Reading for Jan 13, 2008

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

January 13, May 14, September 13
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

In her teaching
the Abbess should always follow the Apostle's formula:
"Reprove, entreat, rebuke" (2 Tim. 4:2);
threatening at one time and coaxing at another
as the occasion may require,
showing now the stern countenance of a mistress,
now the loving affection of a mother.
That is to say,
it is the undisciplined and restless
whom she must reprove rather sharply;
it is the obedient, meek and patient
whom she must entreat to advance in virtue;
while as for the negligent and disdainful,
these we charge her to rebuke and correct.

And let her not shut her eyes to the faults of offenders;
but, since she has the authority,
let her cut out those faults by the roots
as soon as they begin to appear,
remembering the fate of Heli, the priest of Silo (1 Kings 2-4).
The well-disposed and those of good understanding
let her correct with verbal admonition the first and second time.
But bold, hard, proud and disobedient characters
she should curb at the very beginning of their ill-doing
by stripes and other bodily punishments,
knowing that it is written,
"the fool is not corrected with words" (Prov. 18:2; 29:19),
and again,
"Beat your son with the rod,
and you will deliver his soul from death"(Prov. 23:13-14).

Some thoughts:

What I like the most about this passage, is that it is the monastic superior whose job it is to identify sin and faults and not the job of anyone else. IMO the world is too entirely full of people who feel it is their business to comment negatively on the business of others. Granted we are not in a monastery, but I think I am too full of my own sin that I need to take to the Lord to dare to comment upon that of an other person's.

What do you think, please?

Reading for Jan 12, 2008

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

January 12, May 13, September 12
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Let her make no distinction of persons in the monastery.
Let her not love one more than another,
unless it be one whom she finds better
in good works or in obedience.
Let her not advance one of noble birth
ahead of one who was formerly a slave,
unless there be some other reasonable ground for it.
But if the Abbess for just reason think fit to do so,
let her advance one of any rank whatever.
Otherwise let them keep their due places;
because, whether slaves or free, we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28)
and bear in equal burden of service
in the army of the same Lord.
For with God there is no respect of persons (Rom. 2:11).
Only for one reason are we preferred in His sight:
if we be found better than others in good works and humility.
Therefore let the Abbess show equal love to all
and impose the same discipline on all
according to their deserts.

It refreshes me to read this. Here in the USA we are apt to give precedence to the oddest people, according celebrity status to seriously broken people, voyeuristically devouring the symptoms of their brokenness, celebrating their lapses and returns to rehab.

Here in the RB, though, we have refuge from that dysfunction. Nobody is better or worse than another. We are all one in Christ Jesus. Thank God, oh thank you, God.

Reading for 01/11/08

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

January 11, May 12, September 11
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Therefore, when anyone receives the name of Abbess,
she ought to govern her disciples with a twofold teaching.
That is to say,
she should show them all that is good and holy
by her deeds even more than by her words,
expounding the Lord's commandments in words
to the intelligent among her disciples,
but demonstrating the divine precepts by her actions
for those of harder hearts and ruder minds.
And whatever she has taught her disciples
to be contrary to God's law,
let her indicate by her example that it is not to be done,
lest, while preaching to others, she herself be found reprobate (1 Cor. 9:27),
and lest God one day say to her in her sin,
"Why do you declare My statutes
and profess My covenant with your lips,
whereas you hate discipline
and have cast My words behind you" (Ps. 49:16-17)?
And again,
"You were looking at the speck in your brother's eye,
and did not see the beam in your own" (Matt. 7:3).

Some thoughts:

Did I mention this the last time we read this bit? St. Francis is said to have said "Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words." Isn't it so true, though, that what we do is remembered far more than what we say? That our actions reveal what we really believe far more than our words? Especially when the deeds and the words do not accord with each other.

I can think of so m many ways in which my words and deeds don't match up. I can get so caught up in the high of the approval of others, for instance, that I will really milk that. Or I can be so cast down by their disapproval that I want to spend the next month in bed with the covers over my head.

Neither response is a good one. Seems clear to me that the monastic superior, who is also elected to the position by the very monastics one is to govern, is one who has learned to b e content with God. How much I long for this myself.

