Benedict=Unfair
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
Benedict’s Rule isn’t fair. If you want everything divided equally among everyone you won’t be happy with how Benedict does things. In Chapter 34 he addresses the distribution of goods, and he recognizes it won’t happen equally, but it will be done based on need. “Whoever needs less should thank God and not be distressed, but whoever needs . . .
The Evil Practice of Private Ownership
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
In my childhood years, I remember a basic organizing principle for peace between siblings was the concept of private ownership. Certain things were yours; certain things were your siblings. I wasn’t to handle my sisters’ things, and they weren’t to handle mine. If we played by those rules there was a little more harmony in the house. Society, . . .
The Qualifications of the Cellarer, or What We Do with What We Have.
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
No one, at first glance, thinks, “Oh good, this part is going to be a real page-turner.” Chapter 31 is a detailed qualifications description for the Monastery Cellarer, which sounds like reading doubling as a sleeping pill. For Benedict, though, there is nothing dull about the Cellarer’s duties. The Cellarer is one who manages the goods of . . .
Excommunication
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
Here’s a big scary word for you: excommunication. I never think, “I really need to work on the excommunication policies for my church,” because we don’t really have those types of rules. Chapters 23-29 of the Rule of St. Benedict deal with just that, how to handle those in the community who have committed serious faults and when they need to . . .
How They Are to Sleep
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
In ancient times, when I was a college student, some in my church had hopes of creating a young adult/college student ministry. People occasionally asked me about it, but I didn’t make any commitments. My response was, “I’m around college students all the time. I come to church so I can be around other groups, too.” It’s natural for people . . .
Appointing Deans in the Monastery
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
Churches often don’t make thoughtful choices about leadership. Usually churches use the “find a warm body” approach to leadership selection. A job needs filling and the church has anxiety about filling it, and whoever can be stuck there is the person chosen for the job. At the other extreme, someone has been in a job a very long time, and . . .
Less is More
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
I know the road between Northwest Indiana (where I live), and Missouri (where my family lives) pretty well. I’ve passed through Effingham, Illinois, where I-70 meets I-57, several dozen times. If you’ve gone through there you know besides several places to eat, fuel up, or stay the night, there is also a really big cross there. If you’ve . . .