Chapter 73: On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule
Now we have written this Rule in order that by its observance in monasteries we may show that we have attained some degree of virtue and the rudiments of the religious life.
But for those who would hasten to the perfection of that life there are the teaching of the holy Fathers, the observance of which leads to the height of perfection. For what page or what utterance of the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is not a most unerring rule for human life? Or what book of the holy Catholic Fathers does not loudly proclaim how we may come by a straight course to our Creator? Then the Conferences and the Institutes and the Lives of the Fathers, as also the Rule of our holy Father Basil -- what else are they but tools of virtue for right-living and obedient monks? But for us who are lazy and ill-living and negligent they are a source of shame and confusion.
Whoever you are, therefore, who are hastening to the heavenly homeland, fulfil with the help of Christ this minimum Rule which we have written for beginners; and then at length under God's protection you will attain to the loftier heights of doctrine and virtue which we have mentioned above.
REFLECTION
How great must our God be! I have never known anyone who kept all of the Holy Rule perfectly, but I have known many that I thought were great saints, very observant monastics. St. Benedict is clearly telling us that God is even more- infinitely more!- than we may attain by observing this beginners' Rule.
God is so vast and beyond us, we are always taking the tumbling first steps of toddlers towards Him, but He is always holding on and beaming with the pride an love of a parent guiding those steps. Our Holy Rule is filled with awesome things, yet it is only the "rudiments" of the spiritual life! Ours is the "minimum" Rule, the least Rule for rank beginners! Nothing but basics here... But ah, the loftier heights to which those basics can lead!
"Whoever you are, therefore, who are hastening to the heavenly homeland..." That "whoever" is the true object of all this heartfelt tenderness of Saint Benedict , the one for whom he wrote! He only made one qualifier, that of "hastening to the heavenly homeland." It seems that some of our decisions about who matters and who does not have employed a somewhat more restrictive standard than that of our holy Father Benedict... and to our peril.
"Whoever you are..." I don't care who you are or how much I disagree with you, whether I nearly hate your positions or love them blindly, it is you I am called to love, to honor to respect, to cherish as a fellow monastic traveler. You.
"Whoever you are..." I surely don't care whether you're Catholic or not, in fact I am relieved and delighted that many of you on board are not! I surely don't care if you are not exactly the same sort of Catholic as I am, it doesn't matter to me. You do. You have to, because this is the Holy Rule I have embraced, that we all have.
In the United States, where, through much of our history, Catholics and Jews shared a roughly equal amount of contempt, great camaraderie could flourish between the two and still quite often does. Having said that, it has always amused me that many Jews I know get along MUCH better with Catholics than they do with Jews who disagree with them! How like ourselves!
When disagreement happens within our family, we hurt more, it is more important to us. The differing opinion of a stranger on the subway would hardly matter at all! Maybe the fact that we CAN get hurt and angry is a good sign, maybe it means we are at least beginning to love, but it is HOW we get hurt or angry that we have to examine very, very closely.
The important thing is not opinion or observance or concepts or tempests in teacups. The important thing is you. Whoever you are. Every time I fail that, I have to get up, apologize and start over. Maybe not right from square one each time, but again each time. If I ever stop doing those things, I have stopped being a Benedictine.
If I ever stop doing those things, I have stopped being a Benedictine. Whoever you are, but it's not just me that has to embrace that. You do, too. We all do. I am the only one I can insist upon, however, the only one I can make change, and that might be good to keep in mind, whoever you are.
Whoever you are, but it's not just me that has to embrace that. You do, too. We all do. We ourselves are the only ones we can insist upon reforming, however, the only ones we can make change. That might be good to keep in mind, whoever you are.
Second Reflection:
I used to love to teach 8th graders. At the top of a kindergarten through 8th grade school, they thought they had REALLY arrived, they were very pleased with themselves! My 8th graders knew that I loved them, so I could afford to tease them a bit. I used to narrow my eyes into a fake menacing gaze and say: "Ah, now you're the top, but next year? Next year you will be FRESHMEN! The lowest of the low! Just wait till high school." And they would laugh, secure in the fact that I MUST be joking....
Well, folks, the beauty of this last chapter is that is tells us we are ALL eighth graders, if even that. We'd do well to take St. Benedict seriously on this one, but I'll bet he smiled with the same affection I used to show to my kids. Three times a year we read the Holy Rule entirely and three times a year he lovingly shakes us awake to the reality that we will for most of our lives, always be freshmen next year!
That's the Benedictine surprise that's wrapped in conversion of manners: we never "arrive", we're not so hot as we thought ourselves to be, we are just barely ready for the next step. This is VERY different from the self-loathing we spoke about yesterday with the bitter zeal. This is the true self-knowledge, the smiling, even shrugging acceptance of the fact that we are just on the way, nothing special there!
How great must our God be! I have never known anyone who kept all of the Holy Rule perfectly, but I have known many that I thought were great saints, very observant monastics. St. Benedict is clearly telling us that God is even more than we may attain by observing this Rule. God is so vast and beyond us, we are always taking the tumbling first steps of toddlers towards Him, but He is always holding on and beaming with the pride an love of a parent guiding those steps. Our Holy Rule is filled with awesome things, yet it is only the "rudiments" of the spiritual life!
Eighth graders, eighth graders all, but ah, what a high school awaits!
