November 30

Chapter 49

The Rule of Benedict November 30

I think most would read Benedict's talk of the "joy of the Holy Spirit" with regard to Lenten abstinence as deluded or darkly humorous.  We have a hard time imagining how "the joy of spiritual desire" can in any way be enhanced by physical denial.  But in the Christian tradition, Lent is not punishment.  It is preparation for New Life in the Easter experience.  For the heart that truly desires this New Life, then, the Lenten practices, painful as they may be in the short term, can produce the profound joy of the Spirit who brings about New Life in us.

November 29

Chapter 48 pt. 3

The Rule of Benedict November 29

Sundays, in this passage, are to be set aside for the cultivation of the inner work that is study, or lectio divina.  I find it fascinating that our own society at large, until very recently, regarded Sundays as a day set aside for "rest"--stores closed, family gathered, home-cooked meals shared, etc.  But a dominant attitude in this recent memory is an entitlement to leisure, or idleness, on Sundays--watching football from the couch, reading the Sunday comics, long naps, etc.

I wonder what it might look like if we were to build into our attitude about Sundays the value of cultivating our inner life rather than the value of leisure.  How difficult would it be, practically, for us to take steps towards Benedict's intentions here?  I look forward to discussing how the chapter meeting of a potential canon community after a common meal each Sunday can contribute to cultivating such an attitude.

November 28

Chapter 48 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict November 28

from March:

In this passage we see Benedict creating conditions for ever further spiritual formation throughout the year.  We also see him building into these conditions a support system for those who might resist going further.

Our community is bursting with opportunities for further spiritual formation right now.  From the Advent devotionals, to morning prayers at the parish, to the Wednesday evening study, to the World Day of Prayer, there are so many ways for us to engage this season.

November 27

First Sunday of Advent
Chapter 48 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict November 27

"Idleness is the enemy of the soul."

Our culture often conceives of a "balanced" life as a life that maintains appropriate ratios between work and leisure.  Much of the world's economy functions to supply each side of this "balance", and it is the leisure side that drives the sacred calf of "consumer spending" so much in our national psyche this time of year.  I think it's safe to say that Americans are awash in idleness.

Part of the call to a Benedictine way of life is a call out of the dominant modes of being according to which our culture functions.  If we truly believe the first sentence of this chapter and seek to find a balance in our life between prayer, work, and study that leaves little room for idleness, we will find ourselves functioning in a different mode altogether.

November 26

Eve of Advent
Chapter 47

The Rule of Benedict November 26

At this time in our community we are each entrusted with giving the signal for prayer in our personal practices.  This is an important task, that, as we have each discovered, is far less simple than it might appear.  The maintaining of our personal practices has been the Spirit's work among us.

Beginning next week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings during Advent, prayers will be held in our parish at 8AM.  If it is a logistical possibility for you, I encourage you to engage this opportunity in person as often as you can.  It is a chance to experience another beautiful aspect of what the Spirit is bringing to life in our midst.

November 25

Chapter 46

The Rule of Benedict November 25

One aspect of community life is the wealth of stories that accumulate over the years.  One such story I overheard at St. Gregory's had to do with the instructions in this chapter.  It seems that a procedure for "com[ing] immediately before the Abbot and the community" after breaking something took on the form of kneeling with the broken item in hand at the entrance of the place where the community would gather next.  So, if the next community gathering is prayer, one would kneel at the entrance of the chapel, if a meal, one would kneel at the entrance to the refectory, and so on.  One day, many years ago, a brother was cleaning the bathroom before lunch and happened to break the toilet seat.  So, as the community and guests, of which there happened to be a large number that day, came silently into the refectory after the lunch bell, they had to walk past this brother kneeling with a toilet seat.  I was told that the procedure was modified after that.

November 24

Thanksgiving Day
Chapter 45


The Rule of Benedict November 24

I saw these instructions (aside from the last sentence) played out several times during my two weeks at St. Gregory's.  Almost every member of the community, including the Abbot, at one point or another, made a mistake on a Psalm tone or on a reading and immediately performed a small, quick genuflection toward the Superior.  This little action seemed to be the beginning and the end of the matter, and I felt it to be refreshing to have such a clear procedure for the addressing of mistakes rather than an muddled series of apologies and/or reprimands and/or passive-aggressive silence and/or cloying assurances.

As Benedict indicates, the issue for the offender is that of humility, which, in truth, needs not speak a word of excuse or defense.  And the issue for the Superior and community is that of holding the space for that humility to manifest without undue commentary or judgment.

November 23

St. Clement of Rome
Chapter 44

The Rule of Benedict November 23

The serious faults concerning which this chapter instructs are, as I wrote on chapter 25, an indication of a serious illness in the individual.  It strikes me here that the oratory and the table are the two pillars of common life in the monastery, and that when serious faults are committed by one member of the community, they threaten the health of the whole.  Without explaining away the harshness of Benedict's instructions, I hear in this chapter a call to consider how profoundly our spiritual health is connected to that of our community.

