The Rule of St. Benedict

The Rule of Benedict (RB) constitutes a basic guide for living the Christian life and continues to be followed by every Benedictine monastery and convent in the world today.  Just the idea that a guide for living could not only last 1500 years but continue to be followed by thousands of people makes its study valuable for monks and nuns as well as laypeople.

The Rule offers people a plan for living a balanced, simple, and prayerful life.  In it Benedict tells his monks and nuns that  ora et labor is their way (work and prayer), that the Divine Office is their work (opus dei) and the vows of  stability, conversion, and obedience are their commitments.  These vows have much to say to those of us not living in a monastery or convent.

Benedict's Rule is a timeless document - in so many ways as fresh and relevant as it was when it was written almost fifteen hundred years ago. Although written for monastics, many of the issues addressed in the Rule can be applied to life in the world outside the monastic community. That is why there are so many lay Benedictine oblates.  The qualities which make up a valued life - humility, patience, simplicity, solitude, caring for others, and living in community - concern everyone. These specifics of the Rule, and the framework it provides, have great meaning for people who are seeking to live out their faith in the world today.

I have been periodically been re-posting a few of Brother Jerome Leo's commentary on the Rule intended for lay oblates.  I will continue re-posting these on a more consistent (weekly) basis, beginning today with the very beginning of the Rule; the Prologue.  It is important to remember that not even Benedictine monks and nuns follow the rule exactly as it was written; it is after all, a 1500 year old document. It must be adapted to contemporary times according to our state in life.

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Prologue

L I S T E N carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed,
whoever you may be,
who are renouncing your own will
to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King,
and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first of all,
whatever good work you begin to do,
beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it,
that He who has now deigned to count us among His children
may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds.
For we must always so serve Him
with the good things He has given us,
that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children,
nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions,
deliver us to everlasting punishment
as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

REFLECTION

The Prologue is the most tender and loving of beginnings. Always,
always always keep in mind this loving Father that writes here as you
read the rest of the Holy Rule. The Prologue and the epilogue are the key to
it all, and the key to the saintly personality of our holy Father
Benedict. The loving kindness found herein is the lens through
which all that follows must be seen, never lose sight of it!

The Holy Rule can seem so lofty that it sometimes turns people away.
They think: "This is for those really holy people, not for me. I'll
bet it's easy for saints like them, but I couldn't even dream of
trying." Wrong on both counts and St. Benedict makes that clear.

We return "by the labor of obedience" and if we are not one of those who
has "to do battle" against our own will, he makes it abundantly certain
that he is not talking to us. If, in fact, there is anyone for whom the Rule
is a cinch, and I doubt that very much, then it was not written for them. It
was written for us who struggle, for us for whom it is NOT easy, to help us in a
battle that sometimes wears us out.

St. Benedict also makes his point that our distance from God is due
to our "sloth of disobedience." Yet he doesn't tell the slothful to
quit because they are worthless, he tells them they are the very ones
for whom he is writing this Rule! This is the Rule for the fallen and
beginners, this is an entry level position which can advance to great
sanctity, but it *IS* an entry level position!

This is the door and gate for all. This is most decidedly NOT a Rule
just for monks and nuns in monasteries. Were that so, no provision
for Oblates would ever have been made. No, this is a Rule for all who
wish to try to become better and because they have made that
intention, God "has deigned to count us among His children." There is
no more us-and-them here. Just by beginning, we become part of the
whole.

How many of us as children
secretly got the suspicion that the whole class was really for the
wonder kids, not for us, that we were somehow extraneous and just
tagging along to whatever was REALLY going on? Well, the Holy Rule is
quite direct about stating that this time, it is not about wonder
kids: the center of its focus is the rest of us! Now there's a
refreshingly upside down and all too rare world view!