ENLARGING THE HEART UPDATE: 1ST January 2015 We now begin a new series of commentaries on the Rule of our Holy Father Saint Benedict (Series 3). We hope this will continue to be a source of spiritual nourishment for you. Daily readings from the Rule of Saint Benedict By a Benedictine of Saint Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde "... as we progress in our monastic life and in faith, our hearts shall be enlarged, and we shall run with unspeakable sweetness of love in the way of God's commandments." (From the Prologue of the Rule of Saint Benedict) |
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St Benedict wrote his Rule for monks some fifteen centuries ago. Driven by his love of Christ, he wanted to establish his monastery as a "school of the Lord's service": a place where people who truly seek God could find him; places where "authentic Gospel values prevail"(1); where nothing whatever would be preferred to Christ. The Rule of St Benedict spread all over Like many monasteries we divide the Rule into sections so that the whole Rule is covered over a period of three months. The commentaries will follow the sequence of the sections. (1) Pope John Paul II, to Benedictine Abbots, |
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43: OF THOSE WHO COME LATE TO THE WORK OF GOD OR TO MEALS Nov 21 At the hour of Divine Office let each one, as soon
as he hears the signal, lay aside whatever he may be engaged with and respond
with all speed, yet also with gravity, that no occasion be given for levity.
Let nothing, then, be preferred to the Work of God. Should anyone come to the Night Office after the
"Glória" of the 94th Psalm - which for this reason we wish
to be said very deliberately and slowly - let him not stand in choir in his
usual place, but in the lowest place, or in a place which the Abbot may have
set apart for such negligent ones, until at the completion of the Office he may
do penance by public satisfaction. We
have thought that these should stand in the lowest place, or apart from the
others for this reason, that, being seen by all, they may be brought by very
shame to a sense of duty. Moreover, if
they should remain outside the oratory, there might be someone who would either
return to bed and sleep, or else sit outside and give himself to idle talk and
thus furnish occasion to the Evil One.
Let him enter, therefore, that he may not miss the entire Office, and
may amend for the future. At the day hours, if one should come to the work of God after the Verse and the "Glória " of the first psalm that is said after the Verse, let him stand in the last place, as we have ordered above; and let him not presume to join himself to the choir in their chanting until he has made satisfaction, unless, perhaps, the Abbot may give him permission to do so; but even then, he is to make satisfaction for his fault. St
Benedict calls the office, the Work of God. It is the work of God for he is the
object and also our work of prayer and praise in response to God's work. Now in monastic literature, the work of God referred first to the life of asceticism in general, convinced as they were that they were undertaking a great labour. “The same [Abba Theodore] came one day to see Abba John, and during their conversation he said to him, “When I was at Scetis, the works of the soul were our work, and we considered manual work to be subordinate; now the work of the soul has become subordinate and what was secondary is the chief work.’” “In his youth Abba John questioned an old man, ‘How have you been able to carry out the work of God in peace? For we cannot do it, not even with labour.’ The old man said, ‘We were able to do it, because we considered the work of God to be primary, and bodily needs to be subsidiary; but you hold bodily necessities to be primary and the work of God to be secondary; that is why you labor, and that is why the Saviour said to the disciples, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.”’ (Matt. 6.33)” The monks of Scete are described as being energetic in doing the work of God. It referred to the whole monastic way of life, everything the monk had to do to become and remain a monk. St Benedict understands the work of God in this broad sense when he calls the monk a workman (prologue) and the monastery a workshop where he plies the tools of the spiritual craft. (ch 4). But this phrase, the work of God, was
certainly a reality which included the liturgy, praying the psalms. For example, one elder visits another and
they say: ‘let us do the work of God and eat afterwards.’ One recites the entire Psalter while the other
recites the two great prophets. Morning comes and they forget to eat. Indeed for the early monks the work of works
was prayer. Prayer sums up in itself and presupposes the toil and sweat of all
the other virtues. “The whole complex of virtues tends towards the perfection
of prayer” (Cassian, Conf. 9:7). This is
a line of thought which leads to the Opus Dei in the Benedictine sense. All
this is called the work of God because it is done in the service of God, a duty
done in relation to him. For St Benedict
to reserve the title Opus Dei to the liturgy was a new way of expressing the
primacy of prayer. It was not a new way
of understanding it. It is the work of God in the monk as well as the monk’s
work for God. The whole of the monk’s
life is the work of God, the service to which he has committed himself. This work finds its fullest and clearest
expression in prayer; prayer including liturgical prayer sums up the whole of
the monastic commitment. That is why St
Benedict can justifiably call the work of prayer the Work of God. |
CHAPTER
42: THAT NO ONE MAY SPEAK AFTER COMPLINE Nov 20 Monks ought to have a zeal for silence at all times,
but especially during the hours of the night.
Therefore at all times, whether on days of fasting or on other days, let
this be the rule: if it is not a fast day, as soon as they have risen from
supper, let them all assemble together and let one read the Conferences or
Lives of the Fathers, or indeed anything else that may serve to edify the
hearers; but not the Heptateuch, or the Books of Kings, for it would not be of
profit to those of weak understanding to hear those parts of Scripture at that
hour; at other times, however, they may be read. If it is a fast day, then shortly after Vespers let them assemble for the reading, as we have said. Four or five pages are to be read, or as much at the time allows, so that during the time consumed by this reading all even such as may be occupied in some work assigned them - may come together. All, therefore, being assembled, let them say Compline; and on coming out from Compline no one shall be allowed thereafter to speak to anyone. But if one is found to have violated this rule of silence, let him be subjected to severe punishment - unless the presence of guests make it necessary, or, perhaps, the Abbot give one a command. But even this must be done becomingly and with all gravity and moderation. Monks ought to have a zeal for silence
at all times,” or “should practise silence at all times.” We should carry it around with us. It is something we practise, have zeal for,
not something we fall into out of a bad mood. We should study to make an effort
to build silence. Our normal state of affairs
is not chatter. There is a silence that
can spring from a sense of inferiority or superiority or a bad mood. But ours is a silence of union with others
and confidence in each one’s good will. We do it to create the necessary
conditions for hearing the voice of God. To give it the high relief it should
have, we need special times of particular silence, like the night silence. Silence is a sign that the Community is at
ease with and united in the real task of living for God. |