Parish Magazine Item for August

From The Rectory

 

On 11^th July each year, the Church of England remembers St Benedict of Nursia, the Abbot of Monte Casino and Father of Western Monasticism, who died around the year 550. Having a relatively quiet week, I decided to read his Rule in full. Its only about 9000 words so even if you are a slow reader, you could get through it in an hour or two with a bit of skimming. It (and indeed audio versions of it) are readily available online. It is one of the great masterpieces of spirituality and would repay your time. It is remarkable that this How To Be A Monk / Abbot Guide Book can still speak to us in surprising ways more than a millennium later. We feel we can get to know and admire Benedict, even though he seems to come from a different world.

 

Now, I have to confess that the Rule is perhaps not exactly what I would have written. I have my quibbles with the idea of monasticism. Like many after Luther, I fear that it might involve too much withdrawal from the world. And then we get on to sex and marriage and children and all that. The grace and mercy of God are clearly here, but I would want to stress the necessity of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ rather more than Benedict finds it necessary to do.

 

To our twenty-first century years, some of the Rule is weird, some wonderful.

 

It remains good advice, for example, not to sleep too close to a knife, in case you accidently injure yourself in the night. And, Benedict says, remember not to have too many baths!  

 

I don’t know if you fancy a Benedictine menu? The rule is practical as well as spiritual and remarkably accommodating and pastoral at times. Basically there are going to be two hot main dishes as some won’t be able to eat one and might prefer the other. Then there is bread. And any apples or young vegetables that are available. And a pint of wine. But you can have more if it is a hot summer. And if you have lots of manual work to do, you could expect extra food too.

 

Of course following the Rule in every detail today is hardly practical or relevant, even for monks. And it was never intended for the parochial clergy or lay people.

 

But there is something to be said for the three main elements of the monastic day: prayer, study and work.

 

The rule has much to say about ordinary daily life. The iron tools of the monastery are to be looked after with the same reverence as the Communion vessels. Sacred and secular both matter.

 

And how we welcome ordinary guests is of paramount importance, because nobody, however poor or mean is really ordinary. In welcoming others, we welcome Christ.

 

But prayer is the centre of it all. Much of the Rule is given over to liturgical instructions and details of lectionary readings, though Benedict does sometimes say you might do it otherwise if you keep to the principles.

 

One thing that really struck me is the amount of Bible there would have been in a monk’s life. They would say or sing the whole of the Book of Psalms (all 150) every week. I don’t expect most of us can do that. But how about reading or listening to a psalm, or part of a psalm, most mornings and evenings? That would only take ten minutes or so. And we might then get the divinely inspired prayers and songs of the Bible into our hearts and minds. They might change how we think and live even more radically than any man-made Rule.

 

Whatever combination of prayer, work and study your August involves, I hope you have a blessed summer with some opportunity for rest and recreation too.

 

The Revd Marc Lloyd