Living The Rule - Benedict's Tools 7

Today is the first Friday in the Season of Lent.

My upbringing and laboring in the realm of conservative evangelical Protestantism deprived me of a lot. One of the deprivations was a meaningful liturgical sense of sanctifying time.

There was no liturgical calendar. There was no cohesion and uniformity from following the lectionary for seasonal appropriate Scripture readings. There were only two seasons … Christmas and Easter … that received honorable mention and attention. These two seasons were brief. They came and went quickly. The church year, for all practical purposes, was one long Ordinary Time punctuated by two exclamation points of punctuation.

Lent, of the liturgical seasons, is honestly my favorite season. It has a way of making everything else make better sense. It clarifies and gives so much more meaning to Christmas and the Triduum when embraced and entered into as an intimate journey of faith. My own humanity, both fallen and redeemed, rightly discovers itself and its right place in this season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Saint Benedict has this to say about Lent and how his students are to conduct themselves during this holy season.

“The life of a monk ought always to be a Lenten observance. However, since such virtue is that of few, we advise that during these days of Lent he guard his life with all purity and at the same time wash away during these holy days all the shortcomings of other times. This will then be worthily done, if we restrain ourselves from all vices. Let us devote ourselves to tearful prayers, to reading and compunction of heart, and to abstinence. During these days, therefore, let us add something to the usual amount of our service, special prayers, abstinence from food and drink, that each one offer to God "with the joy of the Holy Ghost" (1 Thes. 1:6), of his own accord, something above his prescribed measure; namely, let him withdraw from his body somewhat of food, drink, sleep, speech, merriment, and with the gladness of spiritual desire await holy Easter. Let each one, however, make known to his Abbot what he offereth and let it be done with his approval and blessing; because what is done without permission of the spiritual father will be imputed to presumption and vain glory, and not to merit. Therefore, let all be done with the approval of the Abbot.”[1]

Note that Lenten Observance was already a standard of practice in the life of the Church during the 6^th Century. Irenaus of Lyons (c.130-c.200) wrote of such a season in the earliest days of the church, but back then it lasted only two or three days, not the 40 observed today. In 325, the Council of Nicea discussed a 40-day Lenten season of fasting. It's unclear whether its original intent was just for new Christians preparing for Baptism, but it soon encompassed the whole Church. Lent is generally described as a commemoration of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying before beginning his public ministry [Matthew 4:1-11].

It is more than interesting that Jesus [the 2^nd Person in the Trinity and God entered into flesh] saw the necessity to fast and pray. How much more so ought we, mere humans that we are, to yield ourselves to such holy discipline? Especially considering that Satan is always at work to deceive us and draw us away from God’s will and the safety afforded us by God’s grace.

In consideration of these tools of good works on this first Friday in Lent 2020, Father Abbot Benedict tells me [us] …

To fear the day of judgment.

To be in dread of hell.

To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing.

To keep death before one's eyes daily.

To keep a constant watch over the actions of our life.

To hold as certain that God sees us everywhere.

To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts which rise in one's heart.

And to disclose them to our spiritual father.

To guard one's tongue against bad and wicked speech.

Not to love much speaking.

Not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter.[2]

Lent begins with ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday to begin the season. The ashes are a reminder and a reality-check.

I think we miss the point when we simply observe Lent as a way to do penance for blowing it out during the Pre-Lent season of Carnival or Mardi Gras. To begin with, the idea that we are free to do what we want in the way of drunkenness and debauchery is absolutely ludicrous. Why willingly enter into sinful behavior that has dire consequences and effects eternally? Why willingly jeopardize our here and now relationship with Christ?  This "I did it this year and I'll do it again next year" interiority nowhere remotely resembles repentance and penance on account of sin.

Lent is a lot more than giving up those things that stand in the way of our own deeper conversion.

Lent is a season where we proverbially clothe ourselves with sackcloth and anoint ourselves with ashes.

Why? We do it as an act of penance reminding ourselves of our need for Christ’s propitiation and atonement. Why? We do it as an act of thanksgiving for the horrible sufferings of Christ during the last hours of his physical life on earth. Why? We do it as an act of communion and solidarity with the Communion of Saints. Why? We do it as an act of intercession for souls to be converted and heresies to be extirpated. Why? We do it as a tangible sign that we repent of our sins and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

NOTE: Please know that we appreciate each of you who take the time to read these Oblate Reflections and Hermitage Notes. Our prayers are with each of you and we hold you in our hearts each night as we pray the Rosary. May we all, during this Lenten season, be drawn closer to Christ and discover ourselves being more deeply converted and changed by his graces bestowed upon us daily. May the peace of Christ be with us all. RB 57:9. David

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[1] Holy Rule Chapter 49

[2] Holy Rule 4:44-53

Hermitage Notes - Ash Wednesday And Lent

Collop Monday. Shrove Tuesday. Ash Wednesday. Then comes the major Lent.

