On Tuesday the 21st
of May Jamie Miller conducted the Spiritual Reading Group at the Library on the
Prologue of St Benedict’s Rule. Here is Jamie’s introductory paper.
The Archbishop of
Canterbury and Pope Benedict xvi both refer to Saint Benedict as the patron
saint of Europe. Pope Gregory the Great
recorded his biography in his Dialogues. Modern scholars nominate Saint Benedict as
the father of western monasticism and credit the lifestyle he developed and
promoted in one of the darkest periods of history with the very preservation of
European culture. Thousands of people
down through the ages and around the world look to Saint Benedict for guidance
for living a holy life, following his ‘little rule for beginners’.
There is a sense in
which they are all correct, but all at least partially wrong. The fact is that we don’t actually know
whether there ever was a man called Benedict of Nursia, and we know very little
about him. We only have Pope Gregory’s
word for it. That, and a rule for living
that Benedict refined out of the work of others before him.
The story goes that
Benedict was a bright young student living in Rome at the beginning of the sixth
century; in the very centre of the empire with all the excitement and glamour
that suggested. Born in the year 480 of
well-to-do parents at Nursia in the province of Umbria, Benedict realised that
the glory of that once powerful city was on the wane. At the start of the sixth century Rome was an
economic basket-case. Crime of every
kind abounded. At its borders pagan and
Arian hordes waited their opportunity to pour through the gates and take the city
by storm. Rome the invincible was about
to be sacked and descend into barbarism.
The Church was torn by conflict, towns and cities were desolated by war
and terrorism. Violence was rampant.
According to Pope
Gregory, Benedict was appalled by what was happening and retreated to the hills
outside Rome, to a place called Subiaco.
Here he adopted the hermit life, living in a cave and supported by a
monk, Romanus, from a nearby monastery. There
he lived for the next three years. Word
of a holy man living in nearby hills attracted travellers and local shepherds
who would bring him small offerings of food.
In return Benedict would pray with them and offer words of wisdom and
encouragement.
Not far away, at
Vicovaro, there lived a community of monks whose Abbot had recently died. The community visited Benedict at his hermit
cave and asked him to become their Abbot.
Initially reluctant, Benedict eventually accompanied the monks back to
their monastery. At first everything
went well but eventually the monks became dissatisfied with the strict and
simple life Benedict insisted they live.
In order to get rid of him they gave him a cup of poisoned wine. When, as was his habit, Benedict made the sign
of the cross over the cup before drinking, the cup is said to have shattered. Gregory records that Benedict forgave the
monks, but retreated to his hermitage in the hills of Subiaco.
Word of Benedict’s
wisdom and holiness spread quickly.
Numbers of men who wished to flee the ravages of Rome and its suburbs as
Benedict himself had done, along with a growing number of monks who lived as
hermits or in widely scattered communities across the region began to assemble
around Benedict. Out of this Benedict
formed twelve small monasteries, each autonomous with its own Prior but under
the general care and governance of Benedict himself. When these Benedictine houses were settled
and functioning well Benedict left Subiaco with a small number of his monks for
the more southerly territory of Monte Cassino.
Here Benedict built the most famous Abbey the world was ever to see. The foundation of Abbey of Monte Cassino was
probably laid around the year 520. At
its height Monte Cassino housed several thousand monks.
It is probable that it
was at this time Benedict composed his now famous Rule. Although the Rule professes to lay down a
pattern of life for monks living in community at Monte Cassino under the
authority of their Abbot Benedict, it rapidly came to serve as a guide for
monks and nuns living in monasteries across the whole western empire. It is addressed to all who, renouncing their
own will, take upon themselves “the strong and bright armour of obedience “.
“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.”
We are about to found therefore a
school for the Lord’s service, in the organisation of which we trust that we
shall ordain nothing severe and nothing burdensome.” Prologue
1,45.
The Rule of St.
