CHAPTER 68
126 The Rule, Chapter 68
CHAPTER 68
Assignment of Impossible Tasks to a Brother "A brother may be assigned a burdensome task or something he cannot do. If so, he should, with complete gentleness and obedience, accept the order given him/7 St. Benedict is speaking of obedience again. In chapter 5 he said, 'The first step of humility is unhestitating obedience/' Now, in chapter 68, he goes on to say that the monk is allowed an opportunity to explain to his abbot the reasons why obedience is an impossibility. " Should he see, however, that the weight of the burden is altogether too much for his strength, then he should choose the appropriate moment and explain patiently to his superior the reasons why he cannot perform the task. This he ought to do without pride, obstinacy or refusal." This makes sense, doesn't it? I'm sure you have at some time been asked to accomplish a task that you found beyond your capabilities.
You know that a polite refusal is more effective than an indignant protestation.
Nowadays in monastic life when there are fewer members in our communities, some of us may be asked to do things for which we have never had the inclination or the talent. I live in fear that I will be asked to prepare breakfast one day a week.
Should that happen, I will probably consider placing an order at Wanda's Donut Shop in town the day before rather than attempt to fry eggs or cook oatmeal. More likely, I will have to remind myself of these words in the Prologue to the Rule:
"What is not possible to us by nature, let us ask the Lord to supply by the help of his grace." This is repeated in chapter
68, when St. Benedict tells the monk who is begging off: "If after the explanation the superior is still determined to hold to his original order, then the junior must recognize that this is best for him. Trusting in God's help, he must in love obey.'
The Rule, Chapter 68 127 The story that is often told to illustrate Benedictine obedience is the one St. Gregory relates in his biography of St.
Benedict:
Once while blessed Benedict was in his room, one of his monks, the boy Placid, went down to get some water. In letting the bucket fill too rapidly, he lost his balance and was pulled into the lake, where the current quickly seized him and carried him about a stone's throw away from the shore.
Though inside the monastery at the time, the man of God was instantly aware of what had happened and called out to Maurus: ''Hurry, Brother Maurus! the boy who just went down for water has fallen into the lake, and the current is carrying him away."
What followed was remarkable indeed, and unheard of since the time of Peter the apostle. Maurus asked the blessing and on receiving it hurried out to fulfill his abbot's command. He kept on running even over the water till he reached the place where Placid was drifting along helplessly. Pulling him up by the hair, Maurus rushed back to shore, still under the impression that he was on dry land. It was only when he set foot on ground that he came to himself and looking back realized that he had been running on the surface of the water. Overcome with fear and amazement at a deed he would never have thought possible, he returned to his abbot and told him what had taken place.
The holy man would not take any personal credit for the deed but attributed it to the obedience of his disciple.
Maurus's obedience, in this case, was "unhesitating."
There was no time to invoke chapter 68. Maurus may not even have been able to swim, but he had no chance of telling St.
Benedict that. Trusting in God's help, Maurus lovingly obeyed St. Benedict.
St. Benedict attributed the miracle of walking on water to Maurus's obedience, but "Maurus on the contrary claimed that it was due entirely to his abbot's command. He could not have been responsible for the miracle himself, he said, since he had not even known he was performing it."
128 The Rule, Chapter 69 Placid will try settling the dispute in the next sentence by exclaiming, 'When I was being drawn out of the water/ he told them T saw the abbot's cloak over my head; he is the one
I thought was bringing me to shore.' "
Nevertheless, it was Maurus's obedient act that saved Placid from drowning. Obedience always has its own reward. And often enough we are amazed that miracles occur when we consent to do something that at first seemed burdensome or impossible to do.
If the time should ever come, I will have to trust in God's help with breakfast. Who knows— I may eventually turn out a tasty omelet. What will you do the next time the assignment of an impossible task comes your way?
CHAPTER 69
The Presumption of Defending Another in the Monastery What prompted St. Benedict to include this chapter in his Rule was the Roman custom of having a protector. A commoner often had to protect his interests by seeking the protection of an influential person. The commoner then owed his protector a public expression of gratitude and was forever subject to him.
All classes of people were allowed to enter St. Benedict's monastery, and he did not want a monk from the aristocratic class to assume the role of protector for a monk from the lower class.
St. Benedict didn't want any godfathers in his monastery.
He says, "Even if they are related by the closest ties of blood," one monk cannot defend another or be his "champion." If there are siblings in the monastery, the older cannot
"big brother" the younger or excuse the kid brother if he misbehaves. We can imagine a situation in which several monks,