Saint Benedict, man of God
Saint Benedict of Nursia (Umbria 480-547) stands at the origin of Western monastic life and is the founder of the Benedictine order.
In the biography ‘The Life of Saint Benedict’ – in fact a hagiography – the Church Father Pope Gregory (540 – 604) sketches the picture of the blessed one (benedictus) who grew into a saint.
Benedict came of a noble family and at the age of twenty was sent by his parents to Rome to study the ‘artes liberales’ and build a political career. But the decline of faith, the threat of war and the decadence of the Eternal City went against the grain with him. He decided to withdraw to remote Affile in order to become, together with his nurse, a man of God in prayer and detachment.
This search brought him to the well-known ‘Rule for monks’. A kind of practical guide for brothers on the way to God. The distillation of his own ‘quest’, which he brought to a good end through many a fall and rise.
Benedict grew into a great saint. Though not by a flawless course. His zeal and drive carried within them the risk of leading him away from his original aims. Gregory speaks of three threats.
The first: the temptation of the craving to achieve. His strict and ascetic life brought him due fame and won him admirers who eagerly sought his help. Benedict felt the lure of vanity. His ascetic achievements no longer drew attention to God but to his own person. In answer, Benedict chose radical solitude.
He withdrew into a cave at Subiaco, where for three years he lived in total detachment. A hermit alone with God, alone for God.
That way of life held a fresh challenge. His total dedication to God made him strict and radical towards himself and others.
This became clear in an incident at the monastery of Vicovaro, where the community wished to appoint him abbot. His hard and inflexible manner, however, drove the monks to revolt. They even wanted to poison him. A second lesson for Benedict. Alongside the consistent search for God there must be room for moderation and balance.
The third danger had to do with his legalistic approach to faith, which resulted in strict observance of the precepts. This became clear during Benedict’s yearly meeting with his twin sister Scholastica. Gregory relates how their warm reunion carried them away and made them lose track of time. Benedict wished to break off the conversation and, as the rule prescribed, spend the night in his monastery. Scholastica preferred to continue their spiritual dialogue. Because Benedict stood his ground, Scholastica turned to God in prayer. Suddenly a violent storm broke out and Benedict could no longer leave. This made him see that love and life come before the law.
Through this process of growth Benedict came to understand how important it is to let go of one’s own convictions, so that the search for God may proceed as openly as possible.
It also made him see the role of obedience: leaving room for God apart from one’s own person. Obedience creates silence, makes space and time to hear Him as purely as possible and to be able to follow Him.
Whoever seeks God does best, therefore, according to Benedict, to join a community that follows a rule and stands under the guidance of an abbot. The community of fellow brothers serves as a mirror. The rule creates a framework of life for the monk. The abbot points to the figure of Christ. For Benedict, after all, the Love of Christ is the absolute measure.
From these elements – community, rule and abbot – the brother can grow into a true man of God.
