The Feast of St. Benedict- Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY

Br.  Scott Borden, OHC

The Feast of St. Benedict- Wednesday, July 11, 2018


To hear the sermon in its fullness click here.

Br.  Scott Borden, OHC

Like so many figures in our tradition, what we believe about Benedict is far greater than what we know about Benedict... When I was more interested in things journalistic, that would have troubled me.

Brother Andrew used to preface statements with a qualifier of the following nature: "It may not have happened this way, but this is the truth." Of course, Andrew would smile and laugh as though he were joking, but he wasn't. If we are confined to the literal, then we are very deprived indeed. So, let's not be too bound to the literal as we look a bit at the life of Benedict...Of course, there is one point of solid evidence in the life of Benedict and that is the Rule of Benedict. 

I'll happily acknowledge that I may not be impartial, but the Rule is surely one of the most important pieces in the history of monasticism, not just Western but Eastern Christianity. The influence of the rule on all expressions of Monasticism is profound. Just ask our Orthodox brothers and sisters at New Skete.

So, let's hear a chapter from the rule...  Of the Porter of the Monastery: Inside near the gates of the monastery a cell is to be provided for a brother, who by reason of advanced age cannot wander far. Posted there, let him at all times close up the monastery behind those who leave and open it for those who are coming in, and announce arrivals to the abbot. During periods devoted to reading, he must see to it that the gates are locked. In a like manner, when the signal for the Divine Office has sounded he is to lock the gates and be present in the oratory... Those who know the Rule of Benedict will realize that I'm perpetuating a bit of a fraud... that is not the Rule of Benedict, but rather the Rule of the Master... Benedict's rule, it would seem, has an evil twin: The Rule of the Master.

The two rules share many starting points. Benedict addresses the porter of the monastery – an older brother is to be given a room near the entrance and his charge is to deal with those who come to the door. But how the porter deals with the those who comes to the door – there is the difference.
The Master's porter is a gate keeper. He is to keep folks out and make sure those allowed in are kept in line so as not to disturb the community. Benedict's porter is there to extend hospitality to the strangers at the door – to welcome them and offer them a blessing.

Time and again the two rules start in the same place – it’s the destinations that demonstrate the difference. Benedict focuses on a growing life of faith which then is shared with others, both with brothers and strangers. The Master focuses on keeping the brothers focused and free of distraction.
Was one rule based on the other? Who knows. Were both rules based on some older, lost tradition? Scholars wonder.

So, with the help of Br Andrew let me sort this out...It may not have happened exactly this way, but this is the truth...

Once upon a time a man named Benedict was called to lead a monastery that was in trouble... The abbot had died, and the community was a shambles...

The brothers knew they needed help and so they sought Benedict, a good and powerful leader, to get them back on track. Benedict dutifully assumed the position of Abbot and set about the work of rescuing this community. After all, this is what the community had called him to do.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise to anyone who knows anything about communities to learn that the brothers of the monastery responded to Benedict's loving correction by conspiring to kill Abbot Benedict. What else could they do?

They put poison in the wine for his Eucharistic Celebration and waited for Benedict to drink his own death. But God intervened. As Benedict prayed a blessing over the cup it shattered, the poison was spilled and Benedict was saved. We might wonder at the faithfulness of these brothers, but when it came to ridding themselves of Benedict they were devoted...

If the wine didn't do it, then it's on to the bread... poison is applied to the host for Benedict's celebration, but before he could eat the deadly loaf, a raven sweeps in and snatches it away. Birds – one. Community – zero.

So here is my theory, which I know to be true even if it didn't exactly happen this way... When Benedict assumed the position of Abbot at that troubled monastery, he attempted to enforce the Rule of the Master. The result, to say the least, was not life giving. But when God spared Benedict from attempted assassinations, he also put it in Benedict's mind to spare future generations from that terrible rule. And so, Benedict crafted his rule out of the dregs of the Rule of the Master.

Time and again The Rule of Benedict starts with the same chapter heading as the Rule of the Master, and time and again Benedict turns away from a stringent, precise, highly detailed answer to a generous and loving answer. How much food and drink should each brother have? The Master knows to the ounce. St. Benedict is more vague – each should have enough... but not too much... and if there is a shortage we may have to do with less... and if that is the case, we had better not complain...
The Master's rule calls us to stay within the boundaries. Benedict's rule calls us to live life to the Glory of God.

It is a difference of extreme importance – and one that has been part of the Christian enterprise since the time of Jesus, and part of the religious enterprise long before that.

From the very beginning of scripture, we see the pattern of these two rules emerging. Starting during the life of Moses, rules (the law) become important in the way faithful people live their lives. You really can't be faithful without some sort of rule. Some of the rules, the law, define how we live with each other, in community. And other rules, also the law, call us to live in a way that is pleasing to God – one is a code of justice and the other a code of holiness.

There lies a fundamental difference between the Rule of the Master and the Rule of St Benedict. The Master is defining a code of holiness. You do what the rule says because that is what is pleasing to God and anything else is wicked. Benedict is defining a code of just living. You live according to the rule because that brings about a community where all are treated as brothers and sisters – as equally loved children of God. Within Benedict's framework there are many times when discretion, creativity, even contradiction are essential.

Why on earth would anyone choose a rule like the Rule of the Master over a rule like the Rule of St Benedict? It is tempting to answer that no sensible, faithful person would, but that is not the truth.
The reality is that the Rule of the Master, while it may seem daunting in its minute detail, is simpler to follow. You don't have to figure out what is right or wrong, you just have to figure out what the rule says. Benedict is much messier. It demands that you think and that you adapt. For someone looking for a fixed and unchanging truth, the Rule of Benedict is an unappealing destination.

Yet Benedict's rule is fully concerned with our transformation of life. And it is in the messy, confusing, sometimes frustrating, even contradictory working out of life in community under a rule that our ways are converted – that we are transformed – that God's kingdom is built in our hearts.
The Master seeks to control and manage our will. Benedict seeks to harness our will.

If the rules of Benedict and the Master were available in Jesus' day, I dare say Jesus would have been enthusiastic about Benedict's rule while the Pharisees would have been far more enamored of the Master's rule. Jesus is always interested in justice – especially justice for the weak, the powerless, the oppressed. The Pharisees are interested in absolute answers and sound doctrine.

We tend to overlook that Jesus was a trouble making revolutionary who was interested in disturbing the status quo – because the status quo, now as much as then, is designed to give all the advantage to the rich and powerful. Following Jesus meant then, and still means today, standing against the culture and disrespecting some rules.

We may not think of Benedict as particularly revolutionary, but think what it would mean if the world as it is now were transformed into the community Benedict has in mind... Benedict, through his holy and inspired rule, has given us a plan for conversion of our ways of life to the monastic way – that is a plan not for safety, not for comfort, but for the revolutionary act of building God's Kingdom.