November 22

Chapter 43 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict November 22

From March (modified):

The meals we share look very different than those for which Benedict is giving instruction here, but, as always, there are values below the surface of things to which we should pay attention.  I hear first that we should engage common meals in ways that help to create safe space for all present.  I also hear from this reading a calling to see our highest priority regarding meals and food to be that of community well-being rather than self-interest.

November 21

Chapter 43 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict November 21

Clearly, the spiritual formation of the individual and the community is the intention that undergirds each instruction in Benedict's Rule, and this passage is no exception.  Discipline is applied to the latecomer, not because he really messes up the vibe, but because "nothing . . . [should] be put before the Work of God."  As a person who is rarely early, I can easily recognize the preferences and choices that result in my being late.  As Benedictines, we are called, in this passage, to consciously prefer and choose the Work of God over whatever else seems to demand our time and attention.

Let us "hasten with the greatest speed" today and hold up to God our sister, Julie, in her time of need.

November 20

The Feast of Christ the King

Chapter 42

The Rule of Benedict November 20

From March:

I hear from this chapter that silence is a value we ought to hold high in our personal practice.  I also think it important to recognize that the type of silence we each need to cultivate depends upon the kind of noise that fills each of our lives.  Whatever it looks like for us, let us seek to make room for silence in our daily lives.


I encourage you to read the comments under this post here:


March 21

November 19

Chapter 41

The Rule of Benedict November 19

". . . the Abbot's foresight shall decide on this.

Thus it is that he should adapt and arrange everything
in such a way that souls may be saved
and that the brethren may do their work
without just cause for murmuring."

This morning, in the course of my slow lectio reading through the Gospel of St. Mark, I began with chapter 9, verse 42: "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea."

I hear a similar teaching in this passage from the Gospel and the above quote from chapter 41.  We are all given to care for the spiritual well-being of all with whom we are in relationship, and the choices we make in our relationships are to serve in clearing the way for the Work of Grace.  It is ignoring this responsibility in favor of small-minded self-interest that results in the proliferation of obstacles for everyone.

November 18

Chapter 40

The Rule of Benedict November 18

In the spirit of direct application, I believe we should henceforth measure wine by the hemina!

And from March:

"Above all else I urge that there should be no murmuring in the community."  These are Benedict's concluding words to this chapter, and they show what his highest priority is regarding the amounts of food and drink consumed by the community.  More than anything else, it's important that those who follow the Benedictine way are content with what is provided for them.  This principle of contentedness goes well beyond food and drink to the heart of what we are about: the relinquishing of our prejudgments and desires in favor of the Spirit's guidance in our lives.

November 17

St. Margaret of Scotland


Chapter 39

The Rule of Benedict November 17

From March:

Given that we share a community meal each week, I hear from this chapter a call to be mindful with regard to food and drink.  Let us seek to recognize in ourselves any hints of ingratitude or criticism of the meal, and, on the other hand, let us be aware of our impulses and desires that would have us cast aside moderation as we enjoy the abundance and generosity of our community.

November 15

Chapter 37

The Rule of Benedict November 15

The first sentence of this chapter offers a small window into the intentions behind Benedict's Rule, and I think this window gives us a view of an answer to a common question, "Why would anyone want to commit her life to living in this way?"

Natural dispositions of a human being, as good as they can be in certain circumstances, are not a basis on which to build a healthy, whole person or community.  For, as we all know, not everyone is identically disposed towards children or the elderly.  But by formalizing a good disposition and imbuing it with the authority of the Rule, the value is freed from dependency on an individual's affectionate emotion, and placed in relation to an individual's vow of obedience under the guidance of his Superior.

This, to me, is true freedom when I consider my experience under the tyranny of emotional dispositions as a measure of "health" and "wholeness."

November 14

Chapter 36

The Rule of Benedict November 14

As our ministry of prayer takes root deep in our lives, the outgrowth of that ministry connects us to each other, to the Church, and to the World in bonds of compassion and love.  This compassion is practiced through acts of care for the physically sick among us, as are described in this chapter, but, in our context, it will be practiced more often through the offering of our prayerful presence to the spiritually and emotionally sick and distressed.

Let us open ourselves through prayer to be clear channels for the healing love of God.

November 13

Chapter 35 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict November 13

This passage is taken relatively literally still today in Benedictine monasteries.  Here are the cards used for the Sunday blessing of the kitchen servers and reader for the week:

November 12

Chapter 35 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict November 12

I'm struck by the opening lines of this chapter:

Let the brethren serve one another, 
and let no one be excused from the kitchen service . . .
For this service brings increase of reward and of charity. 

