HOMILY FOR ST BENEDICT OF NURSIA

HOMILY FOR 11 JULY 2024 FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT OF NURSIA, ABBOT 

Proverbs 2:1-9; Psalm 34:2-11; Matthew 19:27-29

THE CALL TO EMBRACE THE LIFE OF HOLINESS AND HOSPITALITY IN A MORE RADICAL WAY

As we honor this important figure in Church and world history, reflect on his humble beginnings. He witnessed the immoralities of his day and fled from those temptations to embrace a life of holiness. At that time, it would have been difficult for him to comprehend the influence he would have had on all of Europe and, in fact, upon the whole world for many centuries to come. 

Reflect on the fact that God also calls you to flee from sin and embrace a life of holiness. When that happens, God can do great things through you in ways you may never comprehend. Follow the example of Saint Benedict and commit yourself to holy daily living, and leave it up to God to use you as He wills.

In the early sixth century, St. Benedict wrote a Rule that he wanted his monks to follow. In 73 short chapters, St. Benedict tried to lay out an entire monastic way of life, so he certainly had a lot of ground to cover. He wrote about everything; from how an abbot should be chosen to how much monks were to eat and drink and where they were to sleep. He also devoted an entire chapter to how guests were to be received and treated.

This whole chapter, which is quite brief, can be summed up in the first phrase the Founder writes, Let all guests who arrive be treated as Christ (Chapter 53).  Benedict goes into specifics on how guests are to be welcomed and fed, but it all goes back to Christ Himself saying I came as a guest, and you received Me (Matthew 25:35).  St. Benedict understands, and wants his monks to understand, that Christ can be found in everyone. The first phrase of the last paragraph is a perfect summary of the Gospel message as well, In the reception of the poor and of pilgrims, the greatest care and solicitude should be shown, because it is in them that Christ is received (Ch. 53). 

How do we treat the stranger on the street, the man selling us a magazine, the immigrant, or the receptionist? Remember also, this does not apply to just the stranger.  How do we treat those that we see every day: the co-worker, roommate, friend, or classmate? Are these people just a means to an end, are they here for our convenience or happiness, or are they Christ to us?  Are we treating them as Christ incarnate or just as another person we have to deal with? Most likely we do not fall into either extreme, but every time we fall short of treating a person as Christ, we fall short of treating God as God.

To be hospitable, we do not need to follow the exact instructions of St. Benedict. Our hospitality, like his, should be rooted in charity, in love.  It can be quite simple: a smile, a since greeting, or the most common one at my alma mater, the holding of a door for a distant stranger. Hospitality is the easiest way to build up the Kingdom of God here and now.  

Benedict was born in Nursia in Central Italy into a family of high station. In his mid-teens, he was sent to Rome to continue his literary studies. Once there, he experienced a Rome in decay, an empire that was at the end of its life. Manners and morals seemed non-existent, political instability was increasing and, for Benedict, all the signals suggested a massive societal breakdown. Benedict decided he wanted nothing to do with Rome and was afraid of what might happen to him that he could end up leading a dissolute life, so he fled Rome and looked for a place of moral and emotional safety.

Benedict found such a place in the mountainous area of Subiaco, about 40 miles from Rome. Gregory suggests that Benedict spent five years or so in the Subiaco area, three of which he spent in a cave, living mostly in solitude. In this period, Benedict reached a greater spiritual depth and in clearer sense of how he wanted to live in the world.  

He became involved with some monks of several small monasteries around Subiaco, earning their great respect and admiration, so much so that Benedict was soon seen as someone who could be the abbot of a monastery; indeed, one of the monastic communities asked him to become their abbot. He agreed but after some time and no little animosity, it became clear that Benedict was not the right person to lead the community.  

Yet, as he became well known, especially by more fervent followers and other monks, new small monastic communities were formed, and Benedict became the abbot of one of them. Over time, however, Benedict became concerned about the disorganization of these small monastic communities and around 529, taking a small group of monks with him, he went to Monte Cassino, a place 80 miles south of Rome, and established a new and eventually very important monastic community. Benedict remained at Monte Cassino until his death. 

