August 2, 2016
The Fourth Step of Humility in the Rule of Saint Benedict is seen by
many as the most difficult one, and many people who aren’t monks often wonder
why anyone would agree to live according to such a difficult and almost
demeaning stricture of the Rule:
The fourth step of humility is that in this
obedience under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, his heart
quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape.
What people fail to realize most
of the time is that what is described in this rule is common to the human condition. We all have to deal with
these kinds of things in our lives, monks or not. The major difference is in how
the monk is taught to deal with them.
I’m writing about this today
because during noon prayer we listened to an excellent reading from Cistercian
monk Dom Michael Casey OSCO of Australia. He eloquently fleshes out what is
indicated in the text of the Rule, and again, as you read his words, I
encourage you to be aware of how these various dura et aspera (Latin for “hard and difficult ways”) are present in
your own life from time to time as well:
This, he says, is what can
expect to encounter in monastic life (and, as I’ve indicated, in any
human life):
harshness, things which go
against the grain, injuries, suffering, ‘being tormented by death all day long,’
‘being reckoned as sheep for the slaughter,’ ‘being tested like silver in the
furnace,’ ‘being led into a trap,’ ‘having afflictions laid upon one’s back,’ ‘having
men walk over one’s head’ which means being under a superior [my note: or boss
or spouse], adversities, being ‘struck
on the cheek,’ having one’s clothes stolen, being forced to walk long
distances and having to endure false brothers, persecution and being cursed.”
Many people, when they are met
with such things, fight back, get angry and bitter, try to find a way around
them or a way to eliminate them. Fr. Casey advises that “the monk would do
better to take for granted that they, or something very similar, will always be
with him and so to devote his energies to the task of living creatively despite
them.” (The Virtue of Patience in the
Western Tradition, pp. 16-17)
Perhaps we all should ask for
the grace to be able to do the same.
God bless you and help you in
your struggles!
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