Rule of St Benedict Reading for August 17, 2009

April 17, August 17, December 17

Chapter 62: On the Priests of the Monastery

If an Abbot desire
to have a priest or a deacon ordained for his monastery,
let him choose one
who is worthy to exercise the priestly office.

But let the one who is ordained
beware of self-exaltation or pride;
and let him not presume to do anything
except what is commanded him by the Abbot,
knowing that he is so much the more subject
to the discipline of the Rule.
Nor should he by reason of his priesthood forget
the obedience and the discipline required by the Rule,
but make ever more and more progress towards God.

Let him always keep the place which he received
on entering the monastery,
except in his duties at the altar
or in case the choice of the community and the will of the Abbess
should promote him for the worthiness of his life.
Yet he must understand
that he is to observe the rules laid down by deans and Priors.

Should he presume to act otherwise,
let him be judged not as a priest but as a rebel.
And if he does not reform after repeated admonitions,
let even the Bishop be brought in as a witness.
If then he still fails to amend,
and his offenses are notorious,
let him be put out of the monastery,
but only if his contumacy is such
that he refuses to submit or to obey the Rule

Some thoughts:
Here we are back to priests in the monastery. Previously we read how
those who already are priests were to be greeted. Today the reading
is about the Abbot deciding that a priest is desirable. It's an
interesting bit... I recall reading in St Gregory's Dialogues, the
section on the life of St Benedict (which is in our files) that when
living in his cave Benedict did not even know when it was Easter
Sunday! Which indicates to me that by the time he wrote this chapter,
regular celebration of the sacraments may have been becoming more
important to the monks.

We also see here that Benedict continues in the tradition of the
distrust of the priest which started in with the Desert Christians and
continues in John Cassian and the Rule of the Master. As I have
mentioned in the past, these are the primary sources recognized to
have influenced Benedict. There may also be something else at work
here... a priest would also be under the authority of the local Bishop
and Benedict wishes to make it clear that the Abbot and the monastic
community have priority over the Bishop.

We also see here that the priest doesn't go up in rank but keeps the
one he had already. Rank in the Benedictine community was determined
by length of time in the monastery. We saw in the chapter about
visiting monks who choose to the enter the monastery or her again,
that the monastic superior is given in the Rule the authority to
re-assign rank, but that is predicated upon living the monastic life
and no other considerations. And, of course, as is familiar to us,
the priest-monk is subject to the same penalties as anyone else who
disrupts the communal life.

But what does all this mean to us today? I think it can speak to our
understanding of vocation, or, at least to mine, I should say. I look
at vocation this way: we all have one or more. Sometimes vocations
overlap. I am a daughter, nun, friend, list owner, have been a
student, a writer. All of these are things I believe God has called
me to and that makes them vocations. No person's vocation is more
important than another. No vocation makes anyone holier than another.
Vocations are merely our role in the Body of Christ which needs all
of us to be faithful to God's call to us. So just as the monk is
called to become a priest to meet a need in the community, so God
calls us into His service, an offering for the Body of Christ.

Rule of St Benedict Reading for August 14, 2009

April 14, August 14, December 14

Chapter 60: On Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery

If any ordained priest
should ask to be received into the monastery,
permission shall not be granted too readily.
But if he is quite persistent in his request,
let him know
that he will have to observe the whole discipline of the Rule
and that nothing will be relaxed in his favor,
that it may be as it is written:
"Friend, for what have you come (Matt. 26:50)?"

It shall be granted him, however, to stand next after the Abbot
and to give blessings and to celebrate Mass,
but only by order of the Abbot.
Without such order let him not make any exceptions for himself,
knowing that he is subject to the discipline of the Rule;
but rather let him give an example of humility to all.

If there happens to be question of an appointment
or of some business in the monastery,
let him expect the rank due him
according to the date of his entrance into the monastery,
and not the place granted him
out of reverence for the priesthood.

If any clerics, moved by the same desire,
should wish to join the monastery,
let them be placed in a middle rank.
But they too are to be admitted only if they promise
observance of the Rule and stability.

