Saint Benedict: Prefer Nothing Whatever to Christ

Today's Scripture Readings

Proverbs 2:1-9 (NRSV)

My child, if you accept my words

and treasure up my commandments within you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

if you indeed cry out for insight,

and raise your voice for understanding;

if you seek it like silver,

and search for it as for hidden treasures--

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,

guarding the paths of justice

and preserving the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice

and equity, every good path;

 
Psalm 119:129-136 (BCP., p.774)

Philippians 2:12-16 (NRSV)

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain.

Luke 14:27-33 (NRSV)

Jesus said to the crowd, "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions."

Blog Reflection

It is indeed a gift of God and a great privilege for me to celebrate the Commemoration of Saint Benedict as a second year Novice to the Companions of St. Luke/Order of St. Benedict.   I cannot put into words the wonderful gifts of grace that I have experienced in the twenty years that I have come to know more about the Patriarch of Western Monasticism   I am so thankful to God and all of my blog readers who support me by your faithful visits to this blog, and your prayers as I continue to discern God's call upon my life.

During this past winter, I was given probably the most powerful book yet to read by my Formation Master.   A book by Thomas Merton entitled The Rule of Saint Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 4.    Thomas Merton is his usual "go to the soul of the matter" style breaks up the Rule of St. Benedict and takes the reader into three particular subjects from The Rule.   Obedience, Poverty (or better understood  by Benedictines as use of the things God gives us), and humility.    I won't go into depth about what Merton wrote concerning each, but I will write about a point that he made with regards to The Rule itself.

The purpose of the Rule is to furnish a framework within which to build the structure of a simple and pure spiritual live, pleasing to God by its perfection of faith, humility, and love.  The Rule is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, and it is always to be seen in relation to it's end.  This end is union with God in love, and every line of the Rule indicates that its various prescriptions are given to us to show us how to get rid of self-love and replace it by love of God (page 6).

There are many things that can be written on this Feast of Saint Benedict.  The Rule of St. Benedict, his decision to leave his families' wealth and fully funded education for the cave in Subiaco, the thwarted plot to kill him by poisonous wine by which the medal of St. Benedict is inspired and more.  I  would not be a good Novice if I did not mention Benedict's emphasis on silence, prayer and hospitality in this blog post.  All of these and more are important aspects of Benedict's life and Rule.  Yet, they are all means to an end.   Even today's Scripture Readings for Benedict's Feast Day, are trying to point us toward a culminating end.   The conclusion is found in verses 11 and 12 in Chapter 72 in The Rule of St. Benedict.

Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all together to everlasting life.

In our prayer and work, including our work for justice, equality, inclusion and respecting the dignity of every human person; in our daily practice of Lectio Divina, praying the Daily Office and going to Sunday Eucharist; Benedict's focal point is for us to seek union with God, by which we prefer nothing whatever to Christ.   Christ present in one another, in the marginalized and oppressed, and in ourselves.   As Merton wrote, the Rule is a framework that guides us to live according to the Gospel which is to pick up our cross daily and follow Christ.   We are to prefer the love of Christ above all else, and to serve one another with the consciousness of God's presence in all people every where.    And should we fall short and mess up, we need not give in to despair.   "God's mercy endures forever" (Psalm 118).  And, Saint Benedict tells us "everyday we begin again." 

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, your precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of your servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord's service; let your ears be open to our prayers; and prosper with your blessing the work of our hands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, p. 457).

God our Father, you made St. Benedict an outstanding guide to teach us how to live in your service.  Grant that by preferring your love to everything else, we may walk in the way of your commandments.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.   (From the Roman Missal, 1985, p. 666).