August 1-15

Excerpts from
THE RULE OF BENEDICT: INSIGHTS FOR THE AGES
Joan Chittister, OSB

CHAPTER 50. MEMBERS WORKING AT A DISTANCE OR TRAVELING
April 1 - Aug. 1 - Dec. 1

Members who work so far away that they cannot return to the oratory at the proper time--and the prioress determines that is the case--are to perform the Opus Dei where they are, and kneel out of reverence for God.

So too, those who have been sent on a journey are not to omit the prescribed hours but are to observe them as best they can, not neglecting their measure of service.

In Sanskrit it is written: Necessity changes a course but never a goal. Benedictine spirituality--flexible, sensible, realistic at all times--sets loud, clear goals but models a number of ways to achieve them. Perhaps there is no surer proof of Benedict's awareness that spirituality is neither a formula nor a straightjacket than this chapter.


CHAPTER 51. MEMBERS ON A SHORT JOURNEY
April 2 - Aug. 2 - Dec. 2

If a member is sent on some errand and expects to return to the monastery that same day, she must not presume to eat outside, even if she receives a pressing invitation, unless perhaps the prioress has ordered it. Should she act otherwise, she will be excommunicated

Benedictine spirituality, this chapter implies, is not a set of rules; it is a way of life. Being out of the monastery does not relieve the monastic of the obligation to be what we say we are--simple, centered in God, in search of higher things.


CHAPTER 52. THE ORATORY OF THE MONASTERY
April 3 - Aug. 3 - Dec. 3

The oratory ought to be what it is called, and nothing else is to be done or stored there. After the Opus Dei, all should leave in complete silence and with reverence for God, so that anyone who may wish to pray alone will not be disturbed by the insensitivity of another. Moreover, if at other times someone chooses to pray privately, she may simply go in and pray, not in a loud voice, but with tears and heartfelt devotion. Accordingly, anyone who does not pray in this manner is not to remain in the oratory after the Opus Dei, as we have said; then she will not interfere with anyone else.

More than that, Benedict asks us to be there in a special way--with quiet and with awareness, not laughing or talking or lounging or distracting but alert and immersed and enshrouded in the arms of God. Americans, of course, have made of God a casual circumstance. We have prayer meetings with coffee cups in our hands and listen to psalmody with our legs crossed and our arms spread-eagled on the backs of our pews. We avoid churches and say that since God is everywhere, any place is good enough. All of which is true, at one level. But Benedictine spirituality says also that to know God in time and space we must regularly seek to find God in one time and space that enables us to recognize God more easily in every other one.


CHAPTER 53. THE RECEPTION OF GUESTS
April 4 - Aug. 4 - Dec. 4

All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, who said: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Mt. 25:35)." Proper honor must be shown "to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10)" and to pilgrims. Once guests have been announced, the prioress and the community are to meet them with all the courtesy of love. First of all, they are to pray together and thus be united in peace, but prayer must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions of the Evil One.

All humility should be shown in addressing a guest on arrival or departure. By a bow of the head or by a complete prostration of the body, Christ is to be adored and welcomed in them. After the guests have been received, they should be invited to pray; then the prioress or an appointed member will sit with them. The divine law is read to all guests for their instruction, and after that every kindness is shown to them. The prioress may break her fast for the sake of a guest, unless it is a day of special fast which cannot be broken. The members however, observe the usual fast. The prioress shall pour water on the hands of the guests, and the prioress with the entire community shall wash their feet. After the washing they will recite this verse: "God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple (Ps. 48:10). Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received; our very awe of the rich guarantees them special respect.

We can give people charity or we can give them attention. We can give them the necessities of life or we can give them its joys. Benedictine hospitality is the gift of one human being to another. Benedictine hospitality is not simply bed and bath; it is home and family.

"It's a barren prayer," St. Cyprian wrote, "that does not go hand in hand with alms." For the Benedictine heart the reception of the poor is an essential part of going to God. We cannot be too busy, too professional, too removed from the world of the poor to receive the poor and sustain the poor. Anything else, Benedict warns in a society that is by nature class structured, is not hospitality. It is at best more protocol than piety. Those who can buy their comforts or demand their rights are simply receiving what they can get, with us or without us. Those who have been thrown upon the mercy of the world are the gauge of our open hearts.


CHAPTER 53. THE RECEPTION OF GUESTS-Continued
April 5 - Aug. 5 - Dec. 5

The kitchen for the prioress and guests ought to be separate, so that guests-and monasteries are never without them--need not disturb the community when they present themselves at unpredictable hours. Each year, two members who can do the work competently are to be assigned to this kitchen. Additional help should be available when needed, so that they can perform this service without grumbling. On the other hand, when the work slackens, they are to go wherever other duties are assigned them. This consideration is not for them alone, but applies to all duties in the monastery; members are to be given help when it is needed, and whenever they are free, they work wherever they are assigned. The guest quarters are to be entrusted to a God-fearing member. Adequate bedding should be available there. The house of God should be in the care of members who will manage it wisely.

