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A Word From the Associate&
The Mystery of the Monk
Last week we celebrated the feast of St. Benedict. He is one of the great ones of our tradition, so I thought I would write a few words to mark the occasion.
Benedict was a monk of the sixth century. He founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy, and he wrote the Rule that has ever since been the mainstay of Western monasticism.
We owe a great deal to Benedict and his sons and daughters, fifteen hundred years of a beautiful history. It is not too much to say that the Benedictines saved classical civilization during a time of crisis. They converted barbarian tribes, risking and often giving their lives in the process. They built Europe. They carried on the arts of reading and poetry, engraving and bookmaking, building and agriculture. They were often the mainstay of their communities, both spiritually and materially, bright lights of learning and of Christian life in a sea of darkness. They carried forward and developed the Western liturgical tradition. Not for nothing is St. Benedict called the Father of Europe.
But there is something odd about all this. The monk after all is someone who flees the world. He doesn't set out to fix it, to provide for it, to solve its practical difficulties. His heart is set on fire by another world, a coming kingdom, and he seeks out the lonely places, the deserts and mountaintops, where he can pray and work in solitude, far from the dizzying distractions of human affairs, and be a prophetic witness to that other world. How did it happen that a group of people who deliberately turned away from this world's concerns ended by making an unparalleled contribution to the health of the very world they were fleeing?
The answer might be found in the old saying: "The monk flees the world, and then the world runs after the monk." Again and again the monk would escape, run away into solitude, but the world would not, could not let him alone. Monks were sought out to be bishops and popes, judges and counselors, teachers and spiritual guides. Whether they wanted it or not, people sought them out, came to live near them, warmed themselves in the heat of the Christian fire that emanated from their hearty monastic life and their steady chanting of prayers as they rose to greet the dawn with God's praises, and stood watch against the evils of the night.
So you might say that Benedict and his sons and daughters "accidentally" saved human civilization. They weren't planning to, they had another vision in mind. And maybe this should not surprise us. Jesus told us to seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other things would be added as well. When we put first the goal of loving God with all our hearts, we find that, often mysteriously, we benefit this world as well. When we forget God and try to fix this world our own way without God's help or wisdom, we often go wrong without meaning to.
So, Benedict, to you and to and all those men and women who have followed you in humility and joy, many thanks. This world is much richer for you, and the next world is much more real in our minds.
Fr. Michael Keating
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