I love being Catholic.

The Catholic Church has such a rich history with its historical apostolic roots anchored in Matthew 16:18, its Sacred Traditions, and its traditions which lend support to living out the tenets of the Catholic faith. 

I was deprived of these roots in my upbringing outside the Roman Rite, an upbringing that also deprived me of knowing the Saints as examples of the faith that we are called to practice in our daily lives. It was, as well, an upbringing that deprived me of my Blessed Mother.

It was a long and difficult road to get here; one of both personal cost and gracious reward.

The personal cost to get here?

It was very costly in the personal relationship department.

The vast majority of Protestants will always look with contempt on those who leave their ranks and convert to Roman Catholicism. It is as if we have committed something worse than the unpardonable sin by embracing and returning to the Mother Church. Ordained clergy experience the contempt and rejection not only from family and friends but also from colleagues. How could he even think about doing something like that? An element of the sad truth that must also be told is that some [family members, past friends, and past colleagues] will never come to a point of acceptance with the change. Their contempt and rejection, silent and passive though it may be, will be personally felt to the end. 

I remind myself of Christ's words on the mountain where he spoke what we refer to as The Beatitudes and simply keep pressing toward the goal of heaven. Those that invest the effort to understand will understand. Those that refuse to invest the effort will never understand. It takes a major investment of time to truly understand.

The cost was extremely low in comparison to the spiritual graces that were abundantly precipitated and which continue to rain onto the dry desert of my undeserving soul. Why me, Lord? Why do you bless me so with the gift of yourself? Verbiage cannot express the senses of deep peace that frequent my soul and draw tears from my eyes. How can I possibly explain these numerous and ongoing mini-ecstasies that are visited upon me during the Sacrifice of the Mass - ecstasies that are pure spiritual experiences in the Holy Spirit. Words are inadequate.

Reading and the Rosary.

Shirli and I are benefitting greatly from these nightly “devotions” that we began during the Season of Advent with reading the Gospel of Luke. I am also truly enjoying doing the chapter summaries as we read through the books of the New Testament. It has been a long time since I did something along these lines. It is turning out to be a great refresher course for me.

It is going to be a great Lent.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday ... a day of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church. A few of the older Protestant denominations do ashes on Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Liturgical Calendar Season of Lent - this wonderful season of self-examination, penance/repentance, and personal preparation in anticipation of the Easter Triduum. 

http://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-are-the-origins-of-ash-wednesday-and-the-use-of-ashes/

Hermitage Notes - The Light of Monasticism

We never gave it any real consideration before.

Our switching had some circumstances associated with it. 

We had never before given any real consideration to changing from Sunday mornings and must admit that changing to the Vigil Mass on Saturday evenings has been good for us. 

It has been good for us in a number of ways and I feel sure that we are only just beginning to realize the blessings. I am reminded [once again] of how God sometimes leads us by circumstances. 

The end, or destination, may not be in sight but we can rest assured that God is working on our behalf. 

Others may not understand it. Others may not see it. Others may not appreciate it. 

Others, too often, have their own personal and well-intentioned ego-based agendas that can easily cloud and hinder the larger vision of God’s will as it concerns other individuals. It is entirely too easy to insist our will upon another assuming that our will is in concert with God’s will. Regardless of the intentions of others, God’s intentions are always best.

“We know that all things work together for good for those that love God, who are called according to his purpose.”[1] 

We have now come through another moon cycle. 

It was full a few nights ago and is now waning. I captured a few images of it with my phone. Looking at the images, and thinking back to the sights that embedded themselves in my mind, I cannot help but to be reminded of something that Jesus said in John’s Gospel. 

“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”[2] 

We can easily work ourselves into a pathetic frenzy cursing the darkness and throwing proverbial stones at every proverbial dog that barks. 

The pathway to that pathetic frenzy, so I have hard-learned through personal experience, is always a knee-jerk reaction that accomplishes little good. It is always more fruitful, whether we instantly see the fruit of it or not, to simple follow Christ’s example of being light in the darkness that surrounds us. 

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”[3]

All of us Christians are called to be bearers of light. 

