Scriptural Foundation for the Rule of Saint Benedict

When Saint Benedict of Nursia wrote his Rule for his disciples, it was more than simply carving out a way of life in the midst of a profane world for those who wished to follow in the way of the Cross. From the very beginning of the Rule, one may see the influence of Holy Scripture permeating his teaching to monks of every generation:

Listen my son to the instructions of your Master, turn the ear of your heart to the advice of a loving father; accept it willingly and carry it out vigorously; so that through the toil of obedience you may return to him from whom you have separated by the sloth of disobedience.

From the Prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict

Listen, children, to a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good good precepts: do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother's favorite, he taught me, and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

From Proverbs 8:1; 4:20; 6:20

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

The third degree of humility is that a person
for love of God
submit himself to his Superior in all obedience,
imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle says,
"He became obedient even unto death."

A Prayer: The Horror of the Unspeakable

Lord,
yesterday, it was reported
that a young mother hung her four children
and herself. They were suspended in a row
beside their mom amid clothing in a
make-shift closet hanging from a two-by-four
piece of wood behind a sheet.

relatives and neighbors knew she was
suffering from depression following
the separation from her common law husband
who was very abusive.

where does this inner emptiness come from,
this sense of hopelessness that fills the
air of those so desperate? Everyone saw
her as a good mother.

this event will disappear from my memory
soon, it will carry no lasting effects, her
death and the children's will fade into
the darkness that surrounded her and
sucked away her hopefulness.

why do these things happen, O Lord, why
don't I feel the pain of such anguish?

there are others like her, others who live
in the shadow of death, without anyone
knowing their hidden secret - looking
for release from a world that has denied
them entrance.

bring them into the company of your saints,
and let them play again in the arms of
eternal blessedness.

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Father in heaven, by your grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

The second degree of humility
is that a person love not his own will
nor take pleasure in satisfying his desires,
but model his actions on the saying of the Lord,
"I have come not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38).
It is written also,
"Self-will has its punishment,
but constraint wins a crown."

The "Best" Decision!

I spent the morning with the Citizen's Review Panel listening to four cases dealing with child neglect and abuse and making recommendations regarding the future outcome of these young lives. They ranged from one young man, age 15, who presently is in a group home, but was told that he would not be returning to his mother, but hopefully would be living out of state with a relative. Those who brought the case were very positive about this young man and about his future. He had two brothers, one his identical twin who he was very concerned about but mature enough to know that they would never again be able to live together because of anger issues in his twin. He wept at the recommendation, but showed strength of character and maturity. The second case concerned three young children, ages 13 to 9, and the recommendation was that suitable relative placement be sought, again the parent was unfit to raise the children. The third case was a continuation of the second, however a different father who is currently serving time in jail. He was allowed a few minutes with his children, but it was difficult for them to see their father in chains and handcuffs. Yet there is hope that if the father continues on the path that he has set he may be able to have his children returned to his home in a year. The final case was a young girl, age 5, who was born to a woman to young to be a mother, and the recommendation was simply that she will be placed in the home of a relative. These are always difficult decisions but the panel is responsible for the "best" recommendation in the interest of the child, and I think today we fulfilled our responsibilities. It is always hard to believe that there are parents within our community who lack the emotional and economic stability to care for their children.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

We must be on our guard, therefore, against evil desires,
for death lies close by the gate of pleasure.
Hence the Scripture gives this command:
"Go not after your concupiscences" (Eccles. 18:30).

So therefore,
since the eyes of the Lord observe the good and the evil (Prov. 15:3)
and the Lord is always looking down from heaven
on the children of earth
"to see if there be anyone who understands and seeks God" (Ps. 13:2),
and since our deeds are daily,
day and night,
reported to the Lord by the Angels assigned to us,
we must constantly beware, brethren,
as the Prophet says in the Psalm,
lest at any time God see us falling into evil ways
and becoming unprofitable (Ps. 13:3);
and lest, having spared us for the present
because in His kindness He awaits our reformation,
He say to us in the future,
"These things you did, and I held My peace" (Ps. 49:21).

Tolerance is not my word

The past two weeks during our Education for Ministry (EFM) class, our lessons for the week and occurrences in the church and our community led us into a discussion of bigotry, its causes and roots. As we talked about such feelings and the problems in the Communion, I looked down at a trivet on our conference table and saw this: "Episcopalians embrace love, inclusion, tolerance and respect for everyone."

Do we? This word, tolerance, has been a thorn in my side. When I read this to the class and stated my dislike of the word tolerance, the reactions from my classmates were almost unilaterally negative. No one had a good feeling about the word.

I had the blessing to come into the church at All Saints, Indianapolis, a parish that is very open and affirming, where gay and straight could just as easily describe the weather or the way a road runs as a person's orientation; a parish where black and white more often describes the victory flag for the "500." I was fortunate to have a community teach me compassion and understanding for everyone.

Read the whole article

The Season of the Spirit

With the coming of Pentecost, the remembrance of our Lord's crucifixion, death, and resurrection become a part of the fabric of our humanity, for we have been invited into a reality that will transform our lives, the letting go of the old self and the embracing of a new self; the putting behind us those things that prevent us from living fully and embracing the abundance that comes only from God.

