Rule of Benedict 12
February 25, 2009
Chapter 1: 6-9 of Benedict’s Rule tell of the third kind of monk. He says,
A third and detestable kind of monks are the sarabites, who have been tried neither by rule nor by experience as gold by the furnace (Proverbs 27:21); but, being as soft as lead, still keep faith with the world in their behavior, lying to God with their tonsure. Living in twos or threes, or even singly without a shepherd they enclose themselves not in the Lord’s sheepfolds but in their own. Their law consists in their own pleasures and desires: whatever they think fit or choose to do, that they call holy; and what they do not like, that they consider unlawful.
I quote Norvene Vest’s comments on this passage from her book Preferring Christ (23-24). She expresses my thoughts upon reading these verses better than I could do.
“Strong language here! In Benedict’s day the Roman world as it was known was falling apart. Many persons were intensely seeking roots, something that would give security and stability in a time of great change. Yet Benedict suggests that there are those who try to fool themselves–or others–into believing that they have found something worthwhile, but it is really a vast illusion, and a cynical one at that. When someone pretends to believe in God and is quite without inspiration, he or she either doesn’t believe there is a God or believes that God has no power.
True commitment to God demands submission both to tradition and authority. Both tradition and authority have their limits, but we are only qualified to speak to those limits after being tested. At first and for a long time we must submit to the wisdom contained in tradition and in the elders. We must find a good school and undergo strenuous training–training that will often demand something different than what we would “freely” choose. Even our wills must be taught to recognize the good, and to choose it in daily situations.
Make no mistake: there is real and awesome power here! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and while we may do so gladly, it behooves us to do it with the utmost respect and obedience.”
Norvene’s reflections on the passage are these:
“Again I hear the phrase: ’still keep faith with the world in their behavior’– and I am indicted and humbled by it! I keep forgetting how deeply my most ‘personal’ desires have been formed by the crass, egoistic, and compulsive culture in which we live. What are most damning are those moments I realize how utterly incapable I am of choosing for myself that which (even) is my own good. I don’t yet know enough to make such choices; more profoundly, I don’t yet love enough. I am often aware of what a puny thing my loving is!
There is great comfort in the possibility that I can rest in and be formed by something I can trust which is “bigger” and wiser than I am. Something [someone] incarnated, something that [someone who] belongs to the human community as God’s gift. There is also great risk in the vulnerability entailed in giving myself to such tradition and authority. But perhaps the power of my need and any longing is now great enough to allow me to take that risk.”
Amen. Lord, have mercy!
Comments
Got something to say?
-
Subscribe To MO
