Dear Friends,
A French diplomat, who had close contact with Pope John XXIII, was asked what impressed him the most with this pope. His witty and humorous response: “It is his big ears!” Pope John XXIII was a good listener.
Mary and Martha, Donald Jackson, Copyright 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA
So was Saint Benedict. He begins his Rule with a call to listening. We are meant to hear Christ when he speaks to us. We are meant to listen to him, not only with our physical ears, but with our hearts: “Incline the ear of your heart,” Benedict advises (Prologue 1). According to the Father of Western Monasticism, the voice of the Lord reaches us through Holy Scripture—and through people as well, each of whom could be a messenger of Christ to us. Benedict devotes his long Chapter 53 to hospitality: “All guests who present themselves should be received like Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’” (Rule 53:1; Matthew 25:35). All guests: Openness to all people is characteristic for Benedictine hospitality, without selection, without social, political or religious prejudices. Benedict does, however, show a special fondness for the poor. “In them more particularly Christ is received” (53:15).
Part of hospitality is inviting the guests to prayer. The guests are taken into the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the center of the monks’ community life. Also, the monks are meant to show the guests every kindness, to make time for them, to sit down with them and to read Holy Scripture with them. This is an encounter at eye level. It is about exchanging experiences, not about instruction; it is about listening and sharing.
The guest is, according to Benedict, a gift of God to the community. He makes this point by having the community, in the presence of the guest, pray the Psalm verse: “God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple” (53:14; Psalm 47:10). A contemporary of Benedict, Cassiodorus, writes in an explanation of this verse: “We call Christ, the Lord, ‘mercy;’ in him, God has shown mercy to an orphaned world.” In the guest Christ, the mercy of God, comes and remains in the monastery. – At St. Benedict Center we are grateful to you, our guests; we try to listen to you and to serve you in the spirit of St. Benedict.
Among the upcoming programs I would like to point out to you especially those related to our permanent exhibit of The Saint John’s Bible’s Heritage Edition which will open early next year: the presentation by Tim Ternes from Collegeville, MN, on September 10, and the retreat on Praying with the Saint John’s Bible on October 19 – 20. – I am looking forward to seeing you again soon!
Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB, Administrator