The Rule of Benedict

by Joan Chittister

  April 16 – Aug. 16 – Dec. 16

  If, however, they have shown that they are not the kind of persons who deserve to be dismissed, let them, on their request, be received as a member of the community. They should even be urged to stay, so that others may learn from their example, because wherever we may be, we are in the service of the same God. Further, the prioress or abbot may set such a person in a somewhat higher place in the community, if they see that they deserve it. The prioress or abbot has the power to set any one of them above the place that corresponds to the date of their entry, if they see that their life warrants it.

  The prioress and abbot must, however, take care never to receive into the community anyone from another known monastery, unless the prioress or abbot of that community consents and sends a letter or recommendation, since it is written: “Never do to another what you do not want done to yourself” (Tob. 4:16).

  Elie Wiesel writes, “What God gave Adam was not forgiveness from sin; what God gave Adam was the chance to begin again.” Life is made up of a series of opportunities to begin again. Benedictine spirituality builds that possibility and that obligation right into the Rule. Even monastics may move from monastery to monastery in their search for God. No one, in other words, has a call simply to a particular place, as good as it may be. The call of God is to the will of God. Consequently, though every institution mediates the call of God for us, every vocation transcends any particular institution. The question is always is this group, this place, calling out the best in me? Is this where I fit? Is this the place where I can most become what God created me to be? Is this the path on which I see the footsteps of God most clearly in front of me?

  It is not a matter of one place being better than another. It is a matter of finding our way through life with an eye for turns in the road. It is a matter of always taking the right turn when settling for less would be so much easier. It is a matter of seeing change as a creative possibility in life.

  CHAPTER 62

  THE PRIESTS OF THE MONASTERY

  April 17 – Aug. 17 – Dec. 17

  Any abbot of a male monastery who asks to have a priest or deacon ordained should choose from his monks one worthy to exercise the priesthood. The monk so ordained must be on guard against conceit or pride, must not presume to do anything except what the abbot commands him, and must recognize that now he will have to subject himself all the more to the discipline of the rule. Just because he is a priest, he may not therefore forget the obedience and discipline of the rule, but must make more and more progress toward God.

  He will always take the place that corresponds to the date of his entry into the monastery, except in his duties at the altar, or unless the whole community chooses and the abbot wishes to give him a higher place for the goodness of his life. Yet, he must know how to keep the rule established for deans and priors; should he presume to act otherwise, he must be regarded as a rebel, not as a priest. If after many warnings he does not improve, let the bishop too be brought in as a witness. Should he not amend even then, and his faults become notorious, he is to be dismissed from the monastery, but only if he is so arrogant that he will not submit to or obey the rule.

  In chapter 60 the Rule makes it plain that monasticism, not clericalism, is the nature of the monastic life, that it demands an entirely different kind of formation and that simply coming to the monastery is not enough to claim conversion, even for priests. It is necessary as well to become a community person whose sanctification hinges on being open to being shaped by the Word of God in the human community around us. The question in chapter 60 is, “Can the cleric take monasticism?” and the answer is “Probably.” The question in chapter 62 is, “Can the community take clericalism?” and the answer is “No.”

  In this chapter, Benedict reminds those priests who have been ordained from the ranks of the community itself that they, too, are under the discipline of the Rule and the abbot. Clearly, they are not, by virtue of their ordination, excused of their essential character as simple monk. In this chapter Benedict reminds us all to hold fast to our humanity, to make it our priority and never to let what we have become obscure what we are. It is so easy to take on a role in life with its trappings and privileges—doctor, judge, nun, monk, mother, teacher—and to lose, therefore, our own chance to be fully alive.

  CHAPTER 63

  COMMUNITY RANK

  April 18 – Aug. 18 – Dec. 18

  Monastics keep their rank in the monastery according to the date of their entry, the virtue of their lives, and the decision of the prioress or abbot. The prioress or abbot is not to disturb the flock entrusted to them nor make any unjust arrangements, as though they had the power to do whatever they wished. They must constantly reflect that they will have to give God an account of all their decisions and actions. Therefore, when the members come for the kiss of peace and for Communion, when they lead psalms or stand in choir, they do so in the order already existing among them or decided by the abbot or prioress. Absolutely nowhere shall age automatically determine rank. Remember that Samuel and Daniel were still boys when they judged their elders (1 Samuel 3; Dan. 13:44–62). Therefore, apart from those mentioned above whom the abbot or prioress have for some overriding consideration promoted, or for a specific reason demoted, all the rest should keep to the order of their entry. For example, someone who came to the monastery at the second hour of the day must recognize that they are junior to someone who came at the first hour, regardless of age or distinction. The young, however, are to be disciplined in everything by everyone.

  A Benedictine community is obviously a motley place. It has locals and foreigners, old and young, cleric and lay, nobles and poor, educated and illiterate all going the same way, all intent on a life of the spirit, and all from vastly different backgrounds. All of them were conditioned to very defined expectations of privilege or oppression. Benedictine spirituality detoxifies the entire environment by putting the spotlight on the time of a person’s entrance to the monastery, on the time at which they publicly began their total seeking of God, rather than on their previous status or position.

