Frank R. Fisher, Obl OSB
Good Zeal 07/17/2009
 
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"Thus they (the monks) should anticipate one another in honor (Rom. 12:10);
most patiently endure one another's infirmities,
whether of body or of character;
vie in paying obedience one to another --
no one following what he considers useful for himself,
but rather what benefits another." - St. Benedict's Rule, Chapter 72

Oblates hear about this chapter of the Rule quite frequently at St. Benedict's Abbey. We especially hear it read when a monk takes monastic vows. I always wonder what the universal church would be like if we could put these words into practice? Imagine a church where all the members anticipated each other with the honor Benedict describes.

Most of us think this goal is impossible. Most of us are right. It is impossible. Benedictines are just like anyone else. Among the monks and oblates of the Abbey we find people who rub us the wrong way. Of course there are times when we also get on other's nerves. And when we're irritated, or when we irritate others there are times we become slightly more than irritated. But in the midst of annoyance there is a feeling of holding back.  There is a knowledge of the fact that the one with whom we are angry is one of our brothers or sisters in Christ. So when anger slips out, we calm ourselves, call it back, and make amends.

Doing this is not easy. It is something we all will be practicing until the day we die. Perhaps the wider church can also take up the practice. How about it? That person we are now disagreeing with won't start it by himself or herself. So give it a try. Return anger with love. Will love always be returned to us? Probably not, but that is not the point. The point is to live and act as if the person we disagree with is Jesus.
 
Stability 07/16/2009
 

Next August, Saint Benedict's Abbey will celebrate it's twenty-fifth anniversary. Our Abbot refers to it as our "three month" anniversary. You see, when the Abbey was founded, people told the monks it would not last for three months. Yet twenty-five years later the Abbey's bells still call the community to the hours of prayer. Those bells have become so vital to the Abbey's neighbors that they call to check if everything is OK if the bells do not sound on time.

The continuing presence of the Abbey in the community is a visible, and audible, witness to Christ, to prayer, and to service to God's people. It is also a visible call to work and prayer for those who live within the cloister. Benedict insisted that his monks be rooted to one place. He said the only real monks were those "who belong to a monastery, where they serve under a rule and an abbot." - Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 1.

Before monks take their final vows, they talk to the community to tell them of their journey to this place. They also talk of their future. During this talk they invariably say, "this is the place where I will die." This decision is emphasized during the vows themselves when the monks find themselves prostrated before the altar, covered with a funeral pall. Their old ways are dead. They fully commit the rest of their lives to the monastic community.

For those of us who follow Benedict's Rule in the world, how do we show our stability to the world and ourselves? How do our Oblation promises enable us to hold fast to Christ during life's storms?  Mostly the Rule itself, and it's call to Christian life is the way we hold stable. The rule calls us to prayer, bids us to study,  reminds us of our call to radical hospitality, and instructs us to treat everyone we encounter as if they were Jesus.  We do not have the benefit of the Abbey's visible presence with us for most of our life. But we do have the Rule as a constant reminder to be stable in our walk with Christ.