Readings

July 11: Benedict of Nursia, Monastic, c. 543

The Collect of the Day

Benedict of Nursia

Gracious God, whose service is perfect freedom and in whose commandments there is nothing harsh nor burdensome: Grant that we, with your servant Benedict, may listen with attentive minds, pray with fervent hearts, and serve you with willing hands, so that we might live at peace with one another and in obedience to your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Benedict of Nursia

Gracious God, whose service is perfect freedom and in whose commandments there is nothing harsh nor burdensome: Grant that we, with thy servant Benedict, may listen with attentive minds, pray with fervent hearts, and serve thee with willing hands, so that we might live at peace with one another and in obedience to thy Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Benedict is generally considered the father of Western monasticism. He was born around 480, at Nursia in central Italy, and was educated at Rome. Rome at this time was in the midst of considerable political and social instability. Benedict’s disapproval of the manners and morals of his society led him to a vocation of ascetic renunciation. He withdrew to a hillside cave above Lake Subiaco,about forty miles west of Rome, where there was already at least one other hermit.

Gradually, after many setbacks and considerable opposition, a community grew up around Benedict. Sometime between 525 and 530, he moved south with some of his disciples to Monte Cassino, midway between Rome and Naples, where he established another community, and, around 540, composed his famous monastic Rule. He died sometime between 540 and 550 and was buried in the same grave as his sister, Scholastica.

It has been said that no personality or text in the history of monasticism has occasioned more studies than Benedict and his rule. The major problem for historians is the question of how much of the rule is original. This is closely related to the question of the date of another, very similar but anonymous, rule for monks, known as The Rule of the Master, which may antedate Benedict’s Rule by ten years. This does not detract from the fact that Benedict’s firm but reasonable rule has been the basic source document from which most subsequent Western monastic rules were derived. Its average day provides for a little over four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer, a little over five hours in spiritual reading, about six hours of work, one hour for eating, and about eight hours of sleep. The entire Psalter is to be recited in the Divine Office once every week. At profession, the new monk or nun takes vows of “stability, conversion of life, and obedience.”

The prologue to the Rule says: “And so we are going to establish a school for the service of the Lord. In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome. But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity, do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation, whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matthew 7:14). For as we advance in the religious life and in faith, our hearts expand and we run the way of God’s commandments with unspeakable sweetness of love. Thus, never departing from his school, but persevering in the monastery according to his teaching until death, we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13) and deserve to have a share also in his kingdom.”

Gregory the Great wrote Benedict’s Life in the second book of his Dialogues. He also adopted Benedictine monasticism as an instrument of evangelization when, in 596, he sent Augustine and his companions to convert the Anglo-Saxon people. In the Anglican Communion today, not only are there several Benedictine communities, but the rules of many other religious orders also have been strongly influenced by the Benedictine rule.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *and they meditate on his law day and night.

3They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *everything they do shall prosper.

4It is not so with the wicked; *they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *but the way of the wicked is doomed.

Gospel

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Proverbs 2:1–9

1 My child, if you accept my words    and treasure up my commandments within you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom    and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 if you indeed cry out for insight,    and raise your voice for understanding; 4 if you seek it like silver,    and search for it as for hidden treasures— 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord    and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom;    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;    he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, 8 guarding the paths of justice    and preserving the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

Luke 14:27–33

27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.