April 14

The Third Sunday of Easter

Chapter 60

The Rule of St. Benedict April 14 (Ch. 60)

St. Benedict's question from the Gospel of Matthew, "Friend, for what have you come?" is a question we each must consider regularly as we orient ourselves along the path we are called to follow.  Whether one's vocation is religious, priestly, diaconal, lay, or some combination thereof, the soul's answer to this question looks no different than the answers of those to whom our Father Benedict posed the question in the sixth century.

A Benedictine's answer to this central question is found back in the Prologue to the Rule.  We come to be formed in the likeness of Christ--as souls in which God is fully at home--by means, as Sr. Joan writes, of "a way of life immersed in the Scriptures, devoted to the common life, and dedicated to the development of human community . . . simple, regular, and total, a way of living . . ."

When we have walked a long while on a certain path, it is to be expected that challenges will arise when we are called to change course and follow a different way.  Our ability to persist in the face of these challenges depends on the clarity of our our intention, on our firm answer to our Father Benedict's question, "For what have you come?"

Br. Chad 2013

April 13

Chapter 59

The Rule of St. Benedict April 13 (Ch. 59)

Of the many issues at play in this chapter, I am drawn to that which our Father Benedict says has been "learned by experience" about the erosion of zeal over time.  Sr. Joan reflects,

The fact is that when the full realization of what we have promised begins to dawn on us, it is often more common to come to dubious terms with the demise of the commitment than it is to quit it.

The solution, as presented in this chapter, is what she calls "the spirituality of the long haul." She continues,

We must learn to complete in faith what we began in enthusiasm; we must learn to be true to ourselves; we must continue to become what we said we would be, even when accommodation to the immediate seems to be so much more sensible, so much more reasonable, so much easier.  

One practical example of this tendency can be seen in my own life over the nearly 11 months since my profession.  I've found that the amount of effort it takes to overcome the inertia that keeps me in the mold of "secular" life is more than I had anticipated.  It's a matter of habit, yes, but it's also a losing sight of what I said I would be when I professed my vows.  The social reality, "mother culture", as it were, has proved stronger at times than my will to live out of my new identity.

I imagine that the experience was much the same for the families described in Chapter 59.  The inertia towards passing down wealth and privilege to one's children is difficult to overcome, especially as the months and years wear on and the enthusiasm surrounding the oblation wears off. 

Intentions must be renewed regularly in every community that seeks to radically re-orient the cultural dispositions of human life.  The Community of St. Mary of the Annunciation is no different.

Br. Chad 2013

April 12

Chapter 58 pt. 2

The Rule of St. Benedict April 12 (Ch. 58 pt. 2)

The ceremony here is much like the ceremony of a marriage in which one's identity shifts before God and the community--what used to be many is now one.  Ceremonies surrounding sacramental mysteries are full of rich imagery and ritual that are meant to convey outwardly, in a physical way, that an unseen reality, an "inward grace", is at play. In a wedding, the inward grace is the mystical union of two souls in Christ.  In a profession rite, the inward grace is one soul's mystical union with the community in Christ.  And as anyone who has taken vows knows, such unseen realities require persistent effort and intention if they are to manifest in the relational dynamics we inhabit.

Those who were present at St. Augustine's on the Day of Pentecost last year witnessed a version of the ceremony described in this passage when I professed my solemn vows of stability, conversion (reformation of life), and obedience as a Benedictine canon.  Shortly afterwards, Br. Rawleigh and Sr. Ronda began their year of discernment and the testing of their vocations as canons when they became novices, and now Br. Philip has begun his.  Together we comprise The Community of St. Mary of the Annunciation and are seeking to manifest through our faithful prayers and practice a relational dynamic that reflects the inward grace we enacted in ceremony.  I ask your prayers for our community and for those in various stages of approach, whether they are knocking on the proverbial door or staying in the guest quarters.  May the Spirit of Christ and of his blessed Mother be ever more palpable in our midst.

Br. Chad 2013

April 11

Chapter 58 pt. 1

The Rule of St. Benedict April 11 (Ch. 58 pt. 1)

As foreign as this passage sounds to modern ears, I find great comfort in its description of the long, slow, deliberate process by which one comes into the community.  Br. Philip's gentle journey into the novitiate is a wonderful example of this principle.  It's the polar opposite of a tent meeting revival in which life-changing decisions are supposed to be made once and for all in an instant of skillfully generated religious sentiment.  Such revival-inspired spirituality is psychologically naïve and creates problems of identity and belonging such as those I experienced during my childhood alongside my earnest evangelical peers.  "Did I really mean it when I went forward to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior?"  "I don't feel saved, maybe I didn't mean it."  "If I were really saved, I wouldn't be struggling with these sinful thoughts; I better go forward and pray 'the prayer' again."  These quotes are not exaggerated or a caricature of a stereotype.  They are a window into the mind of a boy who is told to expect a wholesale change of life in an instant, but finds the same kid in the mirror the next morning.

Our Father Benedict holds no such illusions about the psychological realities we face as human beings. Real transformation occurs over the course of a lifetime, and even the decision to be formed cannot be entered into on impulse.  We must know exactly what we are getting ourselves into before we are allowed to promise our always and forever.

Br. Chad 2013

April 10

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Chapter 57

The Rule of St. Benedict April 10 (Ch. 57)

My son, Ira, believes that everything is art.  When pressed for clarification by his older brother or by his parents he simply asserts that everything, in its own way, is art.  He is quite insistent.  He has not arrived at this belief by careful reasoning and study of philosophical aesthetics, but by means of the way the world comes to him and moves through him.  Ira is an artist.  He attends to a set of phenomena in everyday life that escapes the notice of most people.  This capacity to perceive is not something he learned as much as it is something he bears into the world.  Sometimes it is a burden for him, but most of the time it is a gift for all of us.

The fact that our Father Benedict makes room in the community for Ira is a source of great joy for me.  It can be challenging to share life with an artist, especially with regard to creating structure and order according to an imposed standard, or rule.  Yet, as my dear friend, the principal of a secondary school for the arts, has taught me, providing a clear and livable structure wherein daily life and art are carefully integrated is salvation for artists and their art.

Benedictine spirituality does not squelch creativity and stamp out the inner light that burns in an artist's soul.  It tends the fire by building a furnace and carrying the wood and channeling the life-giving heat as a gift for the world.

Br. Chad 2013

April 9

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian and martyr

Chapter 56

The Rule of St. Benedict April 9 (Ch. 56)

This little chapter shows the importance of caring for the needs of the guest, the outsider, the one who does not belong.  The Superior holds the place of Christ, and Benedict would have her behavior mirror Jesus' in this act of eating with those outside the community.  We see here the (super)natural flow of spiritual formation from a disposition inward, cultivating knowledge and love of God, to a disposition outward, practicing love of neighbor.

Sr. Joan offers,

It was the abbot and prioress themselves who showed the community the price and the process of availability and hospitality and presence to the other.  Hospitality was not a warm meal and a safe haven. Hospitality in the Benedictine community was attention and presence to the needs of the other. . . . And, as the presence of the abbot and prioress proves, none of us can afford to be too busy or too important to do the same.

Br. Chad 2013

April 8

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord (transferred)

Last evening we welcomed Br. Philip McKindley as a novice in the Community of St. Mary of the Annunciation during First Vespers of this, our patron's feast.  Join me in prayer for Br. Philip and for our community as we enter this new stage in life together.

Chapter 55 pt. 2

The Rule of St. Benedict April 8 (Ch. 55 pt. 2)

I have had the privilege of walking alongside parents of a child with reactive attachment disorder, and this passage reminds me of many issues they face.  Attachment disorders occur when a person does not form the normal attachments to a parent or primary caregiver during early childhood.  The result is a human being who believes, on a primal level, that she must fend for herself in a hostile world that does not meet her needs.  Children with these disorders can be, in turn, violent, charming, hoarding, indiscriminately affectionate, sneaky, and self-harming among other things. 

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict is therapy for a soul that has lost its attachment to God.  Benedict's instructions can seem harsh until you realize the nature of the illness that needs to be cured.  The sort of love that is willing to bear the bruises of a screaming, striking child in a calm, firm, four-limbed embrace while repeating the words, "You are safe; I will not let anyone harm you; I love you," is the kind of love displayed here by our Father Benedict.

Awakening to those things we keep hidden in our bed and facing, forgiving, and healing the child within who does not trust God is among the most difficult and beautiful work a human being can do.  And it is work we do from the midst of God's firm, unyielding love.

Br. Chad 2013