Reading for Jan 10, 2008

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

January 10, May 11, September 10
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Let the Abbess always bear in mind
that at the dread Judgment of God
there will be an examination of these two matters:
her teaching and the obedience of her disciples.
And let the Abbess be sure
that any lack of profit
the master of the house may find in the sheep
will be laid to the blame of the shepherd.
On the other hand,
if the shepherd has bestowed all her pastoral diligence
on a restless, unruly flock
and tried every remedy for their unhealthy behavior,
then she will be acquitted at the Lord's Judgment
and may say to the Lord with the Prophet:
"I have not concealed Your justice within my heart;
Your truth and Your salvation I have declared" (Ps. 39:11).
"But they have despised and rejected me" (Is. 1:2; Ezech. 20:27).
And then finally let death itself, irresistible,
punish those disobedient sheep under her charge.

Some thoughts:

At first I read this and I think what a thankless job! To be held accountable for God not only for the quality of what is taught but also to be held accountable for the way others obey what is taught. The first one, ok. the latter, Whoa, Nellie!! How could a spiritual teacher possibly be responsible for what then taught do with the teaching?

Then I realised it is not merely the speaking and the hearing that are at issue, but the doing. The one who teaches is as much responsible for the doing as are any hearers.

What do you think?

Reading for 01/09/08

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

January 9, May 10, September 9
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery
should always remember what she is called,
and live up to the name of Superior.
For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery,
being called by a name of His,
which is taken from the words of the Apostle:
"You have received a Spirit of adoption ...,
by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15)!

Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command
anything which is against the Lord's precepts;
on the contrary,
her commands and her teaching
should be a leaven of divine justice
kneaded into the minds of her disciples.

Some thoughts:

What a standard: hold the place of Christ in the monastery. Would you want to have to measure up against that? Not I.

The thing is though, as Christians we are called to hold the place of Christ wherever we are. Whatever we do. Whatever we say. I can only rejoice that the Holy Spirit moved the authors of Scripture and Benedict to write as they have, because I surely do need their help.

Chap 2 January 15, May 16, September 15

January 15, May 16, September 15
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Above all let her not neglect or undervalue
the welfare of the souls committed to her,
in a greater concern for fleeting, earthly, perishable things;
but let her always bear in mind
that she has undertaken the government of souls
and that she will have to give an account of them.

And if she be tempted to allege a lack of earthly means,
let her remember what is written:
"First seek the kingdom of God and His justice,
and all these things shall be given you besides" (Ps. 33:10).
And again:
"Nothing is wanting to those who fear Him."

Let her know, then,
that she who has undertaken the government of souls
must prepare herself to render an account of them.
Whatever number of sisters she knows she has under her care,
she may be sure beyond doubt that on Judgment Day
she will have to give the Lord an account of all these souls,
as well as of her own soul.

Thus the constant apprehension
about her coming examination as shepherd (Ezech. 34)
concerning the sheep entrusted to her,
and her anxiety over the account that must be given for others,
make her careful of her own record.
And while by her admonitions she is helping others to amend,
she herself is cleansed of her faults.


Some thoughts:

Other parts of this chapter dealt with the abbess/abbot's relationship with the monastics in their care. This chapter reads to me as if it is dealing with the relationship the abbess/abbot ought to have with God.

Would you see this as possible role model for any of us who might be in authority over others? What are all the things such a person has to consider?

As I read the first section, it sounds very much to me as if the issue is the primary consideration is the welfare of those under another's authority. That's something we could all be concerned about, isn't it?

What are some of the other qualities required? How would you apply them in you daily life?


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

In an age of great institutions and unending development campaigns, Benedict makes a statement in this paragraph that stretches the modern mind to the extremity of disbelief. Benedict instructs the abbot and prioress to be more concerned about the spiritual needs of the monastery than its physical ones. You have to wonder how long a group will last like that. You also have to wonder whether or not a monastery that is not like that should last at all. The implications are profound.

A monastery does not have to be wealthy, Benedict implies, a monastery does not have to be large, a monastery does not have to be popular. What a monastery must be, without doubt and without fail, is holy. The role of the abbot or prioress, therefore, is not to concentrate on the physical development of the community, on the "fleeting and temporal things of this world." The role of the abbot or prioress is to direct their energies to bringing the community to the white heat of the spiritual life, after which no challenge is too great and no effort is too much because we know for certain that "those who reverence the Holy One lack nothing."

In monastic spirituality, then, leadership is not intent on making things right; leadership is intent on making life right. The number of families who have succumbed to the notion that giving their children everything that money can buy assures their happiness need this insight from of monastic spirituality. The number of business people who have put their entire lives into developing their businesses instead of their quality of life, need this insight from monastic spirituality. The number of young people who have learned to believe that success depends on having it all, may need this monastic lesson in life. The Rule of Benedict teaches us that nothing, not even a monastery, is worth the loss of the development of the important things in life, the spiritual things in life.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd Jan. 14, May 15, September 14

January 14, May 15, September 14
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

The Abbess should always remember what she is
and what she is called,
and should know that to whom more is committed,
from her more is required (Luke 12:48).
Let her understand also
what a difficult and arduous task she has undertaken:
ruling souls and adapting herself to a variety of characters.
One she must coax, another scold, another persuade,
according to each one's character and understanding.
Thus she must adjust and adapt herself to all
in such a way that she may not only suffer no loss
in the flock committed to her care,
but may even rejoice in the increase of a good flock.

Some thoughts:

...sigh...

Have you noticed that if you ever self-identify yourself as a Christian, all of a sudden you are held accountable for other people's expectations of what a Christian is or how a how a Christian is supposed to behave, no matter how wrong-head are their preconceptions? Are you as tired of it as I?

On the other hand, it is certainly true that something more is expected of us Christians. Jesus tells us the world will know us by our love. It is precisely because that is not the general impression we give the world, we have quite the reputation for in-fighting after all, that in my opinion, we can never do better than the Rule of St. Benedict.

Another thing Jesus told us to do was to follow him. Perhaps it is in this context that we could apply today's reading? What else is the role of the abbess/abbot but to help those in their care follow Jesus? Of course, we are not in monastic life, but Jesus' invitation no less applies to us.

It seems to me that part of how the abbess/abbot does is to know the unique qualities of every person and to encourage that person individually. Seems to me it takes great gifts of discernment and skill to see each person for who they are in the eyes of God.

Is this something we can take away from today's reading? Treating people and ourselves for who we are in God's eyes? Does this ask us to change any of our ways? What ways would they be and how would we change?

These are hard questions and I feel as if I should be the last person to offer any opinion on this subject, but it seems to me this can only be done through prayer and willingness to hear some plain speaking about ourselves. We have to be willing to have our comfort zones stretched and most of all be willing to give up any allegiance to how we think things/people/society should/ought be and see them as they truly are because only when we look at the truth face to face can the light pierce the darkness and set us free to begin to learn to see as God sees.

That's what I think any way. Welcome any thoughts others might want to share.



Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister:
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

There are some interesting distinctions made in this paragraph. The abbot and prioress are to remember what they are and what they are called. What they and every other leader are is painfully clear: they are people just like everybody else in the monastery. They are not royalty. They are not potentates. They are only people who also struggle and fail just like the people they lead.

But what they are and what they are called--abbot, abbess, spiritual father, spiritual mother--are not unrelated. They are not called to be either lawgivers or camp counselors. They are not expected to be either rigid moralists or group activity directors. They are to be directors of souls who serve the group by "coaxing, reproving and encouraging it"--by prodding and pressing and persuading it--to struggle as they have struggled to grow in depth, in sincerity and in holiness, to grow despite weaknesses, to grow beyond weaknesses.

Abbots or prioresses of Benedictine monasteries, then, parents and supervisors and officials and bishops everywhere who set out to live a Benedictine spirituality, are to keep clearly in mind their own weak souls and dark minds and fragile hearts when they touch the souls and minds and hearts of others.

But there is another side to the question as well. It is not easy for honest people who hold their own failures in their praying hands to question behavior in anyone else. "There but for the grace of God, go I," John Bradford said at the sight of the condemned on their way to execution. Aware of what I myself am capable of doing, how can I possibly censure or disparage or reprimand or reproach anyone else? On the other hand, Benedict reminds us, how can those who know that conversion is possible, who have been called to midwife the spiritual life, for this generation and the next, do less.

The Hasidim tell a story that abbots and prioress, mothers and fathers, teachers and directors may understand best. Certainly Benedict did:

When in his sixtieth year after the death of the Kotzker, the Gerer accepted election as leader of the Kotzker Hasidim, the Rabbi said: "I should ask myself: 'Why have I deserved to become the leader of thousands of good people?' I know that I am not more learned or more pious than others. The only reason why I accept the appointment is because so many good and true people have proclaimed me to be their leader. We find that a cattle-breeder in Palestine during the days when the Temple stood was enjoined by our Torah (Lev 27:32) to drive newborn cattle or sheep into an enclosure in single file. When they went to the enclosure, they were all of the same station, but when over the tenth one the owner pronounced the words: 'consecrated unto the Lord,' it was set aside for holier purposes. In the same fashion when the Jews pronounce some to be holier than their fellows, they become in truth consecrated persons."