No one is to speak or associate with guests unless she is bidden; however, if a member meets or sees guests, she is to greet them humbly, as we have said. She asks for a blessing and continues on her way, explaining that she is not allowed to speak.

Somehow we must take on the needs of the world with a humble heart. As Edward Everett Hale said, "I cannot do everything but I can do something, and what I can do I will do, so help me God."


CHAPTER 54. LETTERS OR GIFTS
April 6 - Aug. 6 - Dec 6

In no circumstances is a monastic allowed, unless the prioress says she may, to exchange letters, blessed tokens or small gifts of any kind, with her parents or anyone else, or with another monastic. She must not presume to accept gifts sent her even by her parents without previously telling the prioress. If the prioress orders acceptance, she still has the power to give the gift to whomever; and the one for whom it was originally sent must not be distressed, "lest occasion be given to the Evil One (Eph. 4:27; 1 Tm. 5:14)." Whoever presumes to act otherwise will be subjected to the discipline of the Rule.

Enoughness is a value long dead in Western society. Dependence on God is a value long lost. Yet, enoughness and dependence on God may be what is lacking in a society where consumerism and accumulation have become the root diseases of a world in which everything is not enough and nothing satisfies.


CHAPTER 55. CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR
April 7 - Aug. 7 - Dec. 7

The clothing distributed to the members should vary according to local conditions and climate, because more is needed in cold regions and less in warmer. This is left to the discretion of the prioress. We believe that for each monastic a cowl and tunic will suffice in temperate regions; in winter a woolen cowl is necessary, in summer a thinner or worn one; also a scapular for work, and footwear - both sandals and shoes.

Members must not complain about the color or coarseness of all these articles, but use what is available in the vicinity at a reasonable cost. However, the prioress ought to be concerned about the measurements of these garments that they not be too short but fitted to the wearers.Whenever new clothing is received, the old should be returned at once and stored in a wardrobe for the poor. To provide for laundering and night wear, every member will need two cowls and two tunics, but anything more must be taken away as unnecessary. When new articles are received, the worn ones-sandals or anything old-must be returned.

Those going on a journey should get underclothing from the wardrobe. On their return they are to wash it and give it back. Their cowls and tunics, too, ought to be somewhat better than those they ordinarily wear. Let them get these from the wardrobe before departing, and on returning put them back.

Taking care of the self has something to do with taking care of the universe. If we do not care about our presentation of self, it is unlikely that we will worry about littering the countryside or care about preservation of resources or stewardship of the earth. Being sloppy is not a monastic ideal. Just because a thing is not useful in the monastery anymore does not necessarily make it useless. It may, in fact, still be very useful to someone else and so should be given away. We owe what is useless to us to the poor. What is no longer important to us is to be made available to the other, in good condition, with quality and care. There is a Benedictine virtue in washing things and hanging them up and folding them nicely and keeping them neat and giving them to people who can use them, not because they are not worth anything but precisely because they are still worth something.

CHAPTER 55. CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR-Continued
April 8 - Aug. 8 - Dec. 8

For bedding monastics will need a mat, a woolen blanket and a light covering as well as a pillow. The beds are to be inspected frequently by the prioress, lest private possessions be found there. Anyone discovered with anything not given by the prioress must be subjected to very severe punishment. In order that this vice of private ownership may be completely uprooted, the prioress is to provide all things necessary: that is, cowl, tunic, sandals, shoes, belt, knife, stylus, needle, handkerchief and writing tablets. In this way every excuse of lacking some necessity will be taken away.

The prioress, however, must always bear in mind what is said in the Acts of the Apostles: "Distribution was made as each had need (Acts 4:35)." In this way the prioress will take into account the weakness of the needy, not the evil will of the envious; yet in all her judgments she must bear in mind God's retribution.

The rule recognizes that people who lack the necessities of life often spend their time either consumed with thoughts of subsistence or struggling against bitterness and clawing for survival. On the other hand, people smothered by things run the risk of slipping into indolence or becoming blinded to the important things of life. In striking a balance between the two, Benedictine spirituality seeks to free the body so that the soul can soar. It is a gift long lost in a consumer society.


CHAPTER 56. THE PRIORESS' TABLE
April 9 - Aug. 9 - Dec. 9

The prioress' table must always be with guests and travelers. Whenever there are no guests, it is within her right to invite anyone of the community she wishes. However, for the sake of maintaining discipline, one or two seniors must always be left with the others.

