CHAPTER 73
138 The Rule, Chapter 73
CHAPTER 73
This Rule Only a Beginning of Perfection 'The reason we have written this rule is that, by observing it in monasteries, we can show that we have some degree of virtue and the beginnings of monastic life." It is a great consolation that St. Benedict does not expect any of us to become saints by following his Rule. He does expect us to make progress, though, in that direction.
If some monks wish to become more assured of attaining "the very heights of perfection," there are other examples to imitate, but for people like us— you and me— the Rule of St.
Benedict is sufficient as we hasten to our heavenly home. "Then with Christ's help, keep this little rule that we have written for beginners." You and I will always be beginners, but we will reach our destination by following the Rule of St. Benedict.
Sources Oblates of St. Benedict 1. Congress of Abbots, 1984.
2. Correspondence with Kathleen Norris, poet and writer.
CHAPTER 2. Qualities of the Abbot 1. Aelred of Rievaulx, Treatises, The Pastoral Prayer, introduction by David Knowles (Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1971)
116-117.
2. , On Spiritual Friendship, trans. Mary Eugenia Loher, S.S.N.D. (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications-Consortium Press, 1974)
13.
CHAPTER 21. The Deans of the Monastery 1. The Rule of the Master, trans. Luke Eberle, O.S.B. (Kalamazoo:
Cistercian Publications, 1977) 142.
2. Ibid. 147.
CHAPTERS 23-26. The Divine Office 1. Maurus Wolter, O.S.B., The Principles of Monasticism, ed. and trans. Bernard Sause, O.S.B. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Company,
1962) 743.
CHAPTER 29. Readmission of Brothers Who Leave the Monastery 1. Basil, Ascetical Works: The Long Rules, Fathers of the Church, trans. M. Monica Wagner, C.S.C. (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1950) 263.
140 Sources 2. Ibid. 264.
3. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, ed. and trans. Bruno Scott James (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company,
1953) 435.
4. Ibid. 102.
CHAPTER 35. Kitchen Servers of the Week 1. Basil, The Long Rules 252.
CHAPTER 39. The Proper Amount of Food 1. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Letters 8.
CHAPTER 40. The Proper Amount of Drink 1. Colman J. Barry, O.S.B., Worship and Work (Collegeville: St.
John's Abbey Press, 1956) 15.
CHAPTER 45. Mistakes in the Oratory 1. The Rule of the Master 207.
CHAPTER 47. Announcing the Hours for the Work of God 1. Pachomius, Pachomian Koinonia, trans. Armand Veilleux (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1981) 2:145.
2. Frank Bottomry, The Explorer's Guide to the Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches of Great Britain (Kingswood, Surrey: Kaye & Ward, Ltd.,
1981) 140.
3. Ibid. 140.
CHAPTER 49. The Observance of Lent 1. The Rule of the Master 215.
CHAPTER 52. The Oratory of the Monastery 1. Bede, " Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow," The Age
Sources 141 of Bede, ed. and trans. D. H. Farmer (Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Penguin Books, Ltd., 1983) 189.
2. Pachomius 145.
3. Stephen of Lexington, Letters from Ireland 1228-1229, trans. Barry W. O'Dwyer (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1982) 188.
4. Ibid. 188. .
CHAPTER 54. Letters or Gifts for Monks 1. Cuthbert, account of Bede's death, trans, in Book of Prayer (Collegeville: St. John's Abbey Press, 1975) 1577.
CHAPTER 56. The Abbot's Table 1. Hubert Van Zeller, The Rule of St. Benedict (New York: Sheed
& Ward, 1958) 351.
CHAPTER 57. The Artisans of the Monastery 1. David Knowles, Christian Monasticism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969) 81-82.
2. Ibid. 82.
3. Boniface Wimmer, quoted in Sacred Art at St. John's Abbey (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1980).
CHAPTER 59. The Offering of Sons by Nobles or by the Poor 1. Bede, A History of the English Church and People, trans. Leo
Sherley-Price, rev. R.E. Latham (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1968) 336.
CHAPTER 60. The Admission of Priests to the Monastery 1. Gregory the Great, ' 'Homilies on Ezekiel," Book of Prayer, 1700.
2. Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions, 1960) 65.
CHAPTER 61. The Reception of Visiting Monks 1. The Rule of the Master 240.
142 Sources CHAPTER 64. The Election of an Abbot 1. Bede, The Age of Bede 196.
CHAPTER 70. The Presumption of Striking Another Monk at Will 1. The Rule of the Master 153.
2. Besa, The Life of Shenoute, trans. David N. Bell (Kalamazoo:
Cistercian Publications, 1983) 79. chapter 71. Mutual Obedience 1. Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert 47.
2. Ibid. 59.
CHAPTER 72. The Good Zeal of Monks 1. Aelred of Rievaulx, The Mirror of Charity, trans. Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker (London: A.R. Mowbray & Co., 1962) 62.
2. The Rule of Taize (Taize: Ateliers et Presses de Taize, 1968) 139.
The monastic Rule of St. Benedict is a sixthcentury document which has never gathered dust. It is relevant in every age because its followers are led to Christ. But these followers need not be monks and nuns. Every Christian may live according to the Rule. The Rule of St.
Benedict teaches all of us how to live.
A Share in the Kingdom began as monthly letters to Oblates of St. Benedict, lay people, and clergy (not all of them Roman Catholic) who have an affiliation with Blue Cloud Abbey, Marvin, South Dakota. In the last chapter of the Rule,
St. Benedict asks: "Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?" This commentary on St.
Benedict's Rule is intended to help us along the way, to indicate how we should travel and where we should not delay.
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