The Season after Pentecost is the longest season of the Christian Year, from Trinity Sunday until the Feast of Christ the King. This season carries us through the heat of summer into late fall, and in the midst of this ordinary time we celebrate major feasts that continue to recall us to the new milieu of our existence: The Transfiguration (August), The Veneration of Holy Cross (September), and All Saints Day (November). At the heart of our faith is the continual conversion of life that is asked of us as a baptized people, letting go more and more of the old and embracing the new. In the incarnation, God has brought humanity into God through Jesus Christ, and as a result of this mystery we are invited to live more deeply and truly into this reality of Divine Love.

You Will Be Missed!

I am troubled by the news today that Cindy Sheehan, the outspoken critic of the Iraq War, is withdrawing and returning to her native California after standing in the brink to hold before the American people an unpopular view. What is amazing to me is that she has been criticized and denounced by both Republicans and Democrats, from the right and from the left for her position on the war.

It is troubling that we, who hold a different view point, are deaf to those views that we wish to deny and go away. Why can't we listen and learn from one another? Do we really think that someone, or some group, holds all the answers to all the questions regarding the morality of war? Why can't we be open to opposing points of view and allow ourselves to be challenged by the diversity of opinions?

I am sorry that she is returning to "normal" life and departing the market place of ideas. She has contributed well to the ongoing debate, and I am grateful for her presence among us. She has been strong against those things she believes are wrong. Perhaps, as she departs, we may begin to raise our voices against the evils of our day.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

As for self-will,
we are forbidden to do our own will
by the Scripture, which says to us,
"Turn away from your own will" (Eccles. 18:30),
and likewise by the prayer in which we ask God
that His will be done in us.
And rightly are we taught not to do our own will
when we take heed to the warning of Scripture:
"There are ways which seem right,
but the ends of them plunge into the depths of hell" (Prov. 16:25);
and also when we tremble at what is said of the careless:
"They are corrupt and have become abominable in their will."

And as for the desires of the flesh,
let us believe with the Prophet that God is ever present to us,
when he says to the Lord,
"Every desire of mine is before You" (Ps. 37:10).

REMEMBER ME

Of The Holy Spirit

Almighty and most merciful God, grant that by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit we may be enlightened and strengthened for your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one god, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

Let a man consider
that God is always looking at him from heaven,
that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes
and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.
This is what the Prophet shows us
when he represents God as ever present within our thoughts,
in the words "Searcher of minds and hearts is God" (Ps. 7:10)
and again in the words "The Lord knows the thoughts of men" (Ps. 93:11).
Again he says,
"You have read my thoughts from afar" (Ps. 138:3)
and "The thoughts of people will confess to You" (Ps. 75:11).

In order that he may be careful
about his wrongful thoughts, therefore,
let the faithful brother say constantly in his heart,
"Then shall I be spotless before Him,
if I have kept myself from my iniquity" (Ps. 17:24).

The Feast of Pentecost

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as

Christ's own for ever. Amen.

Commentary:

The Spirit, however, does not accomplish His work in us if we remain completely passive and inert. If we are to enter fully into the mystery of his supernatural union in Christ, we must respond to God's gift of grace and consent to live as a child of God. Such consent must be elicited by our own free will ..... If we would live like sons of God, we must reproduce in our own lives the life and charity of His only begotten Son (Thomas Merton). It is the exercise of this new freedom as children of God that makes us capable of achieving our true likeness to God. And what is required of us to exercise this freedom in our life is an openness to the Spirit in faith and in love.

John J. Higgins SJ, Merton's Theology of Prayer
* italics, mine

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.

The Eve of Pentecost / Whitsunday

Come, Holy Ghost our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Enable with perpetual light
the dullness of our blinded sight.

Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who does thy sevenfold gifts impart
Anointed and cheer our soiled face
with the abundance of thy grace.

Thy blessed unction from above
is comfort, life, and fire of love.
Teach us to know the Father, Son,
and thee, of both, to be but One.

that through the ages all alone,
this may be our endless song:
praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Veni Creator Spiritus,
9th Century

Mystagogia #8

In the week following the Ascension, the Collects of the Day turn our hearts toward the coming of the Holy Spirit, the empowerment from on high. As disciples of Christ, we pray that with Jesus' ascent into heaven that we will not be left alone or comfortless, and beseech him to send us the strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit. It will be through the agape-love of the Holy Spirit that we will be raised to newness of life and continue to grow into the full maturity of our Lord and Savior. Through the Wind and the Fire, my the Spirit come now upon us with power distributing among us the gifts of the selfsame Spirit, that dedicating ourselves more and more to the service of God, and living more fully the riches of our faith,

The Feast of Augustine of Canterbury

O Lord our God, by your Son Jesus Christ you called your apostles and sent them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless your holy Name for your servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating your Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom you call and send may do your will, and bide your time, and see your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives, and reigns with ou, and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

On Humility

Holy Scripture, brethren, cries out to us, saying,
"Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled,
and he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11).
In saying this it shows us
that all exaltation is a kind of pride,
against which the Prophet proves himself to be on guard
when he says,
"Lord, my heart is not exalted,
nor are mine eyes lifted up;
neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonders above me."
But how has he acted?
"Rather have I been of humble mind
than exalting myself;
as a weaned child on its mother's breast,
so You solace my soul" (Ps. 130:1-2).

Hence, brethren,
if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility
and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation
to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life,
we must
by our ascending actions
erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream,
on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending.
By that descent and ascent
we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility.
And the ladder thus set up is our life in the would,
which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled.
For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder,
and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted
the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.