Some thoughts

The beginning of this section reminds me of some of the Sayings of the
Desert Christians and their distrust of priests. The Desert
Christians became the Desert Christian when Constantine proclaimed
Christianity to be the state religion of Rome. Hitherto, Christianity
and the world were at odds, the world was the realm of the devil and
Christians lived in it but did not participate in the things of the
world. A huge number of Christians were outraged that all of a sudden,
Christianity was identified with the world and in order to continue to
live holy lives, they fled civilization to live in the wild and
desolate places of Syria and Egypt. Priests, because of their
identification with the world, were suspect. By the time Benedict
wrote, priests were no longer considered identified as agents of the
sinful world. But I do see a reflection of the another concern of the
Desert Christians. So many priests were thought by the DC to be
prideful and ordination a sure road to one of the 7 deadly sins. If
you were wondering how they managed without priests to celebrate
Eucharist, the usual practice of the DC was the agape meal which did
not require a priest. And of course, those priests who lived the
discipline of the desert were allowed to celebrate.

Benedict's concern here is that the priest will submit to monastic
humility and discipline as evidenced by B's use of Mt 26:50. This is
the same question Jesus asked of Judas so the implication may be that
the priest who will not conform to the community will suffer Judas'
fate.Judas, after all, started with good intentions and ended
tragically. If this seems over the top, please not that in chap 62,
when we get there, Benedict calls a contentious pries a rebel.

So we see once again how egalitarian Benedict was. Whatever rank or
office one might hold outside the monastery, within the close one was
a monk, on equal footing with all the other monks.

Reading for Dec 14, 2007

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

April 14, August 14, December 14
Chapter 60: On Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery

If any ordained priest
should ask to be received into the monastery,
permission shall not be granted too readily.
But if he is quite persistent in his request,
let him know
that he will have to observe the whole discipline of the Rule
and that nothing will be relaxed in his favor,
that it may be as it is written:
"Friend, for what have you come (Matt. 26:50)?"

It shall be granted him, however, to stand next after the Abbot
and to give blessings and to celebrate Mass,
but only by order of the Abbot.
Without such order let him not make any exceptions for himself,
knowing that he is subject to the discipline of the Rule;
but rather let him give an example of humility to all.

If there happens to be question of an appointment
or of some business in the monastery,
let him expect the rank due him
according to the date of his entrance into the monastery,
and not the place granted him
out of reverence for the priesthood.

If any clerics, moved by the same desire,
should wish to join the monastery,
let them be placed in a middle rank.
But they too are to be admitted only if they promise
observance of the Rule and stability.


Some thoughts:

Perhaps a tad bit of historical background might be of use here. Were we to read any of the collections of the Sayings of the Desert Christians, we would be struck by the distrust of the ordained clergy. The reason for that is the Edict of Milan, issued jointly the Roman Emperor of the West, Licinius, and the Roman Emperor of the East, Constantine. This Edict stated basically that all religions practised in Rome were equal and the persecution would cease. Christians of the period reacted variously to this. Many rejoiced that the century and a half of murderous persecution was over at last. Many reacted in horror, feeling that Christianity had now become a thing of this world and was now identified with evil.

Large numbers of this latter group fled the cities for the wild places, triggering what we now call Desert Christianity. These people were suspicious of those Christians who remained in the cities, the priests, bishops and all other clerics. By Benedict's time, there was an easing up of this suspicion. Groups of monks had been gathering form sometime in more hospitable places. But enough remained for Benedict to caution that "permission shall not be granted too readily."

Of course, I have over-simplified a few centuries of Church History, but basically that's the jist of it. With that in mind, what is the Rule saying to us today?

In precious chapters, we have noted the egalitarianism of the Rule. The monks/nuns are to obey the Abbess/Abbot while they are to consider themselves servants of the monastics. Seniority is determined by date of entrance into the monastery. There is no other ranking. Whether one comes from a noble or peasant family, the Rule makes all equal. Priests are subject to this same egalitarianism.

Certainly in my parish, there are many who hold that priests are more important than the rest of us, but i sure would like to see my parish try to do without our sexton! We could manage without our rector, but without our sexton, the place would grind to a halt.



Insight for the Ages: A Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html