The Rule of Saint Benedict, as a practical
guide to living life as a Christian, keeps me on point.
I need to be kept on point.
It is altogether too easy for me to wander aimlessly. It is
altogether too easy for me to find myself caught up in, sidetracked, and
derailed by the myriad issues and controversies that fill the world … both
outside the circle that delineates the Church from the world and, sadly, inside
the circle as well. It is altogether too easy for me to allow myself to become
inflamed and consumed by the embroiling issues and controversies that are
constantly vying for my attention and time – attention and time that are better,
and more fruitfully, invested in the ora at
the heart of the Benedictine monastic vocation and the supportive labora that compliments this way of life.
The world will always do what the world does. People will
always do what people do. Staying on point keeps me from getting caught up in
all the messes that would otherwise pull me away from the separation and
detachment inherent in monastic spirituality.
Separation and detachment are necessary in creating an
environment for discerning our spiritual condition. Without them we are unable
to see things as they really are. Without them conversatio morum – conversion of life is drastically impeded. It
is important to view separation and detachment not as personal deprivations but
as liberations that create more room for God to fill … room where the still
quiet voice of God can be heard with the ear of the heart. It is here, in
separation and detachment, where we begin to truly realize that less is more
and make concerted efforts to seek the More who calls us to this way of life.
Is this “seeking the More”, this giving up in order to
attain, not the very heart of Christianity and ongoing conversion of life?
The Apostle Paul certainly thought and stated so. “Indeed I count everything as loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may
gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that
depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and
may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I
may attain the resurrection from the dead.”[1]
I was at a major turning point when I discovered Saint
Benedict and his Rule shortly after the turn of the Millennium. I discovered in
it the antidote that I needed to counter the complacency and
false-self-centeredness that had become part of my “modern” Christian
experience. I find this antidote even more important now that I have so much
less sand left in the hour-glass that measures the length of my time on this
side of the transparent veil.
The Sainted Abbot, as he begins to wind down the Prologue to
his Rule, continues with these lines.
“As a consequence our Lord daily looks for it
that we should respond by deeds to these His holy warnings. Thus it is on account
of the need of correcting faults that the days of this life are prolonged for
us, as by way of truce; and the Apostle says: “Art thou ignorant that the
patience of God leads thee towards penitence? [Romans 2:4]” For the Lord in His
tenderness says: “I will not the death of a sinner, but that he may be
converted and live. [Ezekiel 33:11]” Since therefore, brethren, we asked of the
Lord concerning the dweller in His tabernacle, we have heard, as a precept
concerning dwelling there, “if we fulfil what is required of a dweller there.”
Therefore must our hearts and bodies be prepared as about to serve like
soldiers under holy obedience to these precepts; and whatsoever our nature does
not make possible let us ask the Lord to direct that the help of His grace
shall supply. And if we wish to escape the pains of hell and attain to eternal
life we must hasten to do such things only as may profit us for eternity, now,
while there is time for this and we are in this body and there is time to
fulfil all these precepts by means of this light.”[2]
I cannot sit comfortably with some kind of easy beliefism
that diminishes the Lord’s expectations of me.
That the Lord is daily watching and observing my
responsiveness is something that I cannot ignore. I cannot allow myself to
forget that records are being kept, records of not only my willingness to
accept the gift of salvation that he paid for with his own suffering and blood,
but also of my deeds in response to his teachings.[3]
[4]
Faults are ever with me.
Benedictine conversatio
morum is a process that, as it is occurring and as I am advancing in my
conversion, will not allow me to grow complacent. Though it reveals my positive
progress, it also continually reminds me that, though I have gotten to where I
am from where I started, I am yet in need of further and deeper conversion. God
does not desire my eternal destruction. Through his grace he reveals his will
and plan for my life. Through his patience, referred to by Abbot Benedict as a
truce, he allows me time to amend my faults and ready myself to meet him.
Benedictine monasticism is a regulated life. There are
requirements to be met. Those looking for an unregulated Christianity that
allows them to fly by the seat of their pants need not look to Saint Benedict
and the Rule for encouragement or support.
Brothers and sisters living in monasteries and convents are
required to live lives that are specifically ordered by the Rule. It is
practically impossible for Oblates to order their lives in a way that exactly and sustainably duplicates life inside the monastery, especially where meticulously maintaining
the Opus Dei is concerned. Our lives do however, through observance of the
precepts and moral norms of the Rule within our state of life outside the
monastery, begin to take on certain flavorings of Benedictine order and
regulation.
Abbot Benedict encourages those struggling with the Rule …
those who think living the Rule is an impossible task … to pray and seek God’s
grace to help them overcome their weaknesses. He invites those knocking at
the door of his monastery to surrender themselves to a life of conscious
living. He calls his followers to be ever mindful of the destinations that
await beyond the transparent veil. He urges those who come knocking at his door
… while there is time … while the warm light of Christ is felt in their hearts
… to hurry toward doing only the things that are profitable in eternity.
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