Right is right.
Wrong is wrong.
Someone has to stand in a place of authority determining
right from wrong.
The Abbatial Office holds this place of authority within the
confines of the monastery. The Abbot must perform the responsibilities of the
office without partiality while representing Christ and the Deposit of Faith
entrusted by Christ to the Church. He is, too, representing the Holy Father
Saint Benedict and the Rule of Saint Benedict compiled by the Founding Abbot of
the Order of Saint Benedict.
The Abbot is not alone in his endeavor.
All of us that hear and answer a call to enter the school
founded by Saint Benedict, whether we are professed through Solemn Vows or promised
through Solemn Promises, shoulder some of the responsibility to carry the
burden of living, promoting, and protecting the precious truths entrusted to
us. This business of living, promoting and protecting the truths entrusted to
us by Christ is, for every Christian, the essence of what it means to be a
Christian.
Abbot Benedict says,
For in his teaching the Abbot should always observe that
principle of the Apostle in which he saith: "Reprove, entreat,
rebuke" (2 Tm 4:2), that is, mingling gentleness with severity, as the
occasion may call for, let him show the severity of the master and the loving
affection of a father. He must sternly rebuke the undisciplined and restless;
but he must exhort the obedient, meek, and patient to advance in virtue. But we
charge him to rebuke and punish the negligent and haughty. Let him not shut his
eyes to the sins of evil-doers; but on their first appearance let him do his
utmost to cut them out from the root at once, mindful of the fate of Heli [Eli],
the priest of Silo [Shiloh] (cf 1 Samuel 2:11-4:18).
The well-disposed and those of good understanding, let him correct at the first
and second admonition only with words; but let him chastise the wicked and the
hard of heart, and the proud and disobedient at the very first offense with
stripes and other bodily punishments, knowing that it is written: "The
fool is not corrected with words" (Prov 29:19). And again: "Strike
thy son with the rod, and thou shalt deliver his soul from death" (Prov
23:14). [1]
Saint Benedict brings the account of Eli, the priest of Shiloh,
and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to recollection. I think that [and this
is purely thinking on my part as I watch the trends that are happening in the
Church today] if ever there was a Biblical story that should be read by our
Bishops and Priests, this is it.
Why this recollection?
Saint Benedict was reminding himself, Abbots that would come after him, and all of us for that matter that Eli had, to use an old Biblical expression, settled on
his lees. Eli had grown comfortable and complacent.
His sons exercised themselves excessively and Eli refused to correct their
actions. The sad, utterly catastrophic results of this comfortable and
complacent lack of correction is spelled out in the story.[2]
Eli’s sons died in battle. Eli fell backward from his stool, broke his neck,
and died. Worse, though, is that the Philistines defeated Israel in battle and
captured the Ark of the Covenant.
We should constantly remind ourselves of why Benedict of
Nursia, as a young man, renounced the world to live in a cave at Subiaco. Why
did he? Simply because he was disgusted with paganism and its prevalence in the
6th Century.
To say that paganism is more than alive and well in the 21st
Century is an understatement. It has become the accepted social norm, is
growing in popularity, and elements of it have the protection of the courts. Our
modern age, from a moral perspective, resembles Benedict’s day. It is not at
all difficult to recognize the effects of paganism working within the modern Church.[3]
Maybe we all need to be looking for a cave?
Benedict designed his monastery as a place where a person
could go and, as best as humanly possible, leave the world and its paganism
outside. He designed his monastery as a place where a person could honestly
and seriously wrestle with himself, whip his demons, and grow in the likeness
of Christ.[4]
Out here, living in the world as an Oblate of Saint Benedict,
the onus is on us. We owe it to ourselves to do what we must in order to live,
promote, and protect the truth we have been entrusted with.
Know the truth. Live the truth. Promote the truth. Protect
the truth. Regardless. Regardless of the best efforts of paganism to lure us
into its darkness. Regardless of those bishops and priests that choose to color
outside the lines of historic Church doctrine and dogma.
The Apostle Paul did not mince words when he said,
“Do not be
mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between
righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and
darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer
share with an unbeliever? What agreement does the temple of God with idols? For
we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will live in them and walk
among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore
come out from among them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch
nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be your father, and you
shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’ Since we have these
promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and
spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.”[5]
... To Be Continued ...
[1]
Holy Rule 2:23-29
[2] 1
Samuel 2:11-4:18
[3]
The Amazonian Synod and the Pachamama. Really?
[4]
Conversatio Morum [Conversion of Life] is much more than learning to live by
the Rule. The Rule is a guide to establish an environment where deep,
meaningful, change is continuously occurring.
[5] 2
Corinthians 6:14-7:1 NRSV
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