  The purpose and effect of rank, then, was not the suppression of the person. It was designed to free people from their past castes or demands. The purpose of rank was to achieve equality, humility, and a new definition of self in groups rife with social hierarchies, systemic differences, and groundless exaltations. The date of entrance was the date before and after which all other events in life were marked and noted. The image of a world unskewed by material values and social definitions is the vision thrust before us in Benedictine spirituality. In a world where sex and race and money mark our spaces on the social ladder it is a picture of human liberation gone outrageously giddy with the freeing power of God as the sign of its sanctity.

  April 19 – Aug. 19 – Dec. 19

  The younger monastics, then, must respect their elders, and the elders must love their juniors. When they address one another, no one should be allowed to do so simply by name: rather, the elders call the younger “sister” or “brother” and the younger members call their elders nonna or nonnus, which are translated as “venerable one.” But the abbot and prioress, because we believe that they hold the place of Christ, are to be called “abbot” or “prioress” not for any claim of their own, but out of honor and love for Christ. They for their part, must reflect on this and in their behavior show themselves worthy of such honor.

  Wherever members meet, the junior asks the elder for a blessing. When older members come by, the younger ones rise and offer them a seat and do not presume to sit down unless the older bids them. In this way, they do what the words of Scripture say: “They should each try to be the first to show respect for the other” (Rom. 12:10).

  In the oratory and at table, the young are kept in rank and under discipline. Outside or anywhere else, they should be supervised and controlled until they are old enough to be responsible.

  This paragraph is clearly about the place of respect, experience
, and wisdom in life. Obviously, the chapter on rank is not meant to grind the community down to its least common denominator. It is not meant to diminish in us the natural respect that differences should bring. Quite the opposite, in fact. This chapter is meant to freshen our eyes so that we can see all the gifts of the human community clearly: the gifts of old peasant farmers and the gifts of young artists, the gifts of young thinkers and the gifts of old keepers of the monastery door. Age, the Rule teaches, does not give us the right to dismiss the values of the young as if they were useless. Social class does not give us the right to overlook the insights of the poor. Education does not give us the right to snub the needs of the simple. We are to call one another by titles of love and respect. We are to care for the needs of the elderly, no matter our own needs or rank or station. We are to teach what we know so that the next generation grows in good air.

  Once upon a time, the Zen masters teach, wealthy donors invited Master Ikkyu to a banquet. The master arrived there dressed in beggar’s robes. His host, not recognizing him in this garb, hustled him away: “We cannot have you here at the doorstep. We are expecting the famous Master Ikkyu any moment.” The master went home, changed into his ceremonial robe of purple brocade, and again presented himself at his host’s doorstep where he was received with great respect and ushered into the banquet room. There, he took off his stiff robe, sat it upright at the dinner table and said, “I presume that it is my robe you have invited since when I first arrived without it a little while ago, you showed me away.” In Benedictine spirituality reverence for the other based on the spark of the divine that is in us all is a gift to be given to a century alive with distinctions it will not admit and an insight into the sacred, scarred and bleeding, that it does not see.

  CHAPTER 64

  THE ELECTION OF A PRIORESS OR ABBOT

  April 20 – Aug. 20 – Dec. 20

  In choosing an abbot or prioress, the guiding principle should always be that the one placed in office be the one selected either by the whole community acting unanimously out of reverence for God, or by some part of the community, no matter how small, which possesses sounder judgment. Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot or prioress even if they are the last in community rank.

  The way an abbot or prioress is chosen is, like most other things in the Rule, left up to the changing needs of the group. Why an abbot or prioress is chosen is not. As far as the Rule is concerned, only “those who show goodness of life and wisdom in teaching” are fit for the position. Fundraisers and business people, efficiency experts and pious ascetics, administrators and philosophers are not ruled out; they are simply not defined in as categories that demand consideration. The implication is that if we choose those good of life and wise of heart then everything else will follow. We, of course, are always tempted to look for shortcuts to success: we look for the people who can trim our organizations or shape up our projects or stabilize our ministries. Benedictine spirituality cautions us always to follow only the good and the wise, only those who call us to our best selves, our fullest selves, knowing that if we live according to the Scriptures and choose according to the deepest and highest and greatest of human ideals, then life cannot fail for us, whatever its struggles, whatever its cost. “If I do not acquire ideals in my youth,” Maimonides wrote, “when will I? Not in old age.”

  Benedictine spirituality tells us to choose for ideals at every turn, even at those times when management seems more important than vision.

  May God forbid that a whole community should conspire to elect a prioress or abbot who goes along with its own evil ways. But if it does, and if the bishop of the diocese or any Benedictine leaders or other Christians in the area come to know of these evil ways to any extent, they must block the success of this wicked conspiracy, and set a worthy person in charge of God’s house. They may be sure that they will receive a generous reward for this, if they do it with pure motives and zeal for God’s honor. Conversely, they may be equally sure that to neglect to do so is sinful.