Those of us outside monastic enclosures who have offered ourselves to Christ through the Blessed Mother, Saint Benedict, and his Rule are considered by our Order to be monasticism's gift to the world. We are called to shine ... to reflect and shine the light of Christ that fills us ... and, too, to point others toward the spiritual resource that we have discovered in Saint Benedict and his Rule.

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[1] Romans 8:28

[2] John 3:19-21

[3] Matthew 5:14-16

Living The Rule - Benedict's Tools 6

Saint Benedict, through the words contained in The Rule of Saint Benedict, and by the Spirit of God who commends and recommends the values contained in The Rule, is constantly working to assist all who yield themselves to the tutelage of The Rule.

Abbot Benedict instructs and assists me by saying,

(41) To put one's trust in God. (42) To refer what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God. (43) But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own and charge it to himself.[1]

What direction is Saint Benedict assisting us toward?

He is assisting us toward our own personal conversion into clearer images of Christ … a degree by degree conversion that, in one breath, both acknowledges and leaves behind any initial experience of conversion where we are born again by the Spirit of God through a personal encounter with the Resurrected Christ. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as through reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” [2]

Benedict constantly holds before us the historical Church model for Christian growth and development. In that this historical model will always call us to surrender our will, along with the selfish manifestations caused by the original sin in the Garden of Eden, it will always stand at odds against every attempt of modernism to create pseudo models that exalt and promote the gratification of human will. Even [and especially] when these models retain traces of Christianity.

The model of monastic life, as presented in Benedict’s rule, is a picture of the Church at prayer and at work. It is a model of how Christian community [The Church] functions and cooperates. This cooperation not only concerns its member’s internal personal relationships. It has to do, as well, with the member’s cooperation with the principles and ideals of God’s will for the members. The model concerns itself horizontally with human relationships and vertically with interacting personally with the Divine.

As monastic communities flourish, so flourishes the Church.

This is, to me anyway, one of the obvious realities inherent in Church history and something that more than suggests the need for the Church to begin anew aggressively promoting vocations to the religious life. It also points to the need for monks, nuns, and Oblates to see the prayer life of the monastery [and the Church] as their primary vocation both personally as individuals and structurally as communities of faith.

The liturgy is our life. “On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office, the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed, yet with gravity and without giving occasion for frivolity. Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God.”[3]

Monks live liturgy.

“Let nothing be preferred to the Work of God” (Rule of St Benedict 43:3) our holy father St Benedict bids us. The Divine Office and the Mass punctuate and structure our day, uniting our lives with Christ’s sacrifice of perfect praise in his Body and Blood on the Cross. This union is what gives the monk’s life its truest and deepest value. A monk with no taste for liturgy is akin to a bird who fears to fly: things can only be difficult and frustrating. So if some of us monks seem to be endlessly focusing on liturgy, you might cut us some slack. For us, the liturgy is the privileged way to live in Christ’s Body, a privilege which necessarily imposes demands on our daily living outside the liturgy. These demands we spare no effort to meet faithfully, though we so often fail.”[4]

Saint Benedict’s model flies in the face of philosophies and practices of modernism which are nothing more than well-dressed and repackaged revivals of paganism. The Saint’s model also flies in the face of the modern Church where so much of the world and its thinking has infiltrated and taken root. The Rule of Saint Benedict, for these 21^st Century times, remains the time-tested anchor that is embedded in the Rock who is Christ.

The Holy Abbot reminds me that my sufficiency can never be found in myself. God alone is my sufficiency. It is he who provides for all of my needs according to his riches in glory in Christ.[5]

The Saint is constantly at work reminding me to walk in humility. He is instructing me to always recognize that anything good and worthwhile that proceeds from me does so only because of him and his working in and through me.[6]

Benedict also reminds me that this humility refuses attempts to justify faults and failures or to blame them on others. It readily admits them, accepts responsibility for them, and corrects them.[7] Even in things that most people would consider small things, Benedict instructs me numerous times in The Rule to offer a penance and make satisfaction.

Humility, having a modest or low view of one's importance, is the only effective antidote that effectively fights against the poisonous effects of pride.

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[1] Holy Rule 4:41-43

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.

[3] Holy Rule 43:1-3

[4] Dom Hugh Knapman, Douai Abbey, Berkshire, England

[5] Philippians 4:19

[6] Micah 6:8 and James 1:17

[7] James 5:16

Hermitage Notes - Monastic Habits

Habits. 

Brown, black, white, gray? 

Habits, regardless of color, define the ones wearing them. 

It is easy to spot a habit and recognize the one wearing it as a monk or nun – just as it is easy to recognize a man wearing a Roman collar and a cassock as a Catholic priest. 

[There were times, back when I was a Protestant pastor, that I chose to wear a clerical collar in the performance of ministry. It was like carrying a placard that said, “Open Door Policy – I am here if you need to talk.”] 

I question the Post-Vatican II movement of Orders that have exchanged the habit of wearing habits for a habit of attiring in ordinary clothing; regardless how conservative the style of the garments. 

Uniformity and collective oneness are insinuated by habits. 

A complete surrender of one’s will to a higher will and purpose is insinuated by habits. 

A habit insinuates that one is no longer living in the world for themselves but for Christ, the local community that one belongs to, and to Christ’s Church in its larger institutional context. 

Obedience is insinuated by habits.

I am reminded of the motto of the Carthusians. Stat crux dum volvitur orbis. Latin for "The Cross is steady while the world is turning.” 

Our collective purpose as followers of Christ includes not blending with the sinful turning of the world in any way that removes the lines and marks that distinguish us from the world. Monasticism, and its assortment of monastic expressions, greatly assists us in living out the intention inherent in the Carthusian motto.

We, in living out this monastic and altogether Christian intention, instead “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”[1] We instead, live in a way that is entirely different from the way the world lives; whether we are dressed in an outward habit or not. 

Why?

Because Christ has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into his kingdom of light.[2]

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[1] Romans 13:14

[2] Colossians 1:13

Hermitage Notes - Honoring The Friday Observance

Fridays are such beautiful days. 

Rain or shine makes no difference; though today does happen to be a bright sunshiny day. 

The beauty of the day is aptly discerned in looking back to that Sorrowful Day; a beauty that is difficult to look upon … a beauty that we must fix our focus upon lest we grow cold and develop a pattern of taking for granted the events of that dark day in the life of our Lord Jesus. 

The Sorrowful Mysteries[1] that we meditate upon today draw us into Christ’s sufferings and makes us close companions with him, his Mother, and his beloved disciples as we watch him willingly suffer for our sins. 

Discovering [or perhaps rediscovering] every Friday as a penitential day … a day of prayerful fasting and abstinence honoring the sufferings and sacrifice of Christ ... is full of significance. 

Weekly Friday Observance really is not an option for Catholic’s despite the lack of instruction that has left Catholic believers confused and in the dark on this significant matter. 

Most readily admit that Friday Observance is still a part of Lent, whether they practice it or not. Pitifully few realize that Friday Observance is still in effect the rest of the year. Read what the USCCB says about this matter of significant importance in the life of every soul that professes to be Catholic.

   http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/us-bishops-pastoral-statement-on-penance-and-abstinence.cfm 

There really is no legitimate room for argument or dissension when you read the statement in its entirety [28 short paragraphs]. The matter, then, is one of willingness to choose and perform a form of penance every Friday. 

The simplest and most easily sustained form is to simply prayerfully fast and abstain. 

The early believers had it right. Their practice of prayerfully fasting and abstaining on Fridays has been one of the devotional norms of the Church throughout the centuries. It has only been over the course of the past fifty years that neglect and confusion have robbed the Catholic masses of the beauty inherent in this weekly practice that unites us, both physically and in spirit, with the saints of all ages.

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[1] The Sorrowful Mysteries : [1] Christ’s Agony in the Garden – Matthew 26:36-46 [2] Christ’s Scourging at the Pillar – Matthew 27:25-26 [3] Crowning Christ with a Crown of Thorns – Matthew 27:27-30 [4] Christ Carrying the Cross – John 19:17-18 [5] Christ’s Crucifixion and Death – Luke 23:44-47

Living The Rule - Benedict's Tools 5

The Gospel of Christ calls me to live by a set of standards that cuts across the grain of the standards that motivate those living outside the corral of Christ’s standards.

Saint Benedict, in his little rule for beginners[1], succinctly distills these standards for living the Christian life into something no larger than a small booklet for those who answer Christ’s call to hasten toward the heavenly home[2] that Christ has gone to prepare for us.

We do well to remember that we are on earth only temporarily. We do well to remember the Last Things of Death, Judgment, Heaven, or Hell.

Christ said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[3]

The way to the place where Christ has gone is obviously seen with even a casual reading of the New Testament. It is through daily dying to ourselves[4], through being born again in Christ to an initial newness of life[5], and by following a course of persevering in continual conversion[6] into clearer images of Christ that we make our way to where he has gone.

This is the historical pathway. This is the pathway the Saints of all ages have trod. This is the pathway that is worn so deeply in Christian history that it cannot not be seen. There is no other way.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”[7]

The answer is a very simple one.

