Sermonstudio

Reader 1: You are driving along Interstate 94, just west of St. Cloud, Minnesota. All of a sudden you see, rising out of the trees in the distance, the large concrete banner of the chapel at Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville. If you entered this Benedictine monastery at the right time of day, you could see the monks, dressed in their cowls, processing in for worship.

Or maybe you are exploring the countryside around Dubuque, Iowa, and there in the midst of the rolling hills is a Trappist monastery, Our Lady of New Melleray.

Monasteries -- they seem so anchored in another century, and yet they still are signs of the church, signs of faithfulness and vitality even in this 20th century. How did it all begin, this urge to separate oneself from the world?

The Christians of the first and second centuries found themselves automatically separated from the world, oftentimes by bloody persecutions. But that all changed in the fourth century when Roman Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity. Certainly at first these warmer relations between church and state were much preferred over the previous oppression. But when the Roman Empire itself began to decline, Christians were again reminded that the kingdom of God was not of this world.

Several of the early church fathers, like Antony the Great, became hermits in the Egyptian desert. Of course, there were very few who could endure the harshness and loneliness of that extreme separation from the world. But what about a community of people who would live separately from the world? Saint Benedict was not the first to establish such communities, but his rules for that kind of monastic living have endured even to this day.

We know about Saint Benedict's life mainly through an account written by Pope Gregory the Great. Benedict was born in 480 into an Italian Christian family. As a young man he was sent to Rome to complete his education but very quickly became disenchanted with "the ways of the world." As Pope Gregory wrote:

Reader 2: "In his desire to please God alone, he turned his back on further studies, gave up home and inheritance and resolved to embrace the religious life."

Reader 1: He eventually spent three years living as a hermit in a cave, growing in faith and struggling with personal temptations. For example, Gregory tells this story of Benedict's battle with lust. He was remembering a woman he had once seen and his sinful thoughts were running wild.

Reader 2: "Almost overcome in the struggle, he was on the point of abandoning the lonely wilderness when suddenly with the help of God's grace he came to himself. He then noticed a thick patch of nettles and briars next to him. Throwing his garment aside he flung himself into the sharp thorns and stinging nettles. There he rolled and tossed until his whole body was in pain and covered with blood. Yet, once he had conquered pleasure through suffering, his torn and bleeding skin served to drain the poison of temptations from his body."

Reader 1: I think most of us today would be quite skeptical about Benedict's solution to the temptations of lust. Yet as Pope Gregory tells us:

Reader 2: "He never experienced another temptation of this kind."

Reader 1: Primitive electric shock treatment, we might call it. But many men attached themselves to Benedict to learn from him. He left his hermitage and established several monasteries for these followers of his. And in order to guide their life together in community, he wrote his famous rules for monastic living.

Reader 3: "Listen, my son, and with your heart hear the principles of your Master. Readily accept and faithfully follow the advice of a loving Father, so that through the labors of obedience you may return to him from whom you have withdrawn because of the laziness of disobedience (Prologue)."

Reader 1: It would be hard to miss Benedict's main theme: obedience. Not exactly a popular virtue today, is it? We in the 20th century tend to value independence over obedience.

Perhaps here is also a good place for us to raise an objection to the very premise of monasticism: that it is a way to grow closer to God through good works. Benedict states this very clearly:

Reader 3: "If we wish to be sheltered in [God's] kingdom, it can be reached only through our good conduct (Prologue)."

Reader 1: What about Martin Luther's experience in the monastery? Didn't his attempts to earn his salvation lead only to despair? Benedict does emphasize the Christian cooperating with God's grace to lead the sanctified life, to produce these good works. Lutherans would probably want to stress God's grace more and our cooperation less. (Lutherans may add the next sentence.) But also let's not forget our own Lutheran Confessions and their insistence that "good works are necessary."

Luther, of course, realized that one can never do enough if your aim is to please God through your good works; one is always going to fall short. Benedict, too, was well aware of human sin and failure. So when he lists 72 tools of good works, he saves the most important for last:

Reader 3: "Never despair of God's mercy (Chapter 4)."

Reader 1: The real key in Benedict's ordering of monastic life was the abbot, the head of the monastery. The word "abbot" comes from the Hebrew word for father, "Abba."

Reader 3: "He is Christ's representativeÉ He should show the sternness of a master and the love and affection of a fatherÉ The abbot shall not make distinctions among the people in the monastery. No one shall be loved more than the others, except those who are found more obedient or observant in his faith (Chapter 2)."

Reader 1: There's that all-important virtue again: obedience. Another trait which Benedict sought to develop in himself and in his monks was humility.

Reader 3: "Therefore, brothers, if we wish to reach the highest peak of humility and soon arrive at the heavenly height, we must, by our good deeds, set up a ladder like JacobÉ we go up by humbling ourselves and down by praising ourselves (Chapter 7)."

Reader 1: That, too, grates against many Protestant sensitivities, doesn't it -- that we arrive in heaven because of our good deeds and humility? Perhaps Benedict would have done better to remain faithful to the biblical story of Jacob's ladder. In Jacob's dream the ladder is not a way for him to climb up to God, but rather it's a way for God to climb down to Jacob! Another biblical reminder of God's grace.

Perhaps Benedict's most lasting contribution to the monastic life was his concern for the individual monk and his natural weaknesses. The Rules are characterized by simple common sense. For example, Benedict laid out the usual Sunday morning liturgy, but made this exception:

Reader 3: "The only exception is if the monks -- Heaven forbid -- arise late; then the lessons or responses may be shortened a bit (Chapter 11)."

Reader 1: An individual monk would not be counted as tardy for worship unless he arrived after the gloria of Psalm 95; and Benedict very charitably stipulated:

Reader: "É and on account of this the psalm should be chanted slowly (Chapter 43)."

Reader 1: Now there's a gospel orientation for you! There is a punishment for coming late, but if you sing the Gloria slowly, no one has to be punished!

Benedict determined that the monks would chant all 150 psalms during a week's worth of worship, which at times seemed excessive to the monks, but Benedict reminded them:

Reader 3: "Our spiritual fathers performed with determination in one day what we now take a whole week to do (Chapter 18)."

Reader 1: What was life like in one of Benedict's monasteries? Each day revolved around worship, communal work and study. Eight times a day the community gathered together for worship: 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Food at the monastery was very simple:

Reader 3: "We believe that two cooked dishes will satisfy the daily needs at each mealÉ if some brothers cannot eat one, then they may eat the otherÉ A third dish may appear if fresh fruit or vegetables are availableÉ A pound of bread will be allotted to each monk dailyÉ Except for the sick, no one is to eat meat (Chapter 39)."

Reader 1: And to drink:

Reader 3: "One-quarter liter of wine for each monk each day is adequate we believeÉ We read that wine is not for monks, but in our times they cannot accept this. Let us therefore agree on this limit at least, lest we satiate ourselves with drink (Chapter 40)."

Reader 1: During each meal, a reader would read from the writings of the church fathers.

Reader 3: "No whispering or noise is to be heard, only the voice of the reader. The brothers should hand around food and drink so that no [verbal] request is needed (Chapter 38)."

Reader 1: As for clothingÉ

Reader 3: "Suitable clothes shall be given the monks, dependent on the climateÉ Each monk will make do with a cowl and tunic -- heavy for winter, light for summer. He shall also have a shift for labor and shoes for the feet. Monks should not complain of the color or texture of their clothes. It shall be whatever is available in the surrounding countryside or whatever is cheapest (Chapter 55)."

Reader 1: All of this may seem harsh compared to our modern lifestyles. But we should realize what life was like in Benedict's day, especially in the fifth century when the Roman Empire was disintegrating. A typical peasant would be lucky to get one meal a day and most likely would not even have a change of clothing. In addition, there was always the threat of invasion and war.

All of these regulations for the monastic life were set down in a book which became known as The Rule Of Saint Benedict. It was quickly adopted by a number of monasteries, and by the ninth and tenth centuries it was made the rule for all monastic communities. In fact, down through the years, whenever there is an attempt to bring reform to monastic life, it is almost always done by returning to The Rule Of Saint Benedict.

That is even true for the amazing reform which has swept through almost all western monastic communities since the Second Vatican Council. Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Prioress in Erie, Pennsylvania, believes that the entire Rule Of Saint Benedict is summarized in just one section toward the end, titled, "The Good Zeal Monks Should Possess."

It's almost as if he says, "Now don't get carried away with this thing. Holiness can be destructive. Sanctity can be an evil zeal."

And what is the right kind of zeal?

Reader 3: "monks should practice this zeal with ardent loveÉ accept each other's frailtiesÉ try to outdo each other in obedienceÉ Let no one do what is best for himself, but rather what is best for another."

Reader 1: In other words, it is a rule of love. And when, in your natural human frailty, you have failed in loving, remember also that God is love and thereforeÉ

Reader 3: "É never despair of God's mercy."

Bibliography

Joan D. Chittister, Living the Rule Today, Erie, Pennsylvania: Benet Press, 1982.

Anthony C. Meisel & M. L. del Mastro (translators), The Rule Of Saint Benedict, New York: Doubleday, 1975.

Odo John Zimmerman (translator), The Fathers of the Church: St. Gregory the Great: Dialogues (Volume 39), New York: Fathers of the Church, 1959.