Sabbatical - On St. Benedict

Ah St. Benedict and his "little rule for beginners"!

So why are we talking about an Italian monastic who never set foot in England or the United States when we're discussing our particular faith context?

Because Benedict had a great impact on how the larger church began to think about organizing itself and worshiping.   And that mindset was drawn on very strongly when the center of the Anglican thread of Christianity was being compiled, the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).  His influence is felt even before that.

The Benedictine Rule is brought to England in the largest sense during the reign of  King Edgar the Peaceable in the mid to late 900's.  Edgar was faced with monasteries and convents that were completely out of control (Yes, Monks and Nuns Gone Wild!) and chose the Benedictine Rule to bring some order.  This disorderliness at monasteries was apparently quite a problem in many places.  Benedict spends some time in the first chapter talking about "The Kinds of Monks".  There are 4 according to him.  One group he refers to as "detestable" and another he says is even worse than that!

Beyond the very clear order that Benedict brings he also matched some of the better attributes of our ancestors.  English spirituality has always been about caring for the individual.  Thus a certain strain of personal liberty in spirituality has also been there.  It begins with an assumption that the spiritual life is designed to move people into a better way of life through an ongoing process.  Our spirituality has always been good at taking the best ideas and weaving them together. 

In many ways Benedict fits right in.  He allows people to find what works for them in their personal faith practice.  He felt that private prayer should be "...short and pure unless prolonged by divine inspiration". (Chap 20).  In the words of Edward Cuthbert Butler, the Benedictine abbot of Downside Abbey -

The primary principle to personal piety is that suits your spirit and brings you closer to God.

 Benedict and English spirituality look at the life of faith as a "three fold rule" meaning that the basic outline of how we live our faith has three aspects - communal Eucharist, the Daily Office and personal prayer.  That basic outline forms the backbone of the BCP.  And the Book of Common Prayer is the central identity of our tradition.  That three fold rule may strike us as obvious and universal but it isn't.

Benedict's Rule calls for a community  that in many ways functions as a family.  The community is held together by mutual affection and care rather than authoritarian writ. This would have been very familiar and comfortable for our ancestors.  In his day and in ours life was fragmented and stress filled.  There had been great social upheaval (the fall of Rome just 70 years prior to his birth was still very much being felt) and theological division (the subject of that day was Grace).  Amidst all that Benedict tries to help his people find a way to stay focused on the holy and bring all aspects of their lives together into a single weaving. Holy and routine, spiritual and material, prayer and life - all together. 

As for the rule itself there are (as I mentioned before) many sections that don't affect us directly in our modern context.  At the same time the book is very short and worth reading in its entirety.  Certainly the Prologue and the chapters on The Tools for Good Works, Obedience, Restraint of Speech, Humility, Reverence in Prayer, the Proper Amount of Food, the Proper Amount of Drink, the Daily Manual Labor, Community Rank, Assignment of Impossible Tasks to a Brother, Mutual Obedience and (this really is the name of the last chapter) This Rule is Only the Beginning of Perfection.

Admit it, some of those titles intrigue you.  Each of them has something to teach us in our time and place.  You will discover things that may trouble you.  Remember that Benedict wrote this for a specific time and place.  I certainly do not offer up his thoughts on disciplining children for modern use.

But as a guide for finding a rule of faith in the 21st Century, the old boy still has plenty to say.

Sabbatical - Discipline, that dirty word

I have been working on the project even if I haven't posted much of late.  Just the way there were tons of post at the beginning I think you'll see a bunch here at the end as well.

Time to talk about the elephant in the room.  In order for any of what I've talked about so far or am preparing to talk about to work you have to actually do it.  And do it regularly.  With intention.  As a matter of routine.  That's right you have show a little discipline to make it a discipline.

The problem is that for many, maybe even most of us, the word discipline means "forcing me to do things I don't really want to do" or possibly "punishment".  Well how about these definitions:

From FreeDictionary.com

1. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.

2. Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.  

Merriam-Webster.com offers:

4 : training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character 

          6 : a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity

                                                   

 Interesting that one lists these concepts as the first and second definitions while the other pushes them way down the list and actually says that the use of the word in relation to "instruction" is obsolete.

If using the word discipline makes you uncomfortable then feel free to use something else.  What you can't lose is the concept that this is something that needs to be done.  It is important.  So whether it's a "practice", a "routine" or a "rule of life" (my favorite) it is something that needs become part of your life.  So the question becomes how do we go about doing that?  In a world where most of us already have too much to do how do we shoe horn one more thing in?

First I would suggest we take a look at all those things we do.  How many of them are necessary?  How many of value?  And how many are just trivial, silly time wasting events?  You're going to find that a bunch of things you really like are in that last category (at least if you're being honest).  Watching TV, playing video games, messing around on the computer or smartphone are just a few examples.  If you honestly do not have a single minute of your day spent in trivial pursuits then you're either in need of a long vacation or already disciplined enough to jump right in.  For the rest of us we need to do the inventory and then determine how things get moved around.

Notice I didn't say to eliminate anything.  It is quite possible that you'll decide to drop something when you take a good honest look at what you do but that's entirely up to you.  In fact by establishing your own Rule of Life you may discover that you are better able to enjoy all the things that you like doing.  Even the trivial, silly ones.

At the heart of our spirituality you will find the fingerprints of St Benedict of Nursia.  It was from his guidelines that the basic outline of the Book of Common Prayer is drawn.  Benedict was a lay person who founded several communities for monks in his native Italy.  As his communities grew Benedict saw the need to bring some routine to their lives to insure that things got taken care of and that time was available to get all the work of the community done.  While many of us think of monastic life as being very strict and rigid that really wasn't Benedict's goal.  In fact he says

"In drawing up its regulations we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome...Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset.  But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love"  (From the Prologue of "The Rule of St. Benedict")

 That sounds like a much more desirable discipline!  The purpose of  a Rule is to help us place our lives more firmly in a pattern that brings us into the presence of God.  When fully implemented we are in that presence not only in times of formal worship or prayer but always.  Everything we do becomes a part of our life in prayer, our life of prayer.

The great thing about The Rule of St. Benedict is that it's quite brief.  He puts 73 chapters into a mere 67 pages that I'm using as a reference.  And to be honest while reading all of it offers a good learning opportunity there are large sections of it that simply don't concern us.  The Sleep Arrangements of Monks (chap. 22) or The Qualifications of a Monastery Cellarer (chap. 31) can safely be skimmed or perhaps even skipped.

The discussion of a Rule needs much more room to breathe.  I'm trying to keep these posts to manageable length so let me end this one here.  I'll come back to Benedict and then show a possible new shoot growing his venerable root in my next post.

Peace