11 July — 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Eph. 2:19-22; Ps. 117:1, 2; Jn. 20:24-29

Some Notes on St. Benedict:

1. St. Benedict was born in Nursia, near Spoleto, Italy, c. 480. He died at Monte Cassino in 547 at the age of 67. His only authentic character sketch is that contained in the 2nd book of St. Gregory's "Dialogues." Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia. St. Scholastica was his twin sister. His boyhood was spent in Rome with his parents.

In about 500 AD, he gave up his books to look for a place of solitude. He took a servant with him and settled in Enfide (the modern Affile).

2. When his solitude was disturbed after his first miracle of restoring to perfect condition an earthenware vessel, accidentally broken by his servant, he fled to Subiaco. He wanted to be truly poor and to live by his own work. After receiving advice and a monk's habit from Romanus who lived in a nearby monastery located above a cave on a Subiaco mountain, Benedict became a hermit.

3. He lived for three years in the cave. Through prayer, meditation and solitude, he grew in the knowledge and love of God. Reluctantly, he consented to be an Abbot of a nearby monastery, but the members could not accept his strict discipline and tried to poison him. So, he returned to his cave.

4. His miracles became more frequent and the simplicity of his holy ascetical life attracted many disciples. He built 12 monasteries for them, each with 12 monks, but remained the father or Abbot of all. With the monasteries were schools for children.

5. Around 530 AD, he drew out a Rule for the monasteries and for nuns who wanted to follow his monastic style of life. The Rule eventually became the norm and guide for monasteries. Surprisingly, the Rule was not for clerics but for lay people who wished to live the Gospel as fully as possible. The lay-origin character of the Rule remains, even though Benedictine monks are now generally clerics.

6. The Rule emphasizes prayer, work, simplicity and hospitality.

The Benedictines take no explicit vow of poverty. They only profess Obedience according to the Rule, in which the vows of poverty and chastity are implicit. Possessions are held in common. Community life is paramount. Public prayer binds the community together. Benedict did not legislate anything on private prayer, but described it as praying "with tears and fervor of heart," "with purity of heart."

The mode of life secured by the Rule leads naturally to higher states of prayer, built on the foundations of obedience and work. "Ora et labora" — this sums up the principal themes of Benedict's Rule.