  There is no such thing as a private life in a globalized world. For a monastery, there never was. The monastery is that model of a place where the doors are always open, the environment is always gentle, the rhythm is always ordered, and God is always the center of life. A monastery is to be a light to remind all of us how beautiful the world would be if we shaped our own lives out of the same values. A Benedictine monastery is not of the church in the sense that a diocesan seminary or diocesan college is. It is not built by the church or operated by local diocesan officials. But it is definitely in the church and for the church. What happens in a Benedictine monastery should touch the spiritual life of an entire region. For that reason, whatever might erode monastic life—a breakdown of lifestyle, a contrived election, a loss of authenticity—is definitely everybody else’s business. And the Rule takes care to guarantee and to maintain that sense of public acknowledgment and accountability. “The voice of the people is as the voice of God,” a Jewish midrash writes. In this paragraph, Benedict requires the people to be the voice of God so that the house of God can be saved. If the monastery calls the public to commitment, there is no doubt that Benedict intends the public to call monasteries to authenticity as well so that Benedictine spirituality can continue to permeate the church. We are all guides for one another.

  April 21 – Aug. 21 – Dec. 21

  Once in office, the abbot and prioress must keep constantly in mind the nature of the burden they have received, and remember to whom they will have “to give an account of their stewardship” (Luke 16:2). Let them recognize that the goal must be profit for the community members, not preeminence for themselves. They ought, therefore, to be learned in divine law, so that they have a treasury of knowledge from which they can “bring out what is new and what is old” (Matt. 13:52). The abbot and prioress must be chaste, temperate, and merciful, always letting “mercy triumph over judgment” (James 2:13) so that they too may win mercy. They must hate faults but love the members. When they must punish them, they should use prudence and avoid extremes; otherwise, by rubbing too hard to remove the rust, they may break the vessel. They are to distrust their own frailty and remember “not to crush the bruised reed” (Isa. 42:3). By this we do not mean that they should allow faults to flourish, but rather, as we have already said, they should prune them away with prudence and love as they see best for each individual. Let them strive to be loved rather than feared.

  At the end of an entire series of injunctions and prescriptions, Benedict suddenly reintroduces a description of the kind of abbot or prioress whom he believes should guide a Benedictine community. He is, in other words, giving us a theology of authority or parenting or leadership. The Talmud reads, “Happy is the time where the great listen to the small, for in such a generation the small will listen to the great.” In the Rule of Benedict the prioress and abbot are told to display the good like a blazing fire but always to “let mercy triumph over judgment” and to “strive to be loved rather than feared.” Authority in Benedictine spirituality is not an end in itself nor is it an excuse to oppress the people for whom all law is made. Law is simply a candle on the path of life to lead us to the good we seek. Any authorities that make the law the end rather than the path are themselves worshiping at a lesser shrine.

  Excitable, anxious, extreme, obstinate, jealous, or overly suspicious the abbot or prioress must not be. Such a person is never at rest. Instead, they must show forethought and consideration in their orders and whether the task they assign concerns God or the world, they should be discerning and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said: “If I drive my flocks too hard, they will all die in a single day” (Gen. 33:13). Therefore, drawing on this and other examples of discretion, they must so arrange everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak nothing to run from.

  In the midrash Genesis Rabbah the rabbi says, “A farmer puts a yoke on his strong ox, not on his w
eak one.” The function of Benedictine leadership is not to make life difficult; it is to make life possible for both the strong and the weak. If a leader gives way to moodiness or institutional paranoia, if a leader is not emotionally balanced and spiritually grounded, a whole climate is poisoned. This chapter on the abbot or prioress is an important signal for parents and teachers and superiors everywhere: what we cannot model, we cannot expect, not of children, not of the professionals who work for us, not even of the people who love us enough to marry us. The people around us can take our emotional battering only so long. Then they leave or rebel or batter back. Benedictine leadership models a guidance that is firm but loving; clear but understanding; just but merciful; itself authentically committed to its own principles for, indeed, the rabbis also teach, “A little sin is big when a big person commits it.”

  They must, above all, keep this rule in every detail, so that when they have ministered well they will hear from God what that good servant heard who gave the other members of the household grain at the proper time: “I tell you solemnly, God will put this one in charge of greater things” (Matt. 24:47).

  In ancient civilizations, the law was the lawgiver’s law. Subjects had no rights, only responsibilities. The lawgiver could change the law on a whim or a fancy. In the Roman empire, the paterfamilias, the Roman father, could do no wrong in his own home. No court of law would try him; no one would convict him. He himself according to the principles of Roman jurisprudence was judge and jury, king and lawgiver. In a climate and culture such as this, the chapter on the abbot or prioress, and this paragraph in particular, are extremely revolutionary. This section issues a clear warning: authority has limits; authority is not a law unto itself; authority is responsible to the persons under it for their welfare and their growth; authority itself is under the law. It is a theology such as this that makes people free and keeps people free because the knee we bow to government must really be bowed only to God.