pat loughery

I’m blogging here a previous paper that I wrote for my churchhistory course at Bakke Graduate University. It was written for my first course, in May 2006.

Part 3

Values and Practices

Throughout the Rule one can find Benedict’s values and the practices that grow from these values. At the core, the Rule is under girded with these two principles: The presence of God is everywhere, and Christ is to be met in other people.

The first principle is Benedict’s reminder of the God-bathed world in which we live, and his Rule emphasizes our need to be mindful of the presence of God and deeply involved in prayer. It is within this framework that the practices of corporate prayer, contemplative private prayer and of lectio divina, or sacred reading, are rooted. This paper will discuss lectio in more detail shortly.

The second principle is Benedict’s emphasis of the centrality of Christ and the love we have for him and that he has for us. Benedict reminds his readers that the divine Christ is incarnate among us in the monastic superior, the sick, the guest and the poor[1] – indeed, among all of humanity. As a result, Benedict values humility, service and obedience in community.

Prayer and Mindfulness

Benedict’s most fundamental insight in the Rule is that we seek God through ordinary means. God is already here, in and among us, if only we can learn to see Christ and hear his voice in those with whom we live.[2]

Mindfulness as a Value

Benedict writes, in the conclusion of his section on liturgical prayer, “We believe that God is present everywhere and that the eyes of the Lord behold the good and in every place (cf Prov 15:3). Let us firmly believe this, especially when we take part in the Work of God[3].” His reminder to his fellow monks was designed to urge them to live each moment of each day with the daily recognition of the holy presence of God. In communal forms of prayer such as the liturgical singing of the psalms, in private forms of prayer exemplified by lectio divina and in personal reflection times, Benedict urged his monks to recognize that God is engaged in their world. Similarly, Benedict’s expectation of radical hospitality – in celebration of arriving monks and in celebration of strangers – proclaims his understanding that Christ is met in other people.

Practicing Mindfulness

To Benedict, the primary reason for monastic existence was corporate prayer, which he described as ‘the Work of God’. Thirteen chapters of the Rule are devoted to the work of community prayer, which emphasized the chanting and singing of the Scriptures and particularly the Psalms. The Rule lays out a pattern of eight ‘offices’ throughout the day. His monks arose early for a comparatively long service of psalms and readings called Vigils. Lauds followed at dawn. Four brief offices followed during the days (Prime, Terce, Sext, None), an evening office (Vespers) and a brief bedtime office (Compline). According to Columba Stewart, monks would have spent between three and a half and four hours per day in common prayer[4]. Although Benedict allows for a different structure, he insists that a community must completely pray through the Psalter each week.

Benedict encouraged his monks to spend time in private prayer and specifically in lectio divina. Lectio divina provides an opportunity for awareness of God’s presence by leading the reader to a slow, prayerful recitation of Biblical texts. It was meant for conversion of the heart rather than intellectual curiosity, and had as a natural outcome the effect of enabling readers to memorize passages of Scripture, a valuable exercise for liturgical readings in days when not all monks had the luxury of a personal Psalter.[5]

For Benedict, lectio divina embodied all of monastic life, but as centuries have passed the purpose and scope of lectio have narrowed to become more and more a discipline of ‘spiritual reading’[6]. Although it is normally presented as a method of prayer, lectio is more of an attitude than a method. As such its exercise varies from person to person and from text to text, with some pondering a word or phrase, others reading slowly but steadily, and others sweeping pages trawling for nuggets of gold. In any case, lectio divina encompasses four emphases: reading, meditating, praying and contemplating.

In the first phase, lectio, the reader reads and listens attentively for the voice of God in the text. Second, in meditatio, the reader meditates, pondering the text, chewing it over and reflecting. Third, in oratio, the reader prays to God, conversationally, about the things that lectio and meditatio have illuminated. Fourth, in contemplation, the reader receives, listens and soaks in what has happened in this encounter with God through His word.

As it describes the practice of attentiveness to Christ in others, Benedict’s Rule presumes an open and invitational form of hospitality. When receiving guests, the Rule commands that all guests “be received as Christ, because He will say: ‘I was a stranger and you took Me in’ (Matt 25:35)”[7]. Guests were to be introduced to the Abbot and the monks, blessed in prayer, given a kiss of peace, accompanied to community prayer, given a meal, have their feet washed by the Abbot and monks, and receive the sung blessing, ‘We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple (Ps 48:10)’. Benedict urges, “Let the greatest care be taken, especially in the reception of the poor and travelers, because Christ is received more specially in them”.[8] Similarly, traveling monks were to be welcomed and, if they were to point out any flaws in the host community with humility and charity, the Abbot must consider whether the Lord had perhaps sent him for that very purpose.[9]

