“For the obedience shown to an abbot or prioress is given to God, who has said: “Whoever listens to you, listens to me” (Luke 10:16).” RB 5.15
Hello and welcome. I’m Resident Novice Mickey. Br Ricky asked me to unpack RB 5.15 for the Feline Cloister novices and for you.
The Challenge of Obedience
I have a lifelong resistance to authority. Being obedient to any “top cat” doesn’t make me purr. Actually, obeying anyone is a challenge! So, when I read verse 15 in Chapter 5 my fur stood on end. “I’m supposed to unpack this?” I hissed.
Who likes to be obedient? Wouldn’t we much rather be obeyed?
I asked Br. Ricky if my own struggle with obedience was the reason I was assigned this verse. Shaking his head, Br. Ricky mewed, “No, Novice Mickey. I couldn’t figure out which verse to have you research so I took Amma’s birthday and used that: 5/15/19XX.”
Reassured that I was not totally beyond hope I trotted off to start my research. But I wondered what numbers “XX” in Amma’s birth year replaced.
Casper values obedience
so he is
always ready to listen
Novice Mickey Jumps into Research Mode
As I delved into my research, I realized that we cannot talk about this verse without exploring the practice of obedience as a Benedictine vow. While obedience in the Rule is addressed to the monastic community, listen up! Benedict’s voice is not just for the monastic community. Obedience is for all of us as Christians – felines, women and men who desire to live following Jesus and his way of loving.
To bring this idea home I first offer a real-time feline example – Lilibet., who is a member of our Worldwide Novice Community.
Christine,
Lilibet’s and Shadow’s human;
also Amma’s wonderful
web designer
Lilibet Needs a Brush-Up on Obedience
Worldwide Novice Lilibet is barely out of her teens in human years, around 1 1/2 in feline years. Her human, Christine, sent me a mew-mail when she learned that I was researching RB 5.15.
“Whatever you learn about RB 5.15 could you please share with Lilibet?” Christine pleaded in earnest. “I ask her to not do something and I am pretty well ignored.” With a sigh, she confessed, “My youthful novice is practicing every trick in the book. It’s driving me crazy.”
Sympathizing, I arranged a Zoom call with Lilibet to share what I had discovered about obedience. My hope was that some compassionate instruction could ease the situation in that corner of the Feline Cloister.
Novice Mickey and Lilibet Meet On Zoom
Resident Novice Mickey
Worldwide Novice Lilibet
After exchanging greetings and catching up, I began. “Lilibet, I hear that you dunk your toys into your water bowl. Then you shake them off and dunk them again. Finally, you toss them about.”
“Absolutely,” Lilibet mewed with energy. “It’s fun!”
“And then your human steps on the toys when they are all wet. That must not be fun,” I offered.
“But it’s my daily work, my manual labor, Novice Mickey! I’m only following what Abbot Benedict says.” With great seriousness Novice Lilibet intoned the following verse.
“Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the community members should have specified periods for manual labor [mewed with great emphasis] as well as for prayerful reading.” RB 48.1
Not sure what to say to that, I continued.
“Your human, Christine, also shared that you don’t drink normally from the water bowl either. This causes a problem. You dip one paw in the water bowl and stir. Then you lick the paw dry. Next you do the same with the other paw. This unconventional method leaves a pool of water around the bowl which you then track into other rooms.”
“My human asked me to stop, but it’s what I do!” confessed Lilibet.
Illus. Feline stirring with paw
in the water bowl
Novice Mickey Introduces RB 5.15 to Novice Lilibet
“As a novice, may I share what I learned in my research about a verse in Chapter 5 on obedience?” Lilibet gave a reluctant mew. But her fur really stood up when I read the verse.
“For the obedience shown to an abbot or prioress is given to God, who has said:
“Whoever listens to you, listens to me” (Luke 10:16).” RB 5.15
I was treated with a large hiss that resulted in screeching feedback from my computer speaker.
Undeterred I went on to explain the verse, the vow of obedience and why this verse is important to us as novices. Here’s what I shared.
Obedience and the Rule
Henrietta Morefur is not keen on obedience
In his book Benedict’s Rule in Mew: A Translation and Commentary, feline Benedictine scholar Br Terrence Furling, OSB-F, emphasizes the importance of obedience in the Rule.
“It is no exaggeration to say that obedience is the central theme for Benedict and a term for monastic life itself.” [1]
What is the first word in the Rule? “Listen.”
“Listen carefully, my child, to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice.” Prologue 1
Why this vow? The vow of obedience supports the monastic’s spiritual goal which is God.
Sr. Winifred, OSB-F, loves to be obedient because she knows that by obedience she goes
to God.
Obedience and Self-Focus
“How does obedience help us get closer to God, Mickey?” Lilibet had asked. I explained that obedience can lessen the focus that we have on ourselves. This makes us more available to God. In her well-known book Why the Rule of St. Benedict is Not Only for Humans, noted feline Benedictine scholar Sr. Scholastica Muffin writes …
“A goal of monastic life is to replace self-will with God’s will. Benedict asks us to abandon our own will. This can be perplexing. Doesn’t God give us will and want us to exercise it? Perhaps our own will is focused more on self, on our own wants, desires, and plans, rather than on being present with an open heart to others.” [3]
Within the monastic community obedience is actually freeing. Why is this? It’s because the monastic is no longer jerked around by her or his whims. Whims can really be exhausting because whims tend to multiply like rabbits. Whims breed more whims that breed more whims and more whims, etc., etc. Sr. Muffin continues…
“Ultimately, obedience will not destroy the monastic’s liberty; it will strengthen it. It will provide opportunities for God to work in the individual’s life in ways that would not be possible if one were at the mercy of one’s own whims.” [4]
The same for us! When we choose to be obedient, we listen for God through another person, through Scripture or other writing, or through the circumstances of our lives. We then choose to respond to what we hear. We let go of a bit of our self-focus. This makes us more available to God in ways that doing our own thing, like dunking toys in the water dish does not. Lilibet gave a feline frown upon hearing this.