Benedict describes a diversified routine of liturgical prayer, study and
physical work. It was written for lay
men and women, by one who was not a priest.
Its asceticism was intended to be gentle and reasonable. The rule demanded a simple lifestyle;
self-imposed and abnormal austerities were discouraged.
Far from confining his
attention to those within the cloister, Benedict extended his care to those
living in the countryside around the monasteries. Benedictine monasteries offered hospitality
and aid to the poor, and comfort and healing to the sick and injured. In time Benedictine houses became places of
learning and education was offered to those who sought it. Benedictines refined the methods for growing
crops and breeding stock. Benedictine
libraries ensured the preservation of important documents and books. Soon there were Benedictine monasteries
across the length and breadth of the land. Many were strategically located so
that pilgrims and travellers could move from the safety of one Benedictine
house to another in a day’s walk.
More than 1500 years
after Benedict founded Monte Cassino, men and women around the world, lay
people as well as monastics, find in the Rule of St. Benedict a pattern for
living a holy life. A guide for living
in a world that is often stressful, sometimes painful, always confusing. Benedict has left us a “little rule for
beginners” that teaches the wisdom of a balanced life – balanced between work,
rest and prayer. Thoroughly grounded in
Holy Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict has an amazing affinity with 21st
century life.
I have travelled with
the Rule of St. Benedict metaphorically in my hip pocket for the past quarter
century. Let me share with you just two
aspects of the Rule to illustrate my point.
The brothers should serve one
another. Consequently, no one will be
excused from kitchen service unless he is sick......for such service increases
reward and fosters love......let those who are not strong have help......let
everyone receive help as conditions warrant.
Let (everyone) serve one another with love. (RB35, 1-6)
Benedict has no
patience for the spiritually pretentious, those who think they know everything
there is to know about spiritual theory and think that is enough. Benedict says that the spiritual life is not just
what we think about. It is what we do
because of what we think. Benedict knows
it is possible to spend our whole lives thinking about the spiritual life
without ever living one. So Benedict
here uses the family meal to illustrate that the Eucharist comes alive for us
outside the church. It is in kitchen
service that we prepare good things for the ones we love, where we sustain them
and clean up after them.
Great care and concern are to be
shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly
Christ is received............. (RB
53, 15)
For Benedict the care
of the poor is the essential part of living a holy life. We cannot be too busy,
too isolated, too removed from the world of the poor to receive the poor and
take care of them. The Benedictine heart
for the poor is a radically different from the world we live in today where
strangers are ignored, where self-sufficiency is considered a sign of a
virtuous life and poverty a sign of failure.
Benedict teaches in his Rule that true hospitality requires a change of
attitude more than it does a handout.
Hospitality for Benedict demands that we work to change the way things
are.
The Benedictine
charism, flowing from the work of this sixth century monastic about whom we
know very little and whose legacy lies with a little Rule for living a holy
life, has much to offer us and the Church.
Today, around the world, people are seeking out monasteries and
monastics for guidance and wisdom.
Around the world people are visiting Benedictine houses, seeking counsel,
making retreats and reading books by Benedictines like Joan Chittister, Ester
de Waal and Michael Casey. People are
eagerly taking up spiritual disciplines like lectio divina or sacred reading
and meditation that originate with the 4th century desert mothers
and fathers of the Church.
At the end of his Rule
Benedict does not promise us perfection, even if we keep all its elements. What Benedict does promise is that we will be
well disposed towards the will of God, attuned to the presence of God and just
beginning to understand the power of God in our lives. Why?
Because the simplicity of the Benedictine way of life gentles us into
the arms of God. Benedictine balance
makes a wholesome journey possible. The
Benedictine way of life can be profoundly life altering. If you will let it.
©Jamie Miller, Obl OSB 2019
Jamie is an Oblate of the Benedictine Community of St. Mark, Camperdown Victoria
Jamie is an Oblate of the Benedictine Community of St. Mark, Camperdown Victoria
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