Obedience and Humility

For Benedict the key to monastic life was accountability to God and to other people. He sees spiritual formation happening best in community, wherein monks can learn from each other and grow together. A realist, Benedict’s Rule described means of conflict resolution, censure, excommunication from and restoration back to community, and emphasized the community’s need for obedience to each other and to the Abbot, as well as its need for people with hearts full of humility. In Benedictine communities, “Monastic life is based upon the Christian recognition that God’s word to each of us can be mediated in human relationships as well, providing that they are grounded in attentive listening and prayer.”[10] Additionally in the concept of conversatio, Benedict’s understanding of the spiritual life emphasized that spiritual formation is a lifelong process, and as a result stability in place and time was emphasized as means to Christlikeness.

Obedience and Humility as Values

Benedict writes specifically about obedience and humility in the beginning of the Rule, consciously providing a theological and practical focus for his monks in these basic values.

The Rule’s longest chapter is written on the topic of humility. Benedict’s strong belief was that pride was to be avoided at all costs in order to grow spiritually and to protect the fabric of community. Humility begins when “a man always [has] the fear of God before his eyes, shunning all forgetfulness and that he be ever mindful of all that God hath commanded”[11], and continues through descriptions of twelve escalating degrees, each specific and focused on the expectation that the follower of God grows in this critical character area.

To Benedict, humility was marked by obedience. Specifically, “the first degree of humility is obedience without delay”.[12] This obedience is based upon the model of Jesus, whose words Benedict references five times in this short chapter.

Benedict concludes the Rule with a discussion of mutual obedience, both by a monk being obedient to his Abbot but also being obedient to one “with ardent love”.[13]

Practicing Obedience and Humility

The Rule expects the practice of mutual confession of sins, and in these passages, Benedict expands the idea of confession to the monastic superior to the “abbot and spiritual elders”[14], a relationship which may look familiar to us today in the shape of mentoring relationships. In Benedict’s expectation, conversatio (lifelong conversion of character) required commitment from all parties involved.

Genuine commitment to monastic conversatio means the kind of accountability possible only when one human being opens the heart to another an experiences forgiving acceptance.[15]

The place of mutual accountability has recently grown beyond the confessor/confessee model, however.

Since Vatican II the practice of frequent sacramental confession has declined among Benedictines as it has in the Church at large. For some, relationships of spiritual direction (which may or may not include confession and sacramental absolution) have become the place for discernment and counsel. […] Benedict challenges us to be honest ant the most intimate level of our lives. Whatever form that honesty takes, it is non-negotiable.[16]

Incorporating the value of obedience, one of the Benedictine vows professes a commitment to stability. Unlike other monastic models, Benedictines commit to a single monastery for life, and the model for entry is like that of entering a family. As a result of this lifelong obedience, Benedict urges his monks to work together, to recognize each others’ faults and to persevere over the long haul.

Living under the Rule is supposed to make us face reality and stop thinking about what might have been or what life might be like now in different circumstances. This is what we mean by stability.[17]

The Disciplined Life

Discipline as a Value

Renouncing the needs of self and embracing the life of Christ in community requires discipline, and particularly disciplines of asceticism. For the Benedictine, such specific disciplines include renouncing personal possessions upon entry to the monastery, embracing chastity, the commitment to live according to the Rule and the community rhythms which it structures, and a commitment to work as an expression of faith.

By means of corrective discipline, eight chapters of the Rule deal with the issue of excommunication, or the (usually temporary) removal of a community member for discipline purposes. In each scenario, the restoration of the repentant individual to community is the goal; only in situations in which the individual is unable or unwilling to be restored is he or she finally released from community bonds.

Practicing the Disciplined Life

Benedict expected his monks to work as an expression of their faith. He writes, “Idleness is the enemy of the soul; and therefore the brethren ought to be employed in manual labor at certain times, at others, in devout reading”[18]. To Benedict, work consisted both of helping to cultivate the foods for the members of the monastery to eat, as well as personal prayer and reading. He also provided a platform for skilled artisans, with the caution that they in particular must not become proud as a result of their skill.[19] His goal appears to be the productive use of time, using the skills, talents and gifts of the individual monks as they would best benefit the community.

In the time of Benedict, study focused on Biblical texts as well as other spiritual texts such as commentaries on Scripture, the Rule, or other ‘spiritual flowers’.[20] In more recent times. Benedictines have become well known for scholarship and educational charisms.

Finally, a lifetime committed to living in community according to Benedict’s Rule is clearly a discipline of spiritual formation for Benedictines.