July 31

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 49

I think most would read our Father 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.

The Spiritual Exercises  of St. Ignatius of Loyola are the central component of Ignatian Spirituality, and are a powerful process that anyone who desires New Life would do well to consider undertaking.

Br. Chad

July 30

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 48 pt. 3

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.  It seems that the days and weeks of most people in our culture are spent between frenetic busyness and complete idleness.  Instead of balancing our time between mindful work, prayer, and study, we are consumed by tasks, one after another, until the sun goes down and we crash in front of some screen.  Sunday, for many, is a whole day set aside for vegetative leisure, in or out of church.

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.  The key, I suspect, is to order the rest of our days in such a way that preserves internal resources for the work of the soul.

Br. Chad

July 29

Feast of Sts. Mary and Martha of Bethany

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 48 pt. 2

Ora et Labora is the ancient Benedictine motto.  "Pray and Work."  Chapter 48 "On the Daily Manual Labor" is one reason why it seems appropriate to add "Study" to the motto's translation.  Our Father Benedict clearly considers reading to be an essential component of the work a Benedictine is to do each day.

We see in this passage the creating of conditions by which ever further spiritual formation can take place throughout the year.  And, as is needed, a support system is provided for those who may resist such ongoing formation.  As Sr. Joan writes, "Study is hard work.  It is so much easier to find something else to do in its place than to stay at the grind of it."  Remaining open to the Spirit's creative energies within us through engagement with the wider world of ideas is a beautiful disposition of the Benedictine heart.

Br. Chad

July 28

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 48 pt. 1

One of my favorite lines in all of Sr. Joan's commentary on the Rule is from today's reading.  She writes, "Benedictine spirituality exacts something so much harder for our century than rigor.  Benedictine spirituality demands balance."

The story of Jesus' visit to Martha's home in Chapter 10 of St. Luke's Gospel is instructive here.  Martha welcomes Jesus and his entourage in, offering them hospitality, but is "distracted by her many tasks" to the extent that she begrudges her sister, Mary, her seat at Jesus' feet.  This passage is often used to extol the virtues of overt religious devotion over and against the vice of being a busybody, but far more than this simplistic dichotomy is at play here.  Jesus' affectionate admonition to Martha contrasts the "many things" about which she is "worried and distracted" with the "only one thing" of which there is need.  To be "worried and distracted" implies that one's attention is absent from one's actual environment.  Presence is the "one thing" that is needed if one is to, like Mary, listen to what the Lord is saying.

Rigor often holds one's attention hostage to a set of expectations around what must be done.  Those who value rigor too highly often direct their efforts toward human-made goals at the expense of presence in each moment.  Yet it is only in each moment that the voice of Christ can be heard.

What Benedictine balance affords us is the opportunity to move from sleep to prayer to study to work in a way that needs only the "one thing".  When it is time to work, we listen to what the Lord is saying through our work.  When it is time to stop working and pray, we leave our work, perhaps undone, and listen to what the Lord is saying through the Office.  It is not magic, nor is it easy, but such is the balanced life that shapes the Benedictine soul.

Br. Chad

July 27

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 47

Sr. Joan Chittister opens her commentary on Chapter 47 by describing Benedictine prayer as "regular and artistic."  I find much resonance with this characterization.

Prayer in the Benedictine tradition is literally regular, in that it conforms to a rule, a regula.  Its starting place is not extemporaneous, but formal.  It begins with a signal and proceeds with a carefully defined series of hymns, Psalms, and readings, and it is put to the religious superior to see to it that this is so in each Benedictine community.

Along with the regulation of prayer, Chapter 47 also tasks the superior with attending to the quality of its aesthetic presentation in the community.  This is the Opus Dei after all, the Work of God, and should be approached with a measure of beauty and excellence.

There are shadow sides to both of these elements that every healthy Benedictine community must acknowledge and address, however.  Regulations and artistry can become idols.  The sneering, upturned nose of the aesthete or the conformist's obsessive anxiety are every bit as damaging to our Father Benedict's intentions as haphazardness and ugliness.  We are to strike a balance in prayer that frees our hearts from the swirling chaos of our environments without shackling them to idols made by human hands.

Br. Chad

July 26

Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 46

One delightful aspect of community life is the wealth of stories that accumulate over the years.  One such story I overheard at St. Gregory's Abbey in Michigan 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.

Chapter 46 calls each member of the community to take responsibility for any fault they contribute to the common life, whether through a small, inconsequential accident or a "sin-sickness of the soul."  Our Father Benedict desires to cultivate a climate of trust and intimacy in the community.  Without trust, the community is poisoned by cycles of deception, suspicion, and accusation.  Without safe intimacy, the individual suffers the soul-killing trajectory of hidden guilt, self-loathing, and hardness of heart.

Br. Chad

July 25

Feast of St James, the Apostle

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 45

In July of 2011 I spent two weeks at St. Gregory's Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan as a part of their Summer Vocation program.  I saw the instructions from Chapter 45 (aside from the last sentence) play out several times during my time 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 or the next-highest ranking member of the community.  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 addressing mistakes rather than a muddled series of apologies and/or reprimands and/or passive-aggressive silence and/or cloying assurances.

As our Father 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.

Br. Chad