It seems, however, that the greater point of the chapter for us today is not the geography of the table but the fact that the leader of the community was expected to model the gift of self with strangers. It was the abbot and prioress themselves who showed the community the price and the process of availability and hospitality and presence to the other.


CHAPTER 57. THE ARTISANS OF THE MONASTERY
April 10 - Aug. 10 - Dec. 10

If there are artisans in the monastery, they are to practice their craft with all humility, but only with the permission of the prioress. If one of them becomes puffed up by skillfulness in her craft, and feels that she is conferring something on the monastery, she is to be removed from practicing her craft and not allowed to resume it unless, after manifesting her humility, she is so ordered by the prioress.

Whenever products of these artisans are sold, those responsible for the sale must not dare to practice any fraud. Let them always remember Ananias and Sapphira, who incurred bodily death (Acts 5:1-11), lest they and all who perpetrate fraud in monastery affairs suffer spiritual death.

The evil of avarice must have no part in establishing prices, which should, therefore, always be a little lower than people outside the monastery are able to set, "so that in all things God may be glorified (1 Pt. 4:11)."

Any great gift is a revelation of the more in life, a natural expression of the spiritual, a necessary expression of the sacred. To stamp out the artist in the name of religious rigor is to stamp out the spiritual eye itself, and that kind of blindness plunges any group, any family, any person into darkness indeed. Without the artist to show us what we ourselves do not see of the beauty of the world around us, we lose sight of the beauty of God as well.


CHAPTER 58. THE PROCEDURE FOR RECEIVING MEMBERS
April 11 - Aug. 11 - Dec. 11

Do not grant newcomers to the monastic life an easy entry, but, as the apostle says, "Test the spirits to see if they are from God (1 Jn. 4:1)." Therefore, if someone comes and keeps knocking at the door and if at the end of four or five days she has shown herself patient in bearing her harsh treatment and difficulty of entry, and has persisted in her request, then she should be allowed to enter and stay in the guest quarters for a few days. After that, she should live in the novitiate, where the novices study, eat and sleep.

An elder chosen for her skill in winning souls should be appointed to look after them with careful attention. The concern must be whether the novice truly seeks God and whether she shows eagerness for the Opus Dei, for obedience and for trials. The novice should be clearly told all the hardships and difficulties that will lead her to God.

If she promises perseverance in her stability, then after two months have elapsed let this Rule be read straight through to her, and let her be told: "This is the law under which you are choosing to serve. If you can keep it, come in. If not, feel free to leave." If the novice still stands firm, she is to be taken back to the novitiate, and again thoroughly tested in all patience. After six months have passed, the Rule is to be read to her, so that she may know what she is entering. If once more she stands firm, let four months go by, and then read this Rule to her again. If after due reflection she promises to observe everything and to obey every command given her, let her then be received into the community. But she must be well aware that, as the law of the Rule establishes, from this day she is no longer free to leave the monastery, nor to shake from her neck the yoke of the Rule which, in the course of so prolonged a period of reflection, she was free either to reject or to accept.

The spiritual life is not a set of exercises appended to our ordinary routine. It is a complete reordering of our values and our priorities and our lives. Spirituality is not just a matter of joining the closest religious community or parish committee or faith-sharing group. Spirituality is that depth of soul that changes our lives and focuses our efforts and leads us to see the world differently than we ever did before.


CHAPTER 58. THE PROCEDURE FOR RECEIVING MEMBERS– Continued
April 12 - Aug. 12 - Dec. 12

When the novice is to be received, she comes before the whole community in the oratory and promises stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. This is done in the presence of God and the saints to impress on the novice that if she ever acts otherwise, she will surely be condemned by the one she mocks. She states her promise in a document drawn up in the name of the saints whose relics are there, and of the prioress, who is present. The novice writes out this document herself, or if she is illiterate, then she asks someone else to write it for her, but puts her mark to it and with her own hand lays it on the altar. After she has put the document there, the novice begins the verse: "Receive me, O God, as you have promised, and I shall live; do not disappoint me in my hope." (Ps. 119:116)." The whole community repeats the verse three times, and adds the Doxology. Then the novice prostrates herself at the feet of each member to ask her prayers, and from that very day she is to be counted as one of the community.

If she has any possessions, she should either give them to the poor beforehand, or make a formal donation of them to the monastery, without keeping back a single thing for herself, well aware that from that day she will not have even her own body at her disposal. Then and there in the oratory, she is to be stripped of everything of her own that she is wearing and clothed in what belongs to the monastery. The clothing taken from her is to be put away and kept safely in the wardrobe, so that, should she ever agree to the devil's suggestion and leave the monastery--which God forbid - she can be stripped of the clothing of the monastery before she is cast out. But that document of her which the prioress took from the altar should not be given back to her but kept in the monastery.

