The Benedictine Spirit
This coming Sunday, July 11th, is the feast for St. Benedict of Nursia, “Abbot and Founder of the Benedictine Order.” The work and impact of St. Benedict on the Western Church have received a small bit of attention in recent years, thanks to several popular works of Christian social commentary seeking to recover a Bendictine spirit in response to our culture, but St. Benedict’s impact on our lives with Christ goes far beyond even what these popular works highlight. I implore you, read The Rule of St. Benedict when you can, which is Benedict’s vision and framework for Bendictine Christian communities. Copies of the Rule can be found at a low cost, and even online for free.
Icon of St Benedict, Tewkesbury Abbey
© Copyright Philip Halling & licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
All of this is to say, there are two areas of impact from the life and work of St. Benedict at Christ Church Anglican worth highlighting in this compass. The first is the order of our prayer life as Anglicans, and the second is the value of The Rule as an organizational and administrative guide for Christians in community.
The Anglican way of being a Christian is first and foremost a way of prayer. I encourage anyone seeking to grow deeper in their life with Christ, whether they are inside or outside of the Anglican tradition, to turn to the Anglican Daily Office to do so. The Office is a rhythm of prayer and scripture reading, marked by times of devotion in the morning and in the evening which can be supplemented by additional times of devotion throughout the day, which has shaped the lives of Christians for centuries. To give credit where credit is due, the Daily Office is not an Anglican invention so much as it is a Benedictine one. No less than one-third of Benedict’s Rule is devoted to when and how the Benedictine community is to gather for community prayer, establishing a pattern of life anchored by prayer in the morning and evening. The move, and I believe it was a brilliant move, made by the Anglican Reformers at the time of the tradition’s formation was to accept the patterns of prayer set forth by Benedict, but to bring that pattern of prayer into the homes and lives of every Christian. In this way, I believe the Anglican Reformers were nearer to the essence of Benedictine Spirituality than those who wished to keep it within the walls of a monastery or do away with it altogether, for this way of prayer was never intended to be exclusively for a so-called “spiritual elite,” but for sinners in need of continual cleansing and assurance of God’s grace and love for them.
The second fruit of Benedictine Spirituality that I pray would impact a church like Christ Church Anglican is the organizational and administrative genius of St. Benedict, displayed in the simple fact that these strange communities have endured in various forms for nearly 1600 years. Far too often, the Anglican Church, taking the lead of the Church in our country, looks to the worlds of politics, business, and the military for the guidance of her operations and administration. I have heard far too many lectures on leadership from Anglican leaders that take the Lewis and Clark expedition as their guide for the lecture, to provide one example, rather than the wisdom of the Ancient Church. I have no idea where the Church’s fascination with the organizational strategies of Lewis and Clark, Southwest Airlines, or any other number of secular organizations comes from, but I can tell you that this fascination has not served the Church well. I care far less about how a certain CEO would guide a divine institution whose mission is to be nourished by God’s grace through Word and Sacrament, than how St. Benedict would guide it. I simply wish more Christians (particularly those in positions of leadership) were aware of the wealth of resources found in the historic church, and in the Benedictine tradition in particular.
To provide an example of particular significance to the season Christ Church Anglican finds herself in, I will quote from Benedict’s Rule regarding the role of humility in the health of a Christian organization. Benedict speaks of the need to “not conceal” from anyone “any sinful thoughts entering our hearts, or any wrongs committed in secret, but rather confess them humbly.” Contemporary psychology tells us that the problems we conceal from ourselves and others are the problems that will destroy us. This is true on both a personal and organizational level. Far from simply being a pious discipline, this practice of humble honesty and confession to one another is actually a foundational practice for Christian organizational health.
I could say much more about the importance of St. Benedict and the gifts he has bestowed on generations of Christians, but I know most of you have likely stopped reading by now anyway! I encourage you to simply read for yourself.
In Christ,
Fr. Matt