The Rule of Benedict
It is the custom in Benedictine monasteries to read a section of the Rule of St Benedict at a meal time each day. The Rule is so divided that the whole Rule is read through three times every year. The section for the first day of May is the last section of the Rule and it is also read on August 31st and December 31st. While much of the Rule is concerned with the daily routine of the monastery, this section contains general advice on where the monk, and therefore the oblate, can look for guidance on growing in holiness.
Now, many people assume that, if one is following the Rule carefully and applying its precepts as best as one can, then one has already achieved a satisfactory level of holiness. Not so St Benedict! In fact, the words of this section can come as a timely reminder that the work of growing in holiness is never complete. For those who have perhaps become rather complaisant, they can even be shocking – how can such a strict Rule be described as a “minimum rule … for beginners?” What is necessary in order to move from being a beginner to being an expert? St Benedict did not have the vast resources available to him that modern monks and oblates have in the way of spiritual reading. Yet his advice is still sound and worth repeating.
“Now we have written this Rule in order that by its observance in monasteries we may show that we have attained some degree of virtue and the rudiments of the religious life.
But for him who would hasten to the perfection of that life there are the teachings of the holy Fathers, the observance of which leads a man to the height of perfection. For what page or what utterance of the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is not a most unerring rule for human life? Or what book of the holy Catholic Fathers does not loudly proclaim how we may come by a straight course to our creator? Then the Conferences and the Institutes and the Lives of the Fathers, as also the Rule of our holy Father Basil – what else are they but tools of virtue for right-living and obedient monks? But for us who are lazy and ill-living and negligent they are a source of shame and confusion.
Whoever you are, therefore, who are hastening to the heavenly homeland, fulfil with the help of Christ this minimum Rule which we have written for beginners; and then at length under God’s protection you will attain to the loftier heights of doctrine and virtue which we have mentioned above.”
So there we are – following the Rule diligently gives us the rudiments of holy living. On their own they are adequate for beginners in the quest for holiness but need to be supplemented if we are to grow and develop.
For most people, whether attached to a monastery or not, May is the month of Mary, the mother of Our Lord. Perhaps surprisingly, the Rule does not mention her at all. It was written in the 6th century, after the Council of Ephesus (431) had declared Mary as “theotokos” or the mother of God, not simply the mother of the male Jesus Christ. Devotion to Mary was well established among the Early Fathers and their teachings on the role of Mary must have been familiar to St Benedict. Which, of course, answers the question on why St Benedict himself does not mention Mary. He did not write the Rule with the idea of it being a comprehensive guide to holy living but a pointer to the lifestyle needed to grow in holiness – a day structured round prayer and service to others, with time set aside for study. During this study, the reader would encounter teachings on Mary by theologians whom St Benedict feels are far better guides to the truth than he is. So a final lesson from the Rule is one of humility. If St Benedict was merely a guide to greater writers, where does that leave us?
Jane Coll
Oblate of Pluscarden
