Homily: July 11 - St. Benedict - Prefer nothing to the love of Christ

St. Benedict lived in a time when the classical world was breaking apart—bloody wars were tearing down the civilization of the Greco-Roman world.  Barbarians were sweeping through Europe.  European culture was crumbling, yet within the Benedictine Monastery a different culture of work and prayer and learning and love of God prevailed.  The monasteries became beacons of hope for the people of Europe, like lighthouses pointing the way to the safe harbor of heaven.

St. Benedicts monks, and the many religious communities he inspired, remind all Christians and all peoples to strive after holiness, to store up not treasure on earth, but treasure in heaven.  Benedict wrote: Nihil amori Christi praeponere—Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.  Holiness consists of this, preferring nothing to the love of Christ.

We live in an age that prefers anything but Christ, and culture is once again deteriorating.  The fabric of society is being torn a shred at its most basic levels, the dignity of human life and Christian marriage. Consciousness of these many threats is one reason why Pope Benedict chose the name Benedict. 

Many young people, also, conscious of the empty promises of the world are entering monasteries and religious life as powerful witnesses to the world: that amidst all the temptations of pleasure and power, there is another way!

Every Christian is to be a witness that despite all the empty promises of the world, joy can be found through faith in Jesus Christ, in preferring nothing to the love of Him! 

We heard in our reading this morning, “Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.”  The Lord sent Hosea to speak this prophetic word to those who had forsaken the ways of the Lord. 

In the Gospel, the Lord tells his followers how he sends us out as sheep amidst wolves.  Prophetic witness will inevitably draw criticism from the world. 

The world laughed at him, mocked him, thought he was naïve, thought he was blasphemous, and they do the same to us.  They worked to prevent him from spreading His Gospel, they do the same to us.  We are not to be surprised or give up hope when we are hated for teaching in His name, in fact, we should expect it.

Yet, along with this warning, the Lord gives a promise.  “Do not worry,” he says, “the Spirit of your Father will speak through you.”  All that we do for the Lord will not go in vain.  All that we suffer for him does in the end matter.  All the prayers, and rosaries, and hours of service, in the end do touch people’s lives.

Inspired by the life of St. Benedict, and assisted by his heavenly intercession, may we be found worthy of the name Christian today, in bearing witness to Christ and preferring nothing to love of him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.