Resident Novice William errs on the side of self-focus.
Mickey has pawed a follow up to help him step away from this self-defeating practice.
Verse 15 – Our Obedience is to God
Br Terrence Furling pawed that verse 15 categorically expresses “the supernatural foundation of the Chapter.” [5] Benedict quotes Luke 10:16, grounding the need for obedience in Scripture with these words of Jesus.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
When we listen and respond to a request, we are listening and responding to what comes from God.
Obedience to the Superior
Benedict places a high value on being obedient to the abbot, prioress or abbess for each holds the place of Christ in the community. (RB 2.2) Obedience to a superior is a concrete living out of obedience to God. “…Benedict is clear that abbots rule. (This might inspire a marketable T-shirt among monastics!)” [6]
At this point Lilibet gave a feline chuckle, but then became serious. “What if the superior isn’t a kind person, but bossy and mean?”
I mewed that Benedict is also clear about the kind of person an abbot or Prioress/Abbess is to be in chapters 2 and 64 and throughout the Rule as well. The superior is to be an example of the best Benedictine (RB 64.20). Each is to take care when guiding and disciplining the members. (RB 64.10). Love is to be the leading motivator (RB 64.11). The superior is to put the good of the monastic ahead of themselves. (RB 64.8)
Finally, to protect the monastic and foster a good relationship, the superior, in turn, must never do anything contrary to Christ’s instructions. (RB 2.2-4)
Obedience is Mutual
Lilibet (r) and Shadow
Reassured, Lilibet had nodded. “I hear what you are saying in all of this, Mickey. I will do my best to be obedient to Amma and Br. Ricky. They are my superiors. But must I be obedient to my human? And to my housemate Shadow?”
“Yes, definitely, Lilibet,” I mewed. “Benedictine obedience is really a community project. We are to be obedient to each other. Benedict devotes a whole chapter on Mutual Obedience, RB 71. He begins with this beautiful instruction.
“Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the prioress and abbot but also to one another, since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God.”
RB 71.1-2
That’s it. The bottom line. Obedience is a blessing from each of us to all. “Mutual obedience is not mainly about overt commands or requests. It is responding to the needs of the other before they are spoken, even looking for ways to respond whether or not they are spoken. In other words, mutual obedience is about sensitivity and availability to my brother or sister, whatever need he or she has, including a readiness to tolerate deficiencies.” [7]
We are obedient to each other because of love – love of God, love of Christ, and love of each other.
Lilibet purred. That really excited me. Encouraged, I added these words from Sr. Scholastica.
“When St. Benedict wrote his Rule he was trying to build up a spiritual family. He wanted his monks [and us in our various communities] to be content and find fulfillment. But these are everybody’s goals: what Benedict said holds good for all family life, for parent, for children, for society as a whole. Obedience is our response, and we can often be clearer about its nature if we think of it as acceptance.” [8]
When we are asked to do something, we can listen and respond with an open acceptance from the heart. This is not always easy, of course. The beauty of acceptance and obedience is that we grow in the process. This is especially true when the Superior and the monastic trust and respect each other. Yet it is also true when we trust and respect those with whom we live and work.
Lilibet Makes a Promise
“Novice Mickey, thank you for sharing all this about obedience. I am inspired to do a better job of fulfilling my responsibility to really listen to my housemates. I will do my best respond to them in a positive and helpful way.”
“That’s wonderful, Lilibet.” I offered, purring at the same time. “God be with you.”
We then closed our Zoom screens. I gathered my notes and trotted off to share with Br. Ricky.
Thank you for reading my unpacking of RB 5.15. I feel a whole lot better about the practice of obedience. Hope you do, too.
Have a blessed day,
Novice Mickey
©April 2024, Novice Mickey and Jane Tomaine
Endnotes
[1] Br. Furling quotes Benedictine monk Terrence G. Kardong, Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996), 116.
[2] Jane Tomaine, St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living Harrisburg. PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2015), 57.
[3] Jane Tomaine, The Rule of Benedict: Christian Monastic Wisdom for Daily Living (Nashville, TN: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2017), 75.
[4] Sr. Scholastic draws from Dennis Okholm, Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2007), 56.
[5] Kardong, 111.
[6] Okholm, 65.
[7] Jeremy Kodell, O.S.B., “Mutual Obedience: My Brother’s Need is the Voice of God,” The American Benedictine Review, 64:4 (December 2013), 410.
[8] Dom Leonard Vickers, “On a Human Note,” in A Touch of God: Eight Monastic Journeys, ed. Maria Boulding (Still River, MA: St. Bede’s Publications, 1982), 134-135.
Lilibet (right) mews, “I listened to my human, Christine. She asked me to be a pal to my housemate Shadow.” I offered unhesitating obedience because
I cherish Christ above all.” (RB 5.1)