We shall not.

The Rule of Saint Benedict is, among other things, a detailed and serious examination of conscience that works to continually realign my way of thinking and living so that my life can more and more resemble and reflect the light and life of Christ. 

Obedience to The Rule calls me to integrate these principles into my life as an Oblate of Saint Benedict [1] as tools cultivating my own conversion … conversatio morum … ensuring my admittance to the eternal home prepared for me, [2] hopefully to shed some light in the unbridled darkness of this age, and [3] to encourage others in their own discoveries of the spiritual wealth that is contained in Benedict’s model for living that is available to everyone who will only open their ears to listen to the instructions of the master and attend to them with the ear of the heart.[8]

Abbot Benedict insists that I …

(34) Not to be proud...

(35) Not to be given to wine (cf Ti 1:7; 1 Tm 3:3).

(36) Not to be a great eater.

(37) Not to be drowsy.

(38) Not to be slothful (cf Rom 12:11).

(39) Not to be a murmurer.

(40) Not to be a detractor.[9]

Pride, addictions, gluttony, too much sleep, laziness, grumbling, and speaking ill of others are strictly prohibited in the lives of those who enroll in Benedict’s school for the Lord’s service[10].

Why? The simplest answer is that, with the exception of too much sleep, these are clearly practices that do not belong in the lives of those who profess to be followers of Christ.

Of these, the refraining from too much sleep is keenly monastic with its roots in the practices of the Desert Fathers and Mothers who lived as hermits [anchorites].  Monks living in the monastic communities that developed in the East [cenobites] maintained the “short sleeping” practice. Saint Benedict, in establishing monasticism in the West, continued the “short sleeping” practice in order to maintain the opus dei [The Work of God] by praying the Psalms at the appointed hours.

Most monasteries that I am familiar with no longer rise to pray in the middle of the night then catch a nap before rising to pray at four in the morning.

The rest of the prohibited practices are easily determined in the Scriptures as sinful ills that garner the wrath of God.

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[1] Holy Rule 73:8b

[2] Holy Rule 73:8a

[3] John 14:1-4

[4] 1 Corinthians 15:31

[5] John 3:7

[6] Matthew 18:3

[7] Hebrews 2:3

[8] HR Prologue 1

[9] Holy Rule 4:34-40

[10] HR Prologue 45

Hermitage Notes - Leaving The World Behind

The first thought running around in my mind this morning at waking?

Something that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians where he said, 

"We are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will live in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord.” [Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1] 

Belial, and unbelievers, will always present both natural and spiritual opposition to God’s higher ideals for created human beings. We are called to leave the world and its lesser carnal ideals behind when we embrace Christ and his Cross. 

Yet, how easy it is to compromise; how easy it is to accommodate. 

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 

and poverty will come upon you like a robber, 

and want, like an armed warrior.” [Proverbs 24:33-34] 

True as this proverb is in the natural, much more so is how directly it speaks to the effects in our spiritual lives when sloth[1] and neglect become its foundation. Constant vigilance to safeguard our continual conversion is not an option. It is essential. Especially if we expect to persevere through the unbridled diabolical darkness of these modern times. 

I think one of the greatest affirmations or validations of a calling to the lay-monastic life, especially to one that is largely hermit-like, is the element of thriving in quiet and solitude within a framework of devotional routine; a lifestyle where we learn how to leave the distractions and noise of the world behind in order to experience more fully and deeply the immeasurable height, depth, and breadth of the peace that surpasses all understanding. [Philippians 4:7]

The devotional routine aspect no longer appears to us as something laborious or difficult. It is no longer an interruption of the affairs of life. It is no longer something viewed as a "supposed to do" crammed into the other "important" things of life. It becomes as natural as breathing. It is, in fact, our spiritual breath. 

We are no longer snatching and grabbing at the bits and morsels that fall from the table onto the floor of life. We are better able to focus. We are better able to set the parameters that determine how much of the world we let in. We are better able to thrive in this simplicity, solitude, and silence. It is here where we are better able to listen with the ear of the heart. [Holy Rule, Prologue 1]

It is in the quiet and solitude of this devotional framework, both within the monastery and within our personally created environments, where we best discover and realize what it means to grope and find the one in whom we live and move and have our being. [Acts 17:27-28] 

This quiet … this silence or restraint of speech and the surrounding physical environment that fosters and protects it… is an integral part of the monastic model given to us by Saint Benedict. [Holy Rule Chapter 6].

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[1] The Seven Capital Sins: Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth