Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 9, 2009

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:

Chapter 2 of the RB is clearly a guide to parenting. "Abbot" means "father; "abbess" means "mother." It is fair to call the Benedictine life in the monastery as familial. In his book, _A Share in the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Rule of St Benedict for Oblates_, Benet Tvedten talks of some passe customs such as kissing the abbot's ring or kneeling after entering the abbot's office. He says these were some medieval customs which have since been dropped. But even so, the abbot is not "one of the boys", so to speak. Tvedten says "he is the father of sons who are adults and who want to be treated as adults." Tvedten calls this fatherhood an absolute essential to monastic life.

Well, the qualities of the monastic superior are no different from those required in parenting. No Christian parent should ever "teach or ordain or command anything which is against the Lord's precepts." Both the monastic family and the nuclear family use a twofold manner of teaching: words and good examples.

Reading 02/22/08

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

February 26, June 27, October 27
Chapter 20: On Reverence in Prayer

When we wish to suggest our wants to persons of high station,
we do not presume to do so
except with humility and reverence.
How much the more, then,
are complete humility and pure devotion necessary
in supplication of the Lord who is God of the universe!
And let us be assured
that it is not in saying a great deal that we shall be heard (Matt 6:7),
but in purity of heart and in tears of compunction.
Our prayer, therefore, ought to be short and pure,
unless it happens to be prolonged
by an inspiration of divine grace.
In community, however, let prayer be very short,
and when the Superior gives the signal let all rise together.

Some thoughts:

Reverence is an odd word for us today, I think. How many times have we heard someone make fun of someone else's reverence? I suspect that for those who do this, do it because they are embarrassed. Perhaps they feel guilty that they themselves do not show reverence. Who knows?

Perhaps the idea of "persons of high station" is one that is foreign to some of us. I know it is to me. What comparisons might we have for our society today?

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?