Genesis: 12: 1–4a
Philippians 4:4–9
John 17: 20–26
Today we celebrate the passing of St. Benedict from this world to the Father. It his is death we celebrate today. It is observed in Benedictine monasteries close to the spring equinox. Just as the seasons change from one to another, so does Benedict pass, transit from this world to the heavenly world. When it comes to remembering a death, there is sometimes a tradition of giving a eulogy about the deceased person. This simply means giving a good word about the person. Rhetorically it often gets expanded into praising the life the man. If you read some medieval sermons for this feast of the transitus, this is often what they sound like. And as time went on, they would sing the praises of the Benedictine Order and what it has contributed to the culture of Europe. This theme is still operative today. Now the question is asked what can Benedict say to a very different culture than the one his monks once left behind. And beyond Europe, we have more and more literature on how Benedict and his Rule can affect the ordinary person.
At first hearing the Word we have just heard doesn’t seem to have much to do with death but there is some hint of a passage from this world to the next in Paul and with Jesus. But the Word can point us in a direction that our thoughts and feelings might take as Benedict moves along the carpet lined with lights from this world to heaven.
Abraham. When we listen to his call, we easily think of our vocation. We reflect on the fact that none of us are living in our home town or for some even in our home country. We have all left the family and place we are familiar with. And following that call was not necessarily easy, just as it was not easy for Abraham. But Abraham’s call had more than a ‘leaving behind’ as part of it. There was also a blessing attached to it. And it was not a blessing that he would live to see. God asks him to move but he also gives him his word and makes a promise. He will be blessed and he will become a blessing for others. This speaks to us Benedictines as much as a vocation call. The name Benedict translates as simply “One who is Blessed.”
Benedict passes from this world to the Father today. But he has left a blessing behind him. If we count the 1500+ years his way of life has been carried out, then he is surely a happy man to have so many sons and daughters who have lived in the light of his blessing. We can pause to consider the significance of that. We here in this day and age, from several places on earth that Benedict did not even know about, have been touched by his way of life. Surely he is a happy man for that. But we might ask ourselves, just how have I been blessed in knowing this man and in knowing his way of following the Gospel. Can each of us begin to name the blessing Benedict has bequeathed to us through his life and through his Rule? Is it a way of prayer, a way of prayer founded in God’s word? Is it perhaps the gift of balance in our lives that comes about by following the rhythm of common prayer, work, reading day in and day out? Is it the virtue of patience that has grown in us as we learned to live next to someone of different temperament or style or culture than me? Have I come to know peace in my life because I have been faithful to all that Benedict calls us to? Can I recognize the blessing of wholeness that has come to me by walking the road of humility? Can I say that there is less fear in my life now that my heart has expanded in love? Is there less rigidity and defense and more openness and selflessness. Listening to the call of Abraham is only a part of the Abraham story; the other half is that Abraham is to be a blessing. Abraham’s vocation was to become a blessing. Surely today when we remember the passing of Benedict, we can ponder the blessing and blessings that have come to us by being a disciple in Benedict’s school of the Lord’s service. And the blessing this way of life can give even in our world today.
Paul. Paul speaks a word to the Philippians and Benedict speaks a word to his followers. Paul wishes joy and peace for his community. Benedict’s invitation in his prologue is precisely to those people who are looking also for peace. Benedict has a word and a plan for those whose hearts are looking for wholeness and a rich life. He asks us to seek peace and pursue it. Run after this peace. Run after this blessing that God wishes to give us and does so in abundance at the resurrection of Christ.
Paul asks his community to imitate him, do what he taught, to follow his example. As Benedict passes today from this world to the Father, he also encourages us to do all the things we have learned from him and were taught by him. What he taught and what we can learn is found in the Rule. But if we are to follow him, then we best do that by giving flesh to the Rule, making it come alive. Of course we make a vow to follow the Rule. And we listen to it each day. But all this is to say that we are to be conscious daily of what Benedict is teaching us. Benedict may pass into the glory of his Master. But Benedict lives to the degree that we find the way to God and a way of serving the Lord Jesus in the word of the Rule. Keep on doing what you have learned, received and heard in me, Paul tells his community at Philippi. Benedict passes to the Father but leaves a gift in his Rule. The Rule is perhaps the great blessing that Benedict leaves behind. When we follow it, he says we too will become blessed, we will become free.
Lastly, we hear Jesus praying. Perhaps Jesus’ words are similar to the words of prayer that St. Gregory tells us were on the lips of Benedict in his dying moments. Listening to Jesus we are invited to hear in them what St. Benedict prayed for his own community. What Benedict wishes for us is a place in the great communion that flows between Father and Son. It is a communion that now includes those who believe in the Son. The communion of love that flows between the Father and the Son is expanded to all those for whom the Son lived and died.
What is at the center of St. Benedict’s way of life is Christ. At the heart of the community is the living Christ. We come to the monastery to live in a community with Christ as the center. We come to accept what Jesus continues to offer, a relationship with him and the Father. At the heart of the community is the great blessing. It is the blessing that the Father loves Jesus and is faithful to him until the end. Jesus in his turn loves us and is faithful to us also. And we live in that love. Our stability, that Benedictine hallmark, is to remain in that love. And our living in that love becomes a blessing to the world around us. To the degree that we live out of the blessing, to that degree do we experience peace. To that same degree do the followers of St. Benedict become a blessing wherever they may be found.
We give thanks today for God’s blessing, St. Benedict, who has given us a way to life that leads to the heart of Love, the source of all blessing.
~Prior, Fr. Joel Macu, OSB