July 11 was the feast day of one of the most
important saints in church history: St. Benedict. Benedict was born into a rich Italian family in
the year 480 and went to complete his studies in Rome. But, disturbed by the material and moral
dangers of city life, Benedict, around the age of 20, became a hermit; he went
to live in a cave for three years in Subiaco, Italy.
Because of his sanctity, he quickly attracted many
followers, who like him wished to withdraw from the world in order to strive
after holiness through a life of work and prayer. To house his company, Benedict built twelve
monasteries, and around the year 550, he left Subiaco to start the monastery at
Montecassino. It is there that he wrote
his famous Rule, “The Rule of St. Benedict” .
St. Benedict is also an important figure in world history;
his monasteries helped to save western civilization from total collapse. Bloody
wars and barbarian hordes were sweeping across Europe, tearing down the
civilization of the classical world.
European culture was crumbling, yet the Benedictine Monastery was this
stable place of study and prayer. Those
monasteries provided light—the light of learning and faith—as Europe suffered
great darkness.
They became beacons of hope for the people of Europe, reminding
them of God’s presence and the importance of living a holy Christian life. And they became a very potent force in
rebuilding Europe. The very first
universities sprung up from the monastic schools. So, if you went to college, or benefited in
some way by someone that did, you can thank St. Benedict.
Fast forward 1400 years to the 1950s. The Bishops of the Second Vatican Council saw
danger looming on the horizon again: a new modern barbarism spreading
throughout the world, a godlessness threatening the very foundations of civilization.
In the documents of Vatican II, the holy fathers stressed
that not only monks and priests and nuns and bishops are called to strive for
holiness, but all Christians develop a vibrant prayers lives and to be generous
in service. They also stressed the
importance of every Christian family to be like those Benedictine monasteries. They called the family, the domestic church,
the church of the home. It is in the
home where we first learn to pray to God and prayerfully seek his will for us.
The family is really the basic unit of the Church. If someone asks me, “Father, what does it
mean to be a Catholic?” The idea of domestic
church means, I should be able to point to families in the parish, and say, go
and live with them for a week, that’s what it means. See how they pray together, how they are
patient with one another, see their generosity towards one another, how they
forgive one another when they have wronged, how they encourage each other in
times of difficulty, care for each other in illness, how the Christian faith
permeates their lives.
And every family is to be that fertile ground for faithful
Christians to sprout. In that beautiful
first reading from the prophet Isaiah how God’s word is meant to make our souls
fertile and fruit bearing. God’s word is
to permeate our family, so that Christian families can make our neighborhoods and
cities fertile.
In order for God’s word to permeate your family life, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, must be at
the center of your family life. The
domestic church can only be built up when Jesus is included in everything: in
chores and vacations and business decisions and civic responsibilities. We must not practice spiritual contraception
by keeping Christ and his teachings out of any part of our lives.
The motto of the Benedictine order is Ora et Labora, work and prayer.
We know how families work to provide for each other. So what about prayer?
St. Benedict is often depicted in art with a finger pressed
to his lips because he so valued silence.
Silence was such an important part of his rule because in silence we
learn how to listen to the quiet voice of God.
The Christian Philosopher Svoren Kierkegaard said if he were
a doctor he would prescribe as a remedy for all the world’s disorders,
“silence”. St. Benedict would no doubt
agree.
Our culture abhors silence; it is addicted to
stimulation. We have to constantly have
the television or internet going. The
constant stimulation and busyness bring not cheerfulness, but exhaustion and
emptiness. One of the spiritual dangers
of having cell phones that can access the internet anywhere, anytime, is that
one never learns how to sit in silence.
The cell phones and televisions in every room of the house
is a great threat to health and holiness of the family. I know of many families who therefore have a
very healthy rule, that between certain times, all electronics are turned
off. Perhaps between 5:30 and 8pm: no
tv, no video games, no cell phones, especially at the dinner table. Study and conversation build up the family in
ways that all of the electronic gadgets cannot possibly. Perhaps a family rosary must be prayed before
the television is even allowed to be turned on.
In his life, St. Benedict is said to have conquered three
great temptations: the temptation to put himself at the