September 8

Chapter 1

The Rule of St. Benedict September 8

Our Father Benedict's harsh condemnation of sarabaites and gyrovagues stems from his strong beliefs about spiritual formation.  We are formed in community, St. Benedict insists, and not just any community, but a community gathered around the instructions of the Lord put into practice under a rule and a superior.
 
It is a challenge to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict outside a monastery.  The momentum of life in our society propels us along a path very similar to that of the Sarabaites, who, "In their works they still keep faith with the world . . .," and whose "law is the desire for self-gratification: whatever enters their mind or appeals to them, that they call holy; what they dislike, they regard as unlawful."

I hear from this chapter a clear call for us, as members of the Community of St. Mary of the Annunciation, to prayerfully inquire within ourselves which vices of the sarabaites and/or gyrovagues we tend toward in our fledgling practice as non-cloistered Benedictines.  And in response to that inquiry, let us each seek to expel those vices from our hearts.

Br. Chad 2012