Once chosen, it is their weakness itself that becomes the anchor, the insight, the humility and the gift of an abbot or prioress, a pope or a priest, a parent or a director. But only if they themselves embrace it. It is a lesson for leaders everywhere who either fear to lead because they know their own weaknesses or who lead defensively because they fear that others know their weaknesses. It is a lesson for parents who remember their own troubles as children. It is a lesson for husbands and wives who cannot own the weaknesses that plague their marriage. We must each strive for the ideal and we must encourage others to strive with us, not because we ourselves are not weak but because knowing our own weaknesses and admitting them we can with great confidence teach trust in the God who watches with patience our puny efforts and our foolish failures.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd Jan. 13, May 14, September 13

January 13, May 14, September 13
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

In her teaching
the Abbess should always follow the Apostle's formula:
"Reprove, entreat, rebuke" (2 Tim. 4:2);
threatening at one time and coaxing at another
as the occasion may require,
showing now the stern countenance of a mistress,
now the loving affection of a mother.
That is to say,
it is the undisciplined and restless
whom she must reprove rather sharply;
it is the obedient, meek and patient
whom she must entreat to advance in virtue;
while as for the negligent and disdainful,
these we charge her to rebuke and correct.

And let her not shut her eyes to the faults of offenders;
but, since she has the authority,
let her cut out those faults by the roots
as soon as they begin to appear,
remembering the fate of Heli, the priest of Silo (1 Kings 2-4).
The well-disposed and those of good understanding
let her correct with verbal admonition the first and second time.
But bold, hard, proud and disobedient characters
she should curb at the very beginning of their ill-doing
by stripes and other bodily punishments,
knowing that it is written,
"the fool is not corrected with words" (Prov. 18:2; 29:19),
and again,
"Beat your son with the rod,
and you will deliver his soul from death"(Prov. 23:13-14).

Some thoughts:

My first reaction is always "No way, Jose", none of that beatings, whippings and other things my society considers abusive. And then I trip over the "my society" bit and have to remind myself that Benedict is not a product of my time but his so I have to work that much harder to see through what I don't like to try to see what the main theme is of today's reading.

Another thing about "my society" is that we have somehow got to a place where it is so fashionable to believe that none of us has any business judging another, it is also "wrong" to take action based on any judgment.

An example: last Saturday, The San Diego Knit Together met in Balboa Park. At a distance to the west of off were three men smoking marijuana. We knew this because the prevailing westerly winds blew the smoke in our direction. They had a huge bag of the stuff which they were busy rolling into joints. I asked for a cell phone to call the police and no one would loan me one because "it's only dope. It's not like it's crystal meth."

Silly me. Here I thought breaking the law was breaking the law and don't get me started on the horrible things i have witnessed as a result of smoking "only dope."

What we have in this day's reading, I believe, is not a passage about physical punishment so much as it is about standards of conduct. I daresay few of us who read this are in an abbess or abbot. But have we among us parents? Teachers? Supervisors or management at the office? Maybe some of what is said here is really applicable to our own lives?

So far we have seen that something Benedict stresses is the judgment of God, fear of the Lord, which we are told is the beginning of wisdom. "Fear of the Lord" does not mean crouching in terror. The Hebrew word translated as fear, or so I have been told by those who actually know Hebrew", has many meanings as do all Hebrew words. Among them are: " awe at immense grandeur"; " feeling small in the face of something much greater than our minds can conceive"; "love/wonder/joy" all rolled together that creates within us a very complicated feeling, such as Job had, that before such a Mighty One, we are but dust and ashes but the surprise of the story is that this Mighty One, Master of the Universe, loves us and wants us.

What we have going in this passage, I believe is just this: how do we accommodate ourselves to this God? How do we conform ourselves to His will? What do we need to do?

Hard questions, but thanks be to God, Benedict's Rule provides simple, concrete, practical ways of doing just these things.


Commentary By Sr. Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

To "vary with the circumstances" may be the genius of the entire Rule of Benedict. It is undoubtedly clear here.

The Rule of Benedict does not turn people into interchangeable parts. Benedict makes it quite plain: people don't all learn the same way; they don't all grow the same way; they can't all be dealt with the same way. Those concepts, of course, have become commonplace in a culture that is based on individualism. But they were not commonplace as recently as fifty years ago. Historically, there has been a more acceptable way for just about everything: a more acceptable way to pray; a more acceptable way to celebrate the Mass; a more acceptable way to think; a more acceptable way to live. Not everyone did it, of course, but everyone had very clear criteria by which to judge the social fit of everyone else.

Personalism is a constant throughout the Rule of Benedict.Here, though, in a chapter on the abbot or prioress, you would certainly expect at least to find a clear call for order, if not for perfection and discipline and conformity. There is no room in Benedictine spirituality, though, for bloodless relationships between people in authority and the people for whom they have responsibility. Benedictine authority is expected to have meaning. It is to be anchored in the needs and personality of the other person. For the prioress or abbot or parent or supervisor, it is an exhausting task to treat every individual in our care as an individual but nothing else is worth our time. It is easy to intimidate the stubborn with power. It is simple to ignore the mediocre. It is possible to leave the docile on their own and hope for the best.

In the Rule, though, the function of the leader is to call each individual to become more tomorrow than they were today. The point of the paragraph is not how the calling is to be done, with firmness or tenderness or persuasion or discipline. The theories on that subject change from period to period. Some types respond to one approach, some respond better to another. The point here is simply that the calling is to be done. The person who accepts a position of responsibility and milks it of its comforts but leaves the persons in a group no more spiritually stirred than when they began, no more alive in Christ than when they started, no more aflame with the gospel than when they first held it in their hands, is more to be criticized than the fruitless group itself. It was Eli, Benedict points out, the father who did not correct his sinful sons, whom God indicts, not the sons alone.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd Jan. 12, May 13, September 12

My apologies that this is so late today. Been one of "those" days!!

January 12, May 13, September 12
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Let her make no distinction of persons in the monastery.
Let her not love one more than another,
unless it be one whom she finds better
in good works or in obedience.
Let her not advance one of noble birth
ahead of one who was formerly a slave,
unless there be some other reasonable ground for it.
But if the Abbess for just reason think fit to do so,
let her advance one of any rank whatever.
Otherwise let them keep their due places;
because, whether slaves or free, we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28)
and bear in equal burden of service
in the army of the same Lord.
For with God there is no respect of persons (Rom. 2:11).
Only for one reason are we preferred in His sight:
if we be found better than others in good works and humility.
Therefore let the Abbess show equal love to all
and impose the same discipline on all
according to their deserts.

Some thoughts:

Wouldn't it be so wonderful if every single person in the world practiced this? I know you are saying, "Dream on, Gloriamarie". Can we all see how irrelevant are the world's view of worthiness is to St. Benedict? Right out of Galatians. We are one in Christ and within the Body of Christ all service to God and neighbor is equal. None is more important than the rest. Somewhere else in the Rule it says that the only form of rank in his monastery is the length of time one has been there.

Clearly the Abbess/Abbot keeps watch over the monastics to discern what a person might need in order to do better. Do you have someone like that in your life? I don't know about you, but I am so very grateful to have a spiritual director because she sees things in me I don't. How I need that for balance, moderation and a perspective adjustment. My best friend frequently tells me I need a perspective adjustment and is only too happy to give it to me.

Would you agree with me that something else we can take away form today's reading is the need for discernment? That we need to develop it? That we need others to discern for us sometimes?


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister

http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

If Benedict of Nursia was anything, he was not a pious romantic. He knew the Gospel and he knew life and he set out to bring the two together.

In one paragraph of this chapter, he shapes a completely new philosophy of authority, in another paragraph he hints at a different philosophy of religious life and in this one he rejects, out of hand, the common social structures of the period. In his communities, slave and free are equal as the gospels demand.

This is the Jesus life. What is insane in the streets is common coin here. What is madness to politicians is life breath here. What is unheard of in nice company is taken for granted here. Here people are ranked in the order in which they came to the group--not by education, not by money, not by social status but simply according to the moment they came to Christ. There is, as a result, no rank at all and this is very disconcerting to a world that loves uniforms and titles and knowing people who are in Who's Who.

But do not be misled. Benedict is a realist, not a feckless libertarian. There are differences among us and he recognizes those. There is a kind of natural hierarchy of gifts. Some of us are business people and some of us are not. Some of us are musicians and some are not. Some of us are leaders and some are not. The question is not whether or not some of us should be put over others of us. The question is how we get there and why we're put there.

Here Benedict draws another sharp contrast with life as we know it. The monastic life, the spiritual life, is not a life dedicated to climbing and clawing to the top. The monastic mind is not set on politicking or groveling. Abbots and prioresses, good leaders anywhere, are not in the business of forming kitchen cabinets or caucuses.

No, favoritism and intrigue are not the mint of the monastic mindset, commitment is.

Benedict doesn't just want a business manager who can make money for the monastery. He doesn't want workers for their productivity only. He doesn't take for leaders simply those who know how to control a group or build a business. Whom Benedict wants appointed to positions of responsibility are people who are distinguished "in goods works and obedience," in "good works and humility." It is a model for leadership in those places where profit and power and the party line take precedence over what the business or the diocese or the social service agency proclaims it is about.

He does not want people in positions simply to get a job done. He wants people in positions who embody why we bother to do the job at all. He wants holy listeners who care about the effect of what they do on everybody else.
Imagine a world that was run by holy listeners.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd Jan. 11, May 12, September 11

January 11, May 12, September 11

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Therefore, when anyone receives the name of Abbess,
she ought to govern her disciples with a twofold teaching.
That is to say,
she should show them all that is good and holy
by her deeds even more than by her words,
expounding the Lord's commandments in words
to the intelligent among her disciples,
but demonstrating the divine precepts by her actions
for those of harder hearts and ruder minds.
And whatever she has taught her disciples
to be contrary to God's law,
let her indicate by her example that it is not to be done,
lest, while preaching to others, she herself be found reprobate (1
Cor. 9:27),
and lest God one day say to her in her sin,
"Why do you declare My statutes
and profess My covenant with your lips,
whereas you hate discipline
and have cast My words behind you" (Ps. 49:16-17)?
And again,
"You were looking at the speck in your brother's eye,
and did not see the beam in your own" (Matt. 7:3).

Some thoughts:

Do you find it as easy as I to find the message in today's reading
that applies to us not in a monastery? That our words must match our
deeds and that the quality of our deeds is more important than our
words?

This reminds me of a saying attributed to St. Francis "Preach the
Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words."


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The Tao says,

"We join spokes together in a wheel
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move."

Benedict says that those who hold authority in a community are not to
be above the group, they are to be the centers of it, the norm of it,
the movers of it. They themselves are to mirror its values. Their job
is not simply to give orders. Their job is to live out the ideals. It
is an authority far removed from office elitism or pompous hierarchy
or highhanded parenting.

Benedict calls a community to obedience, yes, but he does not call it
to servitude. He does not call people to conformity for the sake of
conformity. That's where modern concepts of blind obedience and the
monastic concept of cenobitic obedience are so distinct from one
another. Blind obedience demands that underlings comply with authority
without thought of consequences. Cenobitic obedience insists that
equals must bring a thoughtful concern for what is best for everyone
before they ask anything of consequence.

Autocrats and militarists and spiritual charlatans and abusive parents
and corporate moguls want the people under them to obey laws from
which their exalted positions hold them exempt. Benedict says that the
only authentic call for obedience comes from those who themselves
demonstrate the value of the law.

The point is that what we do not live we do not have a right to
require, and that for two reasons: first, because it is a hollow call
to insist that others do what we do not do ourselves and secondly,
because it requires for the sake of requiring something rather than
for the merit of the requirement itself. To hold people under us to a
law which we ourselves have no intention of respecting is to make a
mockery of what we ask. Employees whom we require to work because we
will not; children who are told to avoid what they see us doing with
impunity; citizens who must do what they see us declaring exempt for
ourselves, do learn from us. They learn that law is useless and that
we are frauds and that power protects only the powerful. Benedict is
saying that if the laws are good, then people will be able to see that
in the lawgiver.

But Benedict is saying even more than this. Benedict is saying that
the function of spiritual leadership is not to intimidate people into
submission by fear or guilt. The function of spiritual leadership is
to show in our own lives the beauty that oozes out of those who live
the spiritual life to its fullness. The function of spiritual
leadership is to enshrine what a good life can be.

The abbot and prioress are to make of themselves the light that guides
and the crystal that rings true. Otherwise, why should anyone else
attempt the Way at all. "Love work and hate lordship," the Hasidim
teach their rabbis. It is Benedict's teaching, too.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd Jan. 10 - May 11 - Sept. 10

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be cont'd

Jan. 10 - May 11 - Sept. 10

Let the Abbess always bear in mind
that at the dread Judgment of God
there will be an examination of these two matters:
her teaching and the obedience of her disciples.
And let the Abbess be sure
that any lack of profit
the master of the house may find in the sheep
will be laid to the blame of the shepherd.
On the other hand,
if the shepherd has bestowed all her pastoral diligence
on a restless, unruly flock
and tried every remedy for their unhealthy behavior,
then she will be acquitted at the Lord's Judgment
and may say to the Lord with the Prophet:
"I have not concealed Your justice within my heart;
Your truth and Your salvation I have declared" (Ps. 39[40]:11).
"But they have despised and rejected me" (Is. 1:2; Ezech. 20:27).
And then finally let death itself, irresistible,
punish those disobedient sheep under her charge.


Some thoughts:

Ok, I'm convinced. I don't want to be an Abbess ever!! Not only do i wish to eschew such responsibility, the ray of hope offered in "tried every remedy for their unhealthy behavior" is probably beyond me, seeing how unruly my own behavior often is. Would you agree with me that this section might apply to all in leadership? I'd sure like the various Presidential candidates response, wouldn't you?

To get serious now... Setting aside the "dread judgment of God" for the moment, what else might this passage be about? What is there for us not in the monastery to glean for our own lives? What obligation(s) do we have to our Lord? To speak His truth at all times? To listen for it always?

The quotations from Ps 39, Isaiah and Ezekiel involve speaking and listening, I believe. Which in turn reminds me of the very first word of the Rule "Listen". Benedict's practical turn of mind is displayed once again. To whom does he first give instruction? The supervisor!! Benedict sees God as the CEO of the monastery, so to me that makes the Abbess/Abbot merely the supervisor.

Do you see anything about relationships in this bit of the RB? One of the themes of the Rule, I think. In order for the work of God to be done, all of us must do our part faithfully. The "leader" no less than then rank beginner. We are not responsible for what another fails to do, we are only responsible for our own part. In the end, after all, it is God's word that is done and God's judgment that counts.

Have you seen, in a movie perhaps, monks walking around with their hoods drawn up so far over their heads that all they can see is only what's right in front of them? Have you noticed also that they walk with their heads slightly bowed so that all they could see was where to place their feet? There's an out of fashion term for this called "custody of the senses" which is the practice of paying attention to one's own business in the monastery and protecting one's sense from noticing what the other guy might be doing wrong. What a lesson for those of us who like to excuse our own behavior because of what someone else did first as if we had never grown out of arguing over who started it.

I suggested yesterday that for those of us not in a monastery, that there might be those who serve as spiritual leaders. Benedict makes it quite clear that such spiritual leaders can only do so much. But it had to be their best.

Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

Benedict puts a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of people in authority, but not all of it. Abbots and prioresses are to teach, to proclaim, but the community's responsibility is to listen and to respond.

Benedict wants a community that is led, but not driven.

The concept is clear: people are not acquitted of the responsibility for their own souls. Personal decisions are still decisions, personal judgments are still judgments, free will is still free will. Being in a family does not relieve a child of the responsibility to grow up. The function of twenty-one year olds is not to do life's tasks as their parents told them to do it when they were six years old. The function of twenty-one year olds is simply to do the same tasks well and to take accountability themselves for having done it.

Perhaps the most important result of a model of authority like this is the environment it creates. The monastery is not a royal court, a military barracks, or a detention home. The role of leadership is not to make lackeys, or foot soldiers or broken children out of adult Christians.

The purpose of Benedictine spirituality is to gather equally committed adults for a journey through earthen darkness to the dazzling light that already flames in each of us, but in a hidden place left to each of us to find.

The Rule's model of leadership and authority, then, is a paradigm for any relationship, husband and wife, parent and child, supervisor and employee. The function of authority is not to control the other; it is to guide and to challenge and to enable the other. Benedictine authority is a commitment to that, a promise of that.

A midrash on Genesis points out: "God prefers your deeds to your ancestors' virtues." We are not here simply to follow someone else. Being part of something good does not automatically make us good. What we do with our own lives is the measure of their value. We are here to learn to take ourselves in hand.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be Jan. 9 - May 10 - Sept. 9

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be

Jan. 9 - May 10 - Sept. 9

An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery
should always remember what she is called,
and live up to the name of Superior.
For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery,
being called by a name of His,
which is taken from the words of the Apostle:
"You have received a Spirit of adoption ...,
by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15)!

Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command
anything which is against the Lord's precepts;
on the contrary,
her commands and her teaching
should be a leaven of divine justice
kneaded into the minds of her disciples.


Some thoughts:

At first glance, this bit doesn't seem to have much to say to us who are not in the monastery, does it?

Abbess/Abbot are derived from the Hebrew "abba", the word Jesus used when talking about the Father. It's also a word He taught His disciples to use as in "Our Father in Heaven." I've been told that a good translation of "abba" is "daddy". I note that Benedict also refers to Jesus as Abba: "Being called by a name that is His."

"Believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery" To me this says that true head of the monastery is our Lord Jesus Christ and the Abbess/Abbot is merely filling in. But what a responsibility to be as Christ to a bunch of All Too Human people! What is it that the Abbess/Abbot is to do? Everything must be in line with the Gospels.

But still, how does this passage apply to those of us not in a monastery? I'd welcome your thoughts.

As I was trying to answer this for myself, it occurred to me that in my novice promises, I said I would obey my Bishop, priest (primarily Rector) and spiritual director. The role of the abbess/abbot is assist me to create the place within me where I hear the Holy Spirit' voice quite clearly and will be moved to instant obedience to that voice of God.

Then I thought about all the other people in my life who might also be such agents of the Holy Spirit. Fellow parishioners, family members, friends, Internet acquaintances, etc. Anyone of these might be used by the Holy Spirit to say something to me to which I need to pay attention. Maybe I won't like it, maybe it will hurt me, but maybe I still need to hear and learn.

That is what I take from today's reading. How does the reading sound to you?



Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The social revolution of the Rule starts in this paragraph on authority. This will be a different kind of life than the sixth century Roman ever saw. The head of the monastery will not be a chief or a queen or a feudal lord. The superior of a monastery of Benedictines will be a Christ figure, simple, unassuming, immersed in God, loving of the marginal, doer of the gospel, beacon to the strong.

Once you begin to understand that, you begin to understand the whole new type of authority that the Rule models for a world gone wild with power. You begin to understand that it is not the laws of the mighty that will govern this group. It is the law of God that will preempt all other considerations.

Like Christ, this leader does not lead with brute force. This leader understands the leavening process. This leader, called appropriately abbot or abbess or prioress, is a spiritual parent, a catalyst for the spiritual and psychological growth of the individual monastic, not a border guard or a warden. This leader is not a parent who terrorizes a child into submission; this leader believes in the best and gives people the opportunities to make the mistakes that lead to growth.

The prioress and abbot provide an environment that confronts the monastic with the presence of God, that shows them the Way. After that it is up to the monastic to let the practices of the community and the rhythm of the prayer life work their way until the piercing good of God rises in them like yeast in bread.

"If you meet the Buddha on the road," the Zen master teaches the disciple, "kill him." Don't let any human being become the measure of your life, the Zen implies. Eliminate whatever you would be tempted to idolize, no matter how worthy the object. The role of the spiritual leader, in other words, is not to make martinets out of people; it is to lead them to spiritual adulthood where they themselves make the kind of choices that give life depth and quality. Like the teacher of Zen, Benedict does not make the superior of the monastery the ultimate norm of life. Pleasing the abbot is not what monastic life is all about. Becoming what the abbess or prioress thinks you should be is not the goal of monasticism. Following the leader is not the end for which we're made; finding God is. Benedict makes the superior of his monasteries a lover of people, a leader who can persuade a person to the heights, show them the mountain and let them go.

In our own culture, becoming someone important, climbing the corporate and ecclesiastical ladder has so often meant pleasing the person at the top rather than doing what conscience demands or the situation requires. That kind of leadership is for its own sake. It makes the guru, rather than the gospel, the norm of life. That kind of obedience puts the business before the soul. That kind of authority is not monastic and it is not spiritual. That kind of authority so often leads to the satisfaction of the system more than to the development of the person and the coming of the reign of God. That kind of authority breeds Watergate and My Lai in the face of a tradition that holds up for public emulation Joan of Arc and Thomas More whose obedience was always to a much higher law than the institutions of the country.