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Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, Founder of Western Monasticism, April 5, 2016
Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, Founder of Western Monasticism, April 5, 2016
Abbot Melvin J. Valvano, OSB
Abbot Melvin J. Valvano, OSB
Abbot of Newark Abbey and President of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, Newark, NJ.
Abbot of Newark Abbey and President of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, Newark, NJ.
The Second Vatican Council reminds the Christian and the monk (and all people) that “The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he/she is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to each and every woman and man as soon as he comes into being. For if the human person—man--exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts his whole person to his creator”.
The Second Vatican Council reminds the Christian and the monk (and all people) that “The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he/she is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to each and every woman and man as soon as he comes into being. For if the human person—man--exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts his whole person to his creator”.
This singularly mysterious implanted desire for God becomes the universally bequeathed gift of divine faith through God’s action and ours. Living this life of faith for the Christian and for the monk-- simply said-- is our reason for existence.
This singularly mysterious implanted desire for God becomes the universally bequeathed gift of divine faith through God’s action and ours. Living this life of faith for the Christian and for the monk-- simply said-- is our reason for existence.
Living God’s complete revelation to the world for all time and peoples, Jesus Christ the Lord, His death and Resurrection, is at the core and center of human history and the personal history of each and every human being with each sacred gift of any religion and all acts of worshipping prayer.
Living God’s complete revelation to the world for all time and peoples, Jesus Christ the Lord, His death and Resurrection, is at the core and center of human history and the personal history of each and every human being with each sacred gift of any religion and all acts of worshipping prayer.
As we remember the great founder of our monastic life, St. Benedict, at this holy Eucharist, we are aware that in every culture and in many religions for thousands of years monks answered a highly personal but also universal Call from God to fulfill in special ways, usually together in community in attentive and prayerful listening, this call of divine desire. Vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, promise and seek to respond to the divine desire planted in each of us from our womb and for the Christian incorporated into Jesus Christ at our own Baptism.
As we remember the great founder of our monastic life, St. Benedict, at this holy Eucharist, we are aware that in every culture and in many religions for thousands of years monks answered a highly personal but also universal Call from God to fulfill in special ways, usually together in community in attentive and prayerful listening, this call of divine desire. Vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, promise and seek to respond to the divine desire planted in each of us from our womb and for the Christian incorporated into Jesus Christ at our own Baptism.
The monk fleshes out this universal and unambiguous, but always mysterious, desire for God through prayer, acts of charitable giving and service of all kinds.
The monk fleshes out this universal and unambiguous, but always mysterious, desire for God through prayer, acts of charitable giving and service of all kinds.
The monk’s life promises, vows, and attempts this path only and always with the assistance of the Holy Spirit of the Father. The monk hopes and prays to make concrete, visible and tangible the truth that divine faith is always singing in our deepest self: God is love. God the Father has given His own Son to His world of human history for our salvation and our Resurrection and in doing this has removed from all of human history—past, present and future—the existential dread of any fatal, final darkness. God has always been and will always be love for each and every human being—from our origins to our final fulfillment together in and with God, who raised Jesus the man, our brother, from the dead.
The monk’s life promises, vows, and attempts this path only and always with the assistance of the Holy Spirit of the Father. The monk hopes and prays to make concrete, visible and tangible the truth that divine faith is always singing in our deepest self: God is love. God the Father has given His own Son to His world of human history for our salvation and our Resurrection and in doing this has removed from all of human history—past, present and future—the existential dread of any fatal, final darkness. God has always been and will always be love for each and every human being—from our origins to our final fulfillment together in and with God, who raised Jesus the man, our brother, from the dead.
St. Benedict, like a good father, desires that the monk be confident that some of the strangeness of his common life results from centering on the person’s desire for God, each and every hour and day. All one need take to heart are Benedict’s bold words of instruction in his chapter 5 on monastic obedience and a monk’s deepest most real desire(s). He says: “It is love that impels them to pursue everlasting life . . . This very obedience will be acceptable to God and agreeable to men only if compliance with what is commanded is not cringing or sluggish or half-hearted . . . For the obedience shown to superiors is given to God, as he himself said: Whoever listens to you, listens to me”.
St. Benedict, like a good father, desires that the monk be confident that some of the strangeness of his common life results from centering on the person’s desire for God, each and every hour and day. All one need take to heart are Benedict’s bold words of instruction in his chapter 5 on monastic obedience and a monk’s deepest most real desire(s). He says: “It is love that impels them to pursue everlasting life . . . This very obedience will be acceptable to God and agreeable to men only if compliance with what is commanded is not cringing or sluggish or half-hearted . . . For the obedience shown to superiors is given to God, as he himself said: Whoever listens to you, listens to me”.
On the other hand the monk in turn may notice that often it seems that some of the strange and unexplainable tragedies of anyone’s life—terrible violence of all sort, acquisitiveness that blinds and numbs the person, self- centeredness—all result unfortunately from NOT CONCENTRATING on the universal divine desire that wishes to be recognized, lived, and worshipped: God! Therefore the wise, down-to-earth utterly realistic monk is always praying with full personal commitment (sometimes even tears) the Our Father, first and last begging forgiveness for himself, and then for all his sisters and brothers all over the world.
On the other hand the monk in turn may notice that often it seems that some of the strange and unexplainable tragedies of anyone’s life—terrible violence of all sort, acquisitiveness that blinds and numbs the person, self- centeredness—all result unfortunately from NOT CONCENTRATING on the universal divine desire that wishes to be recognized, lived, and worshipped: God! Therefore the wise, down-to-earth utterly realistic monk is always praying with full personal commitment (sometimes even tears) the Our Father, first and last begging forgiveness for himself, and then for all his sisters and brothers all over the world.
Let us give St. Benedict the last promising words of hope for monks and all believers—in fact for all people: “But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. Amen
Let us give St. Benedict the last promising words of hope for monks and all believers—in fact for all people: “But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. Amen
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