It was at Monte Cassino that Benedict imagined a new model of Western Monasticism and where in 540, he wrote the Rule as the instrument with which to create this new model. Monte Cassino was Benedicts workshop and his experience as the abbot of this monastic community, helped him shape and formulate his thinking about the need for such a Rule and what its elements ought to be. The Rule included a Prologue and 73 short chapters (a mere 9000 words). Benedict created it as a means for monastic communities to achieve sensible organization, informed governance with a clear mandate, wise and fair discipline, spiritual direction, a community that was grounded in prayer and work.

The Rule teaches that everything we do, especially those ordinary and sometimes dull and monotonous things, have the capacity to bring us closer to God. It is that useful and that relevant.  

Take these lessons from St Benedict:

(1) Prayer is Important. One incredible miracle performed by St. Benedict was moving a huge stone with his prayer. Some monks were busy building new cells at their abbey and came across a huge stone that blocked the path of their building. Even working all together, they were unable to move the stone. They called St. Benedict and he said a prayer for them that the stone would move. When he did this, they were able to easily move the stone. This is not only a sign of the miraculous, but also that there is power in prayer.

In the Rule, which was written for laymen, not for clerics, prayer is referred to as the work of God. Prayer, then, is work and work is prayer in the economy of monastic life. Instead of wondering how to squeeze prayer into the busy schedule of our work days, we can adopt a new vision in which all that we do is the work of prayer. We can give to God the whole cycle of the day, from rising and drinking our morning coffee to carpools and meetings and classes and household responsibilities until we go to bed at night.

(2) Listen with the Ears of Our Heart. When St. Benedict urges one to listen, he is not simply speaking about listening as we traditionally perceive it. He is not speaking about listening in the way that we might listen to a song or a joke, instead, he invites us in this phrase from the Book of Proverbs and Psalm 43 to incline the ear of our heart. We must have a receptive understanding, a trustful attitude towards the truth. The Church continues to teach us how to open the ears of our hearts.

Pope Benedict writes about Lectio Divina, or divine reading, one of the Churchs preferring methods of praying sacred Scripture. According to St. Benedict, this method requires the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer which brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and In praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart. 

(3) The Word of God is Important. St. Benedict realized the strongest and truest foundation for the power of words is the Word of God itself: For what page or word of the Bible is not a perfect rule for temporal life? He had experienced the power of the Word of God as expressed in Scripture: For just as the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall My Word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do My Will, achieving the end for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

(4) Live in Moderation. St. Benedict counsels moderation in all things  moderation and common sense; so as not to frighten away the faint-hearted”. Even in monasteries, moderation sometimes has to be insisted upon to avoid what might otherwise allow an imbalanced life, or worse, pride, because competition can impeded our sincerity and one can call to comparing oneself to others in a spirit of envy or jealousy. Benedict insists in his Rule that we must balance our lives with prayer and work, with reading and recreation, with rest and activity.

(5) Be Humble. St. Benedict stresses the important of living a humble life. In his rule, St. Benedict notes that Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11) and that those who want to reach the highest summit of humility must shun pride and exaltation and just as well that our actions will be like a ladder to heaven which Jacob saw in his dream in Genesis 28 where the angels ascended and descended. We see that the humility of the heart is the foundation of love for Christian life. Jesus showed us the Way and His sacred heart held the way of humility.

PRAYER: Saint Benedict, you witnessed the moral corruption in Rome at an early age and fled to the wilderness to seek out the will of God. Through your prayerful obedience to the will of God, inestimable good fruit has been borne. Please pray for me that I will always seek out the will of God in my life, leaving behind the many temptations to sin that I encounter, so that God can use me in ways known only to Him. Saint Benedict, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

O DIVINE WORD WHO TOOK FLESH FOR HUMAN SAKE, REDEEM US IN OUR SITUATION

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa