Today is the Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, also known as St. Benedict Abbot, also known as the Father of Western Monasticism. His feast is a reminder that there are saints… and then there are SAINTS. And his feast is also an opportunity to draw from his wisdom so that we can live it today.
Benedict was born on March 2, 480 in present-day Norcia. He was a twin to his sister Scholastica, who is also a saint. His family had some means, so he was sent off to Rome some time in his teens for a liberal arts education. However, by then, Rome had been conquered several times by barbarians from the North and even sacked by disgruntled, unpaid Roman soldiers. The great city was a shell of its former self. The last Western Roman emperor was assassinated around this time, the center of the empire was now in Constantinople in the East, and the city was run by heretical Arians. Sadly, the state of the Catholic Church in Rome was not… exemplary.
Pope Anastasius II (496-498) is the first pope not to be made a saint by either the Latin West or the Greek East. He attempted to end one schism but only ended up causing another. After him there were two “competing popes” who vied for control of the Church… which is not a good look. And, by all reports, the people and priests of Rome engaged in vices of all sorts not the least of them was allowing their decision for pope to be influenced by bribery and foreign powers.
The young Benedict was naturally horrified by what he witnessed, so he fled the city to a small village named Enfide just North of Rome. We’re not sure how long he stayed there, but soon he figured out that he needed to pursue some positive good and not just run away. So he fled to find holiness in seclusion. He landed in Subiaco and lived in a cave for some time until he was discovered by a holy priest and then people started to come to him for his obvious sanctity and his many miracles. The rest, as they say, is history. He founded monasteries, he wrote his Rule for monks (which is still used to this day), he inspired and still inspires numerous religious orders, the miracles attributed to him at the time and today are some of the most impressive of any saint, and on and on. As I say, there are saints and then there are SAINTS, and St. Benedict is one of the latter.
All that being true, I want to focus for a moment on what St. Benedict can tell us today, in our times where things seem to be getting crazier and crazier and where many are tempted to “run away.”
What St. Benedict discovered during his years of solitudy was that the stability of daily observances and regular prayer, faithful labor and real joy can do more to transform the world than we might think. This is what he writes in his Rule:
“Idleness is the enemy of the soul; and therefore the brothers should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and at certain other hours in sacred reading.” 48.1
This is often summed up with the motto ora et labora, “pray and work,” or ora et labora et lege, “pray and work and read.” So here are two take-aways with an added bonus from St. Benedict's wisdom.
First, about the ora, Benedict suggests in his Rule for monks sacred reading along with recitation of the psalms and meditation. Whatever the method you use, most of us aren't monks after all, praying with Sacred Scripture, reading the lives of the saints, meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, any method ought to be pursued every single day. We’re all busy, especially if we’re parents, but there are a ton of resources to help us turn towards holy things even if it’s not strictly reading. There are podcast and audio books and videos we can watch that will inspire us to draw closer to Jesus Christ and his love for us. I can recommend the following free site and app DiscerningHearts.com which is produced locally.
And before you throw up your hands at this first one because you've tried to pray and you just keep failing at it, remember this other important dictum: "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." You don't have to be Olympic in your skills at a person of prayer. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to show up.
Second, about the labora, work is not a punishment from God, it’s a positive calling from Him. We can serve the Lord through work done well. We sometimes think that our work is a distraction from the spiritual life. But when we offer our work up to the Lord, especially when it is difficult, this pleases Jesus, who wants to be inserted into every part of our lives. So consider saying throughout the day, "Jesus I offer this work up to you," and do so exactly in those times when you are most frustrated.
Now for the bonus, the rest of the phrase from St. Benedict - not often quoted in full - is
ora et labora et lege et noli contristari in laetitia pacis
“pray and work and read and don’t be inhibited in the joyfulness of peace”
St. Benedict is pictured very often as a grim fellow with black robes and black hood. But the fuller saying tells us that the prayer and the work and the reading we do for our spiritual lives is so that we can be at peace and be joyful. I've always loved the statue at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler Nebraska. (see below) There you find a joyful Benedict. Praising God for the beauty of His creation.
So here’s an invitation: consider what steady and daily prayer you might engage in. It doesn't matter at first what it is, just start praying. Ask St. Benedict to intercede for you so that you can take up work and prayer and reading that will bring you the joy of peace. And then be faithful and steady in that prayer, even if it's boring and it doesn't "feel" like it's doing anything. God is at work at all times, softening our hearts. And so I'll end with the another quote from the opening of St. Benedict's Rule - paraphrasing Proverbs -
"Listen, O my child to the precepts of the master, and incline the ear of your heart."
May our hearts listen to wherever the Lord calls us to bring Him today.
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