The Legacy of St. Benedict:
Monasticism
in the Western Church, Part 3
If we accept that monastic life is merely Christianity in
its ultimate form, what then are the major elements that set the monk apart
from his fellow believers in the world? The book Monastic Studies concentrates on three things that a monk promises in
the Benedictine tradition when he embraces the consecrated life: stability, conversio (or conversatio) morum and obedience. A long
analysis of how the second, conversion, encompasses the third is available.
What is key, however, is that all those who seek to live as monastics are
characterized by, first, promising to “persevere in the monastic way of life
until death in (that particular) monastery (stability); second, promising to
“embrace the whole of religious life, which includes the essential elements of
poverty and chastity (conversatio),
and, finally, vowing obedience to God’s
representatives on earth, which is the
most lofty form of conversion of manners. By his vow of conversio, too, the monk obliges himself to seek after perfection
according to the Rule of St. Benedict.”[1]
All of these elements are, according to Van Zeller, primarily
a method for the necessary uprooting of self a consecrated person undertakes;
not, he cautions, to negatively deny the ego for its own sake, but as a surer
way to union with God.[2]
These elements also serve as an objective framework of monastic legislation and
a method of observance which becomes a path to perfection.[3]
If one stopped, however, with the Rule and the counsels of
poverty, chastity, and obedience as expressed in the conversio of Benedict, most monks would still be in confusion as to
what they are actually to do day-to-day.
Benedict lays out also the routines that move the monk closer to his
goal of eternal beatitude. In his book, Monastic
Practices, Charles Cummings, a Cistercian, breaks these into 12 activities
that the monk engages in every day of his life.
The first three are the threefold bases for religious life.
To begin with, there is the practice of Sacred Readings, the Scriptures and
writings of the Fathers of the Church primarily. As one of essentials, “the high value monks
have placed on sacred reading comes from the conviction that it is in this
practice we meet God through the instrumentality of the divine word.”[4]
The second foundational activity is Liturgical Prayer, which
includes both the Mass and the Divine Office. Benedict divides the office in
two ways for his monks. First, he set up a system in which all 150 psalms are
said every week. In modern times, that has been modified in some cases,
stretching the whole of psalmody to cover two, or even four, weeks. The other
division involves the idea of “praying always”, so that the monks meet in choir
eight times throughout the day and night. These hours of communal prayer are designated
as Vigils (or Matins); Lauds; Prime,
Terce, Sext and None (the last four called the Little Hours), Vespers, and
Compline (night prayer.) The Mass, of course, is the summit of man’s praise of
God, so it has pride of place. The Conventual Mass is usually attended by all
the brothers and priests in the monastery, but those in Holy Orders may also
say Mass separately from the community. “There, (in the sacrifice of the Mass) more
than anywhere else, we meet the Risen Christ in the fullness of His saving
power…” [5]
The third mainstay of the monastic life is work. The motto
of the followers of Benedict is, in fact, ora
et labora, “pray and work.” Often
today, as in early times, the work of the abbey is the main support for the
necessities of life, involving harvesting of crops, artistry of the monks or
manufacture of food. Beyond support for
the monks, though, Benedict was wise enough to know that if the community
engaged only in prayer and reading, they became restless and sometimes
discontent. “If, however, they (monks and nuns) kept their hands occupied with
simple, even monotonous, tasks, they could more easily keep their minds and
hearts centered on God for long periods of time.”[6]
Work, certainly, is enjoined on any Christian.
As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “We did not live lives of disorder
when we were among you, nor depend on anyone for food. Rather we worked day and night, laboring
to the point of exhaustion, so as not to impose on any of you … we used to lay
down a rule that anyone who would not work, could not eat.”[7]
Other important practices that move the monk toward his goal
of union with God are such things as customs, monastic decorum (a form of charity
toward others), short prayers to keep the mind always on God, self-discipline,
silence, watching – a practice of openness to the movement of the Holy Spirit –
communication in community, stability, and the monastic cell as a place to
encounter God in solitude.
The first of these, customs, highlights a key characteristic
of the monastic community - the handing on of traditions from one generation to
the next. Those entering religious life must be open to receiving practices designed
to help all to live in harmony and peace. Eventually, the seasoned monk bestows
his knowledge on novices who come to the community in his wake. “…[O]ur
monastic practices enshrine values that have been considered important by those
within the tradition … (some) e.g., are designed to protect the values of
silence, charity and fraternal support; others to inculcate a spirit of
reverence or humility or self-discipline.”[8]
If there are many externals that go beyond practices of
Christians in the world, though, it is very important to note the outward
actions are always directed to that which is interior. “The search, the true
search, in which the whole of one’s being is engaged, is not for some thing,
but for Someone: The search for God - that is the beginning and end of
monasticism.[9]
There are, according to Van Zeller, specifically monastic
virtues which the vows and practices are meant to foster. While charity is
enjoined on all Christians, monastic charity has a twofold relationship with
others, being directed both at those in community and those who come to the
monastery seeking direction. In the latter case, hospitality toward visitors is
a solemn duty for every monk. As for the former, “whatever interferes with
fraternal charity is the enemy of the monastic spirit.”[10]
Another preeminent virtue monks must cultivate is humility.
“In virtue of our monastic life, we should be easier to live with in the
monastery than we were in the world; more tolerant, more considerate, even more
courteous…[T]he connection between charity and humility is so close that to
describe a monk as a good community man means he does not thrust himself
forward … in such a way that all must acknowledge his contribution.”[11]
A third important characteristic a monk must cultivate is a
certain equanimity. Van Zeller refers to it as “an imperturbability of mind
which rides the tempests of both sorrow and temptation” without losing its
grounding in God and its peace of soul. St.
Benedict’s doctrine of compunction is repeated throughout his rule. “The
problem for most monks is to balance their joys and sorrows in such a way that
joy does not become an end in itself and a dissipation and that sorrow does not
become dispiriting.”[12] Finally,
a strong and abiding faith is necessary for the monk, who may see little or no
effect of his work and prayer in visible results. “What he has to accept in
faith is that the work of the choir and contemplation is work for souls.”[13]
In looking at
monastic life, we cannot exclude women who have and do seek perfection as
consecrated religious. Even from the time of Benedict, his sister St.
Scholastica founded monasteries for nuns who followed the same rule as their
brother monks with certain modifications. And, it must be said, there have been
other successful types of monastic spirituality in addition to the Benedictine
way, such as the Augustinian model followed by many congregations of religious even
today.
But it is Benedict who first codified and organized the life
of monasticism. If his vision is the Christian life lived fully requires
withdrawal from the world, it is partly so it can be an example for those in the
world who also strive to follow Christ’s way to the Father.
Every Christian must practice what the monk does, if to a lesser degree: self-denial, penance, prayer and obedience to God through His Church. Human destiny is the same for all God’s people, as the words of St. Augustine illustrate so famously. “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in Thee.”
[1]
Monastic, pp. 2-8.
[2]
Van Zeller, pp. 6-7.
[3]
Van Zeller, p. 49.
[4]
Cummings, Charles, OCSO, Monastic
Practices. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, p. 8.
[5]
Cummings, p. 39.
[6]
Cummings, p. 44.
[7]
Cummings, p. 44.
[8]
Cummings, p. 72.
[9]
Bouyer, p. 8.
[10]
Van Zeller, pp. 130-131.
[11]
Van Zeller, p. 132.
[12]
Van Zeller, p. 136.
[13]
Van Zeller, pp. 135-137.