Kitchen service is among the least specialized or esoteric practice in the monastery, yet the formational value of overtly serving one's sisters and brothers in this way is high.  As I have mentioned before, during the first week of my stay at St. Gregory's Abbey in July, the Abbot of the community served as one of the kitchen servers--standing at the back of the refectory, clearing each plate, each cup, each piece of silverware as we finished, eating his meal after everyone else was dismissed.  One could see how such service acts to demolish any class system.

We would all do well to attend to the ways in which we can offer humble, charity-growing service in our own contexts. 

November 11

St. Martin of Tours


Chapter 34

The Rule of Benedict November 11

From March:

In this chapter, Father Benedict demonstrates the gentleness with which we are to treat each other and ourselves.  Our endeavors together are not in the service of an ideal or even of a vow or promise made, they are to form us into souls who are fully at home where God is at home.  And if we are to be formed at all, we must be formed from where we are right now.  Let us be present to our weaknesses and humble enough to acknowledge them.  This is the only way forward.

November 10

Chapter 33

The Rule of Benedict November 10

Our national culture places an unqualified positive value on a practice that Benedict here calls a "most wicked vice."  The phenomenon generated within the human being by the act of private ownership is looked upon by Americans as a firm foundation on which to build a stable society.  Benedict looks at this same phenomenon and instructs that it is "to be cut out of the monastery by the roots."

This striking disconnect prompts me to step back and question how it is that this phenomenon has generated within me that which father Benedict sees as so wicked and destructive.  How is it that the roots of this vice have infiltrated the soil in which the Gospel has been planted in me?  And how do I pull the roots up while living outside of a monastery?

November 9

Chapter 32

The Rule of Benedict November 9

In a society built upon the proliferation, consumption, and discarding of commodities, I hear from this chapter a radically alternative way of relating to physical property.  Caring for the things we have, treating them as God-given gifts and responsibilities, orients our lives towards an economy of abundance where enoughness and generosity are operative values.

November 8

Chapter 31 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict November 8

The instructions for the cellarer given here point to the heart of Christian authority as self-sacrificial service.  The cellarer serves in a spirit of peace in the midst of the community.  Jesus lays it out in Matthew 20: 25-28:

But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

November 7

Chapter 31 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict November 7

In a non-cloistered community, it seems to me that the qualities of the cellarer detailed here can guide us all in our approach to handling the resources entrusted to us.  How helpful it is for me to see my domicile as a sacred responsibility to maintain in the service of others.

November 6

Chapter 30

The Rule of Benedict November 6

From March:

As Sr. Joan points out, Benedictine discipline is always intended to heal, always to contribute to the formation of the individual.  The support we offer to each other should also be so intended.

November 5

Chapter 29

The Rule of Benedict November 5

I find in this chapter a challenge to keep my heart open when it is so tempting to close it.  The end of the painful process of corrections and excommunication is not a boot out the door and an emotional writing off.  It is a hopeful and forgiving spirit.

November 4

Chapter 28

The Rule of Benedict November 4

The list of "corrections" to be applied to a sister or brother seems to me to be a product of a very particular culture and intended for a very specific context.  I think we would do well to not dwell on the literal, but to listen for the transcultural and trans-contextual message the Rule has for us here.

One aspect of that message, it seems to me, is that an eyes-wide-open concern for the spiritual welfare of each community member and for the community as a whole is of ultimate importance.  There is no effort too great, no resources that shouldn't be expended to remedy the spiritual sickness of a member and preserve the spiritual health of a community.

November 3

Chapter 27

The Rule of Benedict November 3

This chapter describes the motivation behind the harsh disciplinary techniques in the few preceding chapters.  The means of discipline may change from 6th century Italy to now, but the attitude behind "the care of weak souls" outlined here is an enduring value of Benedict's Rule.

Let us seek to embody this "solicitous concern" for the welfare of those who fill the role of "delinquent brethren" in our lives, even if our call is simply to pray.

November 2

Commemoration of All Faithful Departed


Chapter 26

The Rule of Benedict November 2

There is a name for a person who inserts herself between another person and the consequences of that other person's actions: an enabler.  The fiction that an enabler tells herself is that her mediation is helping, when, in fact, it is only contributing to the problem.  Enabling behavior is indicative of a serious problem within the enabler herself.  A problem that requires a like cure.

Think of the recovery groups that spring up around A.A.: Codependents Anonymous, Al-Anon.  These bear witness to the principles at play in this chapter.

November 1

All Saints' Day


Chapter 25

The Rule of Benedict November 1

Benedict is acting here as a skilled physician engaged in an attempt to heal a seriously ill patient on the brink of death.  These are measures taken to rattle the sister or brother to the core of their identity with the hope that they will see the alienation that results from their faults.  There is no guarantee it will work, but it is with love and hope that this cure is applied.