of souls must be ready to account for them. Whatever the number of members she has in her care, let her realize that on Judgment Day she will surely have to submit a reckoning to God for all their souls - and indeed for her own as well. In this way, while always fearful of the future examination of the shepherd about the sheep entrusted to her and careful about the state of others' accounts, the prioress becomes concerned also about her own, and while helping others to amend by her warnings; she achieves the amendment of her own faults.
In this chapter, monasteries become the image of a world where leadership exists for the people it leads and not for itself. It is a model for businesses and families an dinstitutions that would change the world. It is also a model for leaders who become so consume din leadership that they themselves forget what it means to live a rich and holy life.
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