CHAPTER 52
The Rule, Chapter 52 95 house of this particular woman and eat these various foods and have so and so many cups to drink?"
The monks were embarrassed and confessed the faults they had committed when they were outside the monastery. St.
Gregory says, "The man of God did not hesitate to pardon them, confident that they would do no further wrong in his absence, since they now realized he was always present to them in spirit."
Why is St. Benedict so cautious in allowing his monks to associate with people in the neighborhood? He doesn't want his monks to become so comfortable in other people's homes that they begin to neglect responsibilities in their own home.
An Oblate may have to ask occasionally, "Am I gone from home too often?" In this chapter we are all reminded once more of the importance of the family meal, and we are advised not to find excuses for absenting ourselves from it.
CHAPTER 52
The Oratory of the Monastery St. Benedict had no blueprints in mind for the great monastic churches Benedictines would build after he was gone. I doubt if he would ever have allowed their construction. St. Bede tells us about the church his abbot, St. Benedict Biscop, built in seventh century England:
Benedict crossed the sea to France to look for masons to build him a stone church in the Roman style he had always loved so much. He found them, took them on and brought them back home with him. So strong was his devotion to St. Peter, in whose honor the scheme was begun, and so fervent his zeal in carrying it out, that within a year of laying the foundations, he had the gable-ends of the church in place and you could already visualize Mass being celebrated in it. When
96 The Rule, Chapter 52 the building was nearing completion he sent his agents across to France to bring over glaziers— craftsmen as yet unknown in Britain— to glaze the windows in the body of the church and in the chapels and clerestory. The glaziers came over as requested but they did not merely execute their commission: they helped the English to understand and to learn themselves the art of glass-making, an art which was to prove invaluable in making of lamps for the church and many other kinds of vessels. He was also a dedicated collector of everything necessary for the service of the church and altar— sacred vessels and vestments for instance— and saw to it that what could not be obtained at home was shipped over from abroad.1
Chapter 52 of the Rule provides no guidelines for liturgical furnishings or decorations. St. Benedict merely says, "The oratory ought to be what it is called, and nothing else is to be done or stored there." "Oratory" simply means "a place for prayer."
St. Benedict wants his oratory to be reserved for prayer, nothing else. St. Pachomius allowed his Egyptian monks to manufacture rope in their oratory.
And when he begins to walk into the synaxis [liturgical service] room, going to his place of sitting and standing, he should not tread upon the rushes which have been dipped in water in preparation for the plaiting of ropes . . .nor shall you sit idle in the synaxis, but with quick hand you shall prepare ropes for the warps of mats. . . . Let no one look at another twisting ropes or praying; let him rather be intent on his own work with eyes cast down.2
St. Benedict's monks must exercise their crafts and trades in the shops only.
And nothing should be stored in the oratory. The oratory is a prayer room, not a warehouse. The visitation report of a thirteenth-century Irish Cistercian monastery mentions just such an infraction of the Rule: "They stored large amounts of grain, hay, flour and other necessities in the church."3 These
Irish monks were guilty of a far more serious offense than turn-
The Rule, Chapter 52 97 ing their church i*ito a barn. Their church was also an arsenal.
This was a community that had expelled its abbot and the monks who had been sent over from England to reform the place. The Irish monks of Maigue were unwilling to be reformed. They barricaded themselves in the monastery and made a fort out of it. "They strongly fortified a shelter above the altar with provisions and weapons. . . . Finally, they brought thirty head of cattle on the hoof into the cloister, grazing them on the grass there and on hay stored in the church."4
St. Benedict says, "After the Work of God, all should leave in complete silence and with reverence for God, so that a brother who may wish to pray alone will not be disturbed by the insensitivity of another." So much of the Rule is concerned with reverence for God and sensitivity for others.
"Moreover, if at other times someone chooses to pray privately, he may simply go in and pray, not in a loud voice, but with tears and heartfelt devotion." Although St. Benedict says much about communal prayer, this chapter commends the practice of private prayer also. He refers to the private prayer that is done in the oratory. "Accordingly, anyone who does not pray in this manner [quietly] is not to remain in the oratory after the Work of God, as we have said; then he will not interfere with anyone else." To "pray with tears" is a figure of speech. He means we should pray with compunction, with reverence. Other people may be in the oratory saying their prayers. Do not disturb them by praying your mantra or rosary or novena out loud. If you must address God vocally, go to a place where only God can hear you.
And don't take your knitting to church. "The oratory ought to be what it is called, and nothing else is to be done or stored there."
98 The Rule, Chapter 53
CHAPTER 53
The Reception of Guests St. Benedict knew that monasteries would always have guests.
In the Middle Ages, monasteries probably had more guests than we have today. Then the monastery was the only motel available for travelers. "Once a guest has been announced, the superior and the brothers are to meet him with all the courtesy of love. First of all, they are to pray together and thus be united in peace, but prayer must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions of the devil/' Nowadays we shake hands with visitors at the front door instead of giving them the kiss of peace, and we don't pray with them before letting them in. Although St. Benedict tells us, "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ," he is aware that there are certain kinds of guests who come to the monastery to take advantage of the monks. In our day we have been deluded too. Once, I took a guest to the bus depot after a stay of several days at the monastery. I was unaware that his suitcase, which I was carrying, was filled with books that he had snitched from our library.
Once we put up two white-robed young men who informed us that they were disciples of the Lord. The guestmaster offered to wash their robes made from bedsheets. One of the sheets was ripped to pieces in the washing machine, and Father Cletus had to provide the disciple with a new bedsheet. St. Benedict instructs the abbot to "pour water on the hands of the guests, and the abbot with the entire community shall wash their feet." We could have washed the feet of these pilgrims in white. Members of their group don't wear shoes. They walk from place to place barefoot. Like the travelers in St. Benedict's day who walked great distances wearing sandals, these two guests arrived at our monastery with dust on their feet. We
The Rule, Chapter 54 99 didn't wash their feet, though. Instead, Father Cletus showed the young men to the showers.
"Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received; our very awe of the rich guarantees them special respect." It is our human nature, I suppose, that leads us to fawn over the rich and the famous. St. Benedict reminds us not to ignore the other people— people who cannot afford to stay in hotels or motels. Like the destitute family who stopped at a rectory to ask for assistance. The pastor told them, "Go to the abbey. The monks will put you up for the night."
In the town where I grew up, our neighbors were Oblates of St. Benedict. They had this plaque on the wall of their dining room: "Let all guests be received as Christ."
CHAPTER 54
Letters or Gifts for Monks "In no circumstances is a monk allowed, unless the abbot says he may, to exchange letters, blessed tokens or small gifts of any kind, with his parents or anyone else, or with a fellow monk. He must not presume to accept gifts sent him even by his parents without previously telling the abbot."
When St. Bede was dying in 735, he said to the monk at his bedside: "I have a few things in my box— some pepper, napkins, and incense. Bring them to me so that I can make some small gifts of what God has given me."1 The monk who records this incident does not indicate that St. Bede had his abbot's permission to keep these things. We can presume that he did. But did he have the abbot's permission to give them away? I've often wondered if St. Bede ever felt guilty about hanging on to these precious items. Pepper can't be grown in