July 21

I was away from an Internet connection yesterday, my apologies for the late post.

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 42

Silence is a diversity.  I have heard the silence of anger burning.  I have heard the silence of paralyzing fear or guilt.  I have heard the silence of hopeful anticipation and the silence of green beauty.  I have heard the silence of safety and contentedness in the presence of loved ones and of the Beloved.

The silence after Compline is to be a fertile silence into which are planted words of peace and gentleness from Holy Scripture.  It is to be a silence of soul as well as sound, blooming with joy and love among the community.

Noise is also diverse.  We are each settled upon, like many-splendored moss-covered stones in misty, damp Ireland, by the noises that fill the atmosphere of our lives.  But we, unlike stones, are able to adjust the air in which we live.  We can shut the laptop, turn off the television, put down the smartphone.

Let us not simply watch or read about today's events in our Church, but let us find the silent place within ourselves to offer our sincere prayers for our new Archbishop, that he may, in silence, hear the voice of the Spirit in the midst of all the commotion.

Br. Chad

July 20

Commemoration of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 41

" . . . 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."

"If 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."

Mark 9: 42

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.  When we ignore this responsibility in favor of small-minded self-interest, we contribute to the proliferation of obstacles in the paths of those for whom God has called us to care.

Br. Chad

July 19

Feast of Macrina the Younger

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 40

"Above all else I urge that there should be no murmuring in the community."  These are our Father Benedict's concluding words to this chapter, and they show what is his highest priority 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.  St. Macrina's life stands before the Presence as a testament to the beauty that comes from a life lived in such a way.  We see it in the good fruit that came from her faithfully accepting the responsibility after the death of her parents to raise her ten younger siblings among whom were Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa.  May we follow in her footsteps on this day, opening ourselves to hear from Spirit and freely follow where she might lead.

And don't forget to drink more than a hemina of something hydrating in this "heat of summer"!

Br. Chad

July 18

Feast of Barthomome de las Casas

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 39

"There is nothing so opposed to the Christian character as over-indulgence."

This seems like an awfully bold claim for our Father Benedict to insert nonchalantly into the Rule.  Perhaps he's utilizing hyperbole to emphasize "Our Lord's words, 'See to it that your hearts be not burdened with over-indulgence,'" but what if he isn't?  Why would he claim that this behavior holds the highest rank among things that oppose the development of the Christian character?

For an answer to this question I turn to a concept that would have been central to St. Benedict's thinking as a monk in the 6th century.  It is an understanding of human formation that comes from the Egyptian desert fathers, and would be popularized in the generation or so after our Father Benedict through St. Gregory the Great.  It is the notion of the deadly passions (sins).

Evagrius Ponticus was a late 4th century Egyptian monk and ascetic from whom we learn about eight deadly passions that form a logismos, or train of thought.  For Evagrius, each passion leads a person further and further away from what is real, beginning with the most basic needs of survival and moving to the essence of what makes us distinctly human (divine union).  His formulation of this train of thought begins, as does every other formulation, with gluttony, which is the first among the "Passions of Desire."  These are ways we misuse our natural impulses, and they include fornication and love of money in turn.  Then come the "Passions of Reaction", which are passions directed against others and include depression, anger, and listlessness (later, accidie).  Finally, Evagrius lists two "Passions of Sense of Self", which are a fantasy of self: vainglory and pride.

So, back to Chapter 39 and our Father Benedict's claim that "nothing is so opposed to the Christian character as over-indulgence."  Over-indulgence, or gluttony, is the gateway passion.  It is the most basic misuse of our natural impulses and the easiest.  But as such, it has the power to divert our path without us even knowing it and place us in a prison of the most base, least developed experience of a human being.  Moving past gluttony, then, is essential if one is to be formed in the likeness of Christ and experience our true identity hidden in God.

Br. Chad

The information about deadly passions is from Prior Aelred's lectures at St. Gregory's Abbey during the Summer Vocation Program of 2011.

July 17

Feast of William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania and first Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 38

In my experience, one valuable aspect of practicing verbal silence at meals is that it eliminates many of the problems that common meals provide for new or socially awkward people.  Some might not find it easy to make their way into the life of the tables we share, and this Benedictine practice clears the way for everyone's full participation in that life.

Another valuable aspect of this practice of silence at meals is that it can open the door to what Thich Nhat Hanh calls "mindful eating".  He describes the mindful eating of a carrot:

You may like to smile to it before you put it in your mouth. When you chew it, you are aware that you are chewing a piece of carrot. Don't put anything else into your mouth, like your projects, your worries, your fear, just put the carrot in. 

And when you chew, chew only the carrot, not your projects or your ideas. You are capable of living in the present moment, in the here and the now. It is simple, but you need some training to just enjoy the piece of carrot. This is a miracle.

 We will need some training, indeed.  Thanks be to God for the school of our Father Benedict.

Br. Chad

July 16

Commemoration of "The Righteous Gentiles"

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 37

The first sentence of this chapter offers a small window into the intentions behind St. 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?"

The 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.  This chapter, for example, deals with the emotional tendencies most people show towards the very young and the very old.  It's clear, however, that not everyone is identically disposed towards children or the elderly.  So by formalizing a good disposition and imbuing it with the authority of the Rule, our Father Benedict frees the value of "special kindness towards these times of life" from dependency on an individual's affectionate emotion, and places it in relationship 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."

Br. Chad

July 15

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 36

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 we had the opportunity to experience in the wake of Br. Rawleigh's stroke in October.  Our brother's time in the hospital, at rehab, and in recovery back at home has shown us that the lessons of this chapter in the Rule are timeless.  Br. Rawleigh truly is "Christ in person" to us and to many more.  During those first weeks, he received our love and compassion with grace and was more than reasonable in the requests he makes of our time and attention.  And we were all graced with an "abundant reward" from being in his holy presence during his time of need.

As new opportunities manifest among us, let us continue to open ourselves, through our prayers and service on behalf of those who suffer, to be clear channels for the healing love of God.  And let us seek to receive the true blessing of the living Christ, who is ever present in the sick and the poor.

Br. Chad