Change is a hard thing to accept.
Especially the social norms that seem to be happening in our times at breakneck speed – changes that reject the norms for human behavior that are rooted in living in a way that respects God’s expectations of who we are created to be.
Especially the social norms that seem to be happening in our times at breakneck speed – changes that reject the norms for human behavior that are rooted in living in a way that respects God’s expectations of who we are created to be.
I find it easy to point my own finger of accusation toward
the world, the ways of the world, and those that follow it and its ways.
It is
easy to see the problem with humanity as something that is “out there”. A lot
of it is “out there”. There is wisdom in being able to see the world and its
ways for what they are. There is wisdom in being able to see the how the enemy
of our souls is doing a great job working both behind and within the scene to
rob souls of their divine qualities in this life and to bring them to eternal
destruction beyond this life.
There is wisdom, too, in realizing that this enemy has not
occupied himself only outside the camp.
From the beginning of the Salvation Event, he set himself
against Christ[1],
against truth in the Early Church[2],
and his diabolical activity has never abated. It will not abate until the day
he is consigned to the pit.[3]
Until that consignment, and as long as we are on this side of the transparent
veil, we will not know a day where he is not using his deceiving and deluding
tactics to steer us away from Christ and the deposit of faith held dear and
guarded by the Church.
It is altogether another thing to look within the world of
my own interior being where my own personal battle against the enemy of my soul
is daily fought. It is easy to look “out there” and critically diagnose the
ills of the world. It is not so easy to look “in here”, see these same ills at
work within my own personal interior complex in one way or another, and take
the necessary gradual steps in grace to improve the state of where (who) I am
as an individual in the grace of God.
I have, over the course of my life as a Christian, availed
myself to numerous “spiritual programs” that were designed to assist me in
improving my spiritual condition. I cannot fault any of them. However, viewed
as a program for spiritual development, the precepts contained in the
fifteen-hundred year old Rule of Saint Benedict outweighs and outlasts any of
them in personal value.
The Sainted Abbot concludes the Prologue to the Rule with
these words.
“We have therefore to
establish a school of the Lord’s service, in the institution of which we hope
we are going to establish nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. But if, prompted
by the desire to attain to equity, anything be set forth somewhat strictly for
the correction of vice or the preservation of charity, do not therefore in fear
and terror flee back from the way of salvation of which the beginning cannot
but be a narrow entrance. For it is by progressing in the life of conversion
and faith that, with heart enlarged and in ineffable sweetness of love, one
runs in the way of God’s commandments, so that never deserting His discipleship
but persevering until death in His doctrine within the monastery, we may partake
by patience in the suffering of Christ and become worthy inheritors of His
kingdom. Amen.” [4]
The School of Saint Benedict is not an easy school.
The
Abbot makes that clear to those knocking on the door of his monastery. It is a
difficult course. It is especially difficult when we transfer to it from schools of
thought and patterns that justify and accommodate much more lenient standards
of conduct. It is easy to see The Rule as harsh and burdensome when we are
accustomed to flying by the seat of our pants and looking for ways to justify
ourselves and our behavior. Though difficult, it is not a school to be afraid
of if our honest intention is to grow and develop in grace.
Equity is an interesting word. It has to do with the quality
of being fair and impartial. It has to do with equality.
Equity … equality … is easier to achieve within the monastic
enclosure than it is in the world outside the monastery. It is, in fact, a
major stumbling block in a world that places so much value and emphasis on
individualism and personal ownership. We are groomed by the social standards
imposed on us - standards that, more often than not, fail to take into
consideration the insidious impacts of pride and greed. These social standards,
even when we recognize them for what they are, make it increasingly more
difficult to cut ties and attachments to the world’s way of going about life
with its constant emphasis on status symbols defined by adjectives such as
bigger, better, shinier, and newer.
The strictness in The Rule is there for a reason.
The reason
is a simple one – to keep base human nature from dominating and ruining the
greater good. Individual lives are ruined when base human nature is in control.
No community can long survive without strict standards of moral conduct. By
setting boundaries that keeps base human nature in check, charity is not only preserved but
has an opportunity to flourish. Establishing and protecting an environment where charity can
flourish is as important outside the monastery as it is within the monastery.
It is also a lot more challenging outside the monastery where the social standards of the world are always encroaching.
In thinking about the strictness built into The Rule, I
cannot help but to think about something that Christ said. “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy,
that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is
narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”[5]
The Rule will not allow me to become self-satisfied.
It will not allow me to accept complacency as something
normal. It will not allow me to see where I am in my conversion experience as
an end. It is always calling me to continue progressing in conversion. I have
to remain open and willing. I have to keep listening and paying attention. I
have to keep doing the things that The Rule teaches me to do. I have to remain
committed to the spiritual development process as long as I have the faculties
to choose. Progressing in conversion (conversatio morum) is the only remedy for
complacency that soon begins to take on the characteristics of a lifeless
stagnant pond.
What is the point of such a spiritual program? Why do men
and women enter into monasteries and become monks and religious sisters? Why do
people sense a calling to make Solemn Promises to the Oblate Vocation? Why do
people lay down their lives and submit to the rigors of The Rule?
The point of it all is to simply learn to love God in everything.
Archabbot Benedict Baur, O.S.B., sheds some light on the point of it.
“Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, life’s unfolding.
But fulfillment rests in love. Love alone makes it possible to forget
everything else and offer ourselves entirely to God. Love makes God all-in-all
to us, the sun around which we revolve. Love directs our thoughts and
intentions to God. It enables us to see Him in everything, to meet Him in
everything, to hear His voice in everything, to live with Him in all things and
relate everything to His will. Love enables us to dedicate all our wishes and
desires to Him, turning from all other allegiance and even subordinating our
natural human affections and our work in His service. It forces us to look
first to God in all things, raising us above self-love and human frailty. It
makes us strong to accept the trials and tribulations of daily life with quiet
resignation, indeed, with grateful joy.”[6]
We do it simply for the love of God.
[1]
Matthew 4:1-11
[2] 2
Corinthians 11:13-15, 1 Peter 5:8
[3]
Revelation 20:7-10
[4] RB
Prologue 45-50
[5]
Matthew 7:13-14
[6]
Benedict Baur, O.S.B., Archabbot of Beuron, In Silence with God, Scepter
Publishers, © 1955, p. 32
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