To pursue a Benedictine spirituality, we must carry our part of the human race and allow it to mold and polish and temper us. We are to be people who see the globe through eyes softened by the Gospel. We are to see change and challenge in life as God's voice in our ears. Benedictine spirituality goes into the heart in order to embrace the world. It forms us differently than the world forms us but it does not attempt to shape us independently of the real world around us.


CHAPTER 59. THE OFFERING OF CHILDREN BY NOBLES OR BY THE POOR
April 13 - Aug. 13 - Dec. 13

If a member of the nobility offers a child to God in the monastery, and the child is too young, the parents draw up the document mentioned above; then, at the presentation of the gifts, they wrap the document itself and the child's hand in the altar cloth. That is how they make their offering.

As to their property, they either make a sworn promise in this document that they will never personally, never through an intermediary, nor in any way at all, nor at any time, give the child anything or afford the child the opportunity to possess anything; or else, if they are unwilling to do this and still wish to win their reward for making an offering to the monastery, they make a formal donation of the property that they want to give to the monastery, keeping the revenue for themselves, should they so desire. This ought to leave no way open for the child to entertain any expectations that could deceive and lead to ruin. May God forbid this, but we have learned from experience that it can happen.

Poor people do the same, but those who have nothing at all simply write the document and, in the presence of witnesses, offer their child with the gifts.

The ability to eliminate distinctions between people is a hallmark of Benedictine simplicity and community. In the preceding paragraph it is obvious that Benedict is not accepting the children of the wealthy because their parents will endow the monastery. Whether they do or whether they don't makes no difference to him at all. What matters is that the children accepted as monastics out of the fervor of their parents' hearts be allowed to develop as monastics. Otherwise, he clearly fears, the community life and spirituality of the house will be corrupted by the independently wealthy who, as the years go by, grow more into the family fortune than into the monastic life. The poor have nothing whatsoever to give except their children, and Benedict accepts them on the same grounds, with the same ceremony, in the same spirit. Benedictine spirituality does not fear poverty; it fears the kind of self-sufficiency that frees people from the smelting effects of a communal spirituality


CHAPTER 60. THE ADMISSION OF PRIESTS TO THE MONASTERY
April 14 - Aug. 14 - Dec. 14

If any ordained priest asks to be received into a male monastery, do not agree too quickly. However, if he is fully persistent in his request, he must recognize that he will have to observe the full discipline of the Rule without any mitigation, knowing that it is written: "Friend, what have you come for (Mt. 26:50)?" He should, however, be allowed to stand next to the abbot, to give blessings and to celebrate the Eucharist, provided that the abbot bids him. Otherwise, he must recognize that he is subject to the discipline of the Rule, and not make any exceptions for himself, but rather give everyone an example of humility. Whenever there is question of an appointment or of any other business in the monastery, he takes the place that corresponds to the date of his entry into the community, and not that granted him out of respect for his priesthood.

Any clerics who similarly wish to join the community should be ranked somewhere in the middle, but only if they, too, promise to keep the Rule and observe stability.

Benedict knew what most of us learn sooner or later: it is hard to let go of the past, and yet, until we do, there is no hope whatsoever that we can ever gain from the future. Priests, Benedict knew, came to the monastery having already been formed in another system. They were accustomed to living a highly independent and highly catered life. They had been a world unto themselves and leaders of others. In the monastery, they would have to be formed in a whole new way of life and spirituality. They would have to defer to the presence and needs of others. They, who had given so many orders, would have to take some. They would have to begin again. It could be done but it would not be easy.


CHAPTER 61. THE RECEPTION OF VISITING MONASTICS
April 15 - Aug. 15 - Dec. 15

A visiting monastic from far away will perhaps present herself and wish to stay as a guest in the monastery. Provided that she is content with the life as she finds it, and does not make excessive demands that upset the monastery, but is simply content with what she finds, she should be received for as long a time as she wishes. She may, indeed, with all humility and love make some reasonable criticisms or observations, which the prioress should prudently consider; it is possible that God guided her to the monastery for this very purpose.

If after a while she wishes to remain and bind herself to stability, she should not be refused this wish, especially as there was time enough, while she was a guest, to judge her character. But if during her stay she has been found excessive in her demands or full of faults, she should certainly not be admitted as a member of the community. Instead, she should be politely told to depart, lest her ways contaminate others.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote once: "There is a meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler." The Benedictine rule presumes the fundamental truth of that. In an era when monastics from small monasteries made regular pilgrimages to the shrines of Europe, Benedictine life not only welcomed them, fed them, kept them, and accepted them as one of its own, Benedictine life opened itself to learn from them. And we can learn from that kind of radical acceptance too.