Benedictine Spirituality Ten Key Elements for Everyday Life

St Benedict’s Legacy n n Benedict’s Rule for monasteries has been used as the cornerstone for monastic life up to the present because it is brief, flexible, realistic, practical, humane and sensible. The basic premise of the Benedictine ‘Rule” is all that is needed is to be faithful to finding God in the ordinary circumstances of daily life. *

Benedict’s World View n n n Benedict rejected the degenerate lifestyle of his day. The Roman Empire was in decline and decay. Benedict’s message was that with balance and moderation, stability, hospitality and stewardship, the true values of “civilised” Christian life would be preserved. *

Benedictine “Values” n n n Stability; Conversion; Obedience Humility; Community n n n Prayer; Work; Hospitality; Peace; Compassion. *

Stability and Balance n n n For Benedict, the spiritual pathway was not to be littered with difficult and strange practices. Monastic, and all life, should be a balance between work, prayer and leisure. This brought stability, which is essential if we are to put on the mind of God and continue on our journey of conversion. It is a counterpoint to a culture obsessed with change, redundancy and pursuit of new experiences. *

Conversion n n Conversion is the disposition of “putting on the mind of God”. It is an openness to change, to become daily more Christ-like in our words, actions and world-view. It is to deliberately walk in the conscious presence of God’s dream for humanity each day. We tune our ears to God’s way, not that of the world. *

Obedience: Listen! n n n Benedict urged his followers: “Prefer nothing whatever to Christ”. Benedictine contemplation revolves around listening obediently to the Word of God. Listening to the world is to adopt a compassionate response to all we encounter: to listen with the ear of our heart. n In order to obey the call to listen, we need to be silent. *

Humility n n Humility in the Benedictine tradition is not a fawning self-negation Humility is aligned with patience: it is the capacity to realise that not all one wants to happen or be can occur in the “now. ” Humility accepts that others may not be at the same stage as oneself and so one is prepared to wait for the right time and place. Humility does not place the ego above all else: it accepts that for peaceful relationships, others must be considered. It is essential for living in community.

Community n Justice was a strong element of monastic community life. It stemmed from humility and respect for all creation. n n Benedict decreed that even the youngest novice was entitled to his say in community gatherings and was to be listened to with respect. Benedict’s vision for a successful community was that the brightest still had something to strive for and the least were not discouraged. *

Work n n n For Benedict, life balance was achieved by the interplay of work, prayer and leisure. Thus the day is broken up into periods of time centred around these three life factors. Work gives people dignity and is part of our cocreation role with God the creator.

Hospitality n n The obligation to welcome the stranger as one would welcome Christ was imperative to the monastic way of life. Benedict urged his followers to treat all goods as if they were the vessels of the altar: that is to value and acknowledge the connectedness of all creation. Benedictine spirituality is strongly aligned with nature and God-in-creation. From hospitality comes connectedness and stewardship and responsibility towards the rest of the planet. *

Peace n n n Peace is not the absence of violence or war. Peace-fullness comes from the daily practice of balance, prayer, compassion, hospitality, listening, reverence and hope. Peace is the product of conversion to the mind of God. It is the life of God. Peace often only comes through suffering of loss of ego. Peace is the ability to obey the great and lesser silences so we can hear with the ear of our hearts. *

Compassion n n Compassion stems from putting on the mind of God, from listening with the ear of our hearts and motivates our hospitality. Compassion is the basis of our response to the world and all creation. Compassion is the antithesis of a “Me before, above and overall” culture. Compassion draws us towards others, not isolates us from them. *

Hope n n n Hope is one of the three great virtues of Christianity. Hope is a world view. It underpins the risk of hospitality, of justice and equality and motivates our compassion. Hope is the reason we taken on the other Christian/Benedictine virtues, because rationally and logically they do not make sense. *