Hey there! Good to see you! I’m S. Bridgett, OSB-F, a new member of the Feline Cloister.
Do you ever find yourself mewing about the monotony of life? Or do you hiss or about other felines, dogs, or people? Ever want to give the computer a good swipe with your paw?
Might you even yawn your way through prayer or stop your lectio to take a peek at your smartphone?
Even though a bonified Benedictine feline I admit to doing all of the above from time to time.
Enter The Rule of St. Benedict to save the day!
Today I share an article about the Rule that got my paws back on the right path. The author, Michael Peterson, is a monk from Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Fr. Michael presents an approach to life that is a foundation in Benedict’s Rule. Let’s make it a foundation in our own lives. too.
Here is Fr. Michael’s beautiful article. He gave me permission to share it with you. I am grateful! Amma and I added the pictures.
Reverence in the Rule of Saint Benedict
By Michael Peterson, OSB
Reverence is an essential thread running through the Rule of Saint Benedict. Benedict does not present reverence as a feeling or an idea to ponder. He presents it as a way of seeing and acting in the world.
Reverence is how one moves through the day, relates with others, handles material goods, how one prays, and how one receives anything or anyone who crosses the threshold of the monastery. In an age often driven by self-interest, this steady discipline of reverencing all things challenges the cultural current and offers wisdom for our life.
Benedict’s understanding of reverence begins where all genuine spirituality begins, with the awareness that God is present. God is present always and everywhere and even in the people and tasks we are tempted to overlook. In Chapter 19, Benedict reminds the community that “we believe that God is present everywhere,” and that we enter liturgies in a way that allows our minds to be in harmony with our voices. Reverence, then, becomes more than respect for sacred spaces.
Reverence becomes the inner work of integrity, a tuning of the heart to match the sound of the lips.
This same spirit carries into the practical life of the monastery. Benedict instructs the cellarer to handle “all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar.”
It is one of the most striking lines in the Rule. A chalice and a coffee cup both ask for the same interior stance. Whatever is placed in our hands is holy. The way we handle it reveals the state of our heart.
The cellarer will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar,
aware that nothing
is to be neglected.
RB 31.10-11
Reverence is always concrete. It is a kind welcome at a door, the attentive listening to another, the patient response when someone is being difficult. In Benedict’s world, things are not disposable, and neither are people.
Reverence shines most clearly in Chapter 72, “The Good Zeal of Monks.” Many consider this the summit of the Rule because it gathers the entire monastic vision into one direction of the heart.
Benedict writes that each member of the community should try to be the first to show reverence to the other.
The culture around us often rewards competition, comparison, and me first. Benedict turns the monk in the opposite direction. Good zeal, which is the only zeal he affirms, is described as “most fervent love.” It is a warmth that moves toward the other in order to build up rather than tear down.
This reverence is not sentimental. It is chosen. A monk may feel annoyed or tired or overwhelmed. Benedict knows this well and still instructs the community to “support with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of body or behavior.” In other words, treat one another not as obstacles but as companions on the pilgrimage to God. This is not idealism. It is the long fidelity of love tested in ordinary moments.
Reverence also extends to all places. The gardener, the porter, the infirmarian, and the guestmaster all reveal this in their particular roles. Plants are tended with reverence. Guests are welcomed as Christ. The sick and the dying are surrounded with compassion. Reverence grows until nothing is excluded.
Everything becomes a place where God may be met.
Ultimately, reverence in the Rule trains the eyes to see. God hides in plain sight: in the brother who irritates us, the tool we clean, the psalm we chant for the hundredth time, the unexpected guest who arrives at an inconvenient moment.
Benedict teaches that the ordinary is the doorway to encounter. The task is to be present enough to notice. Benedict gives a simple call.
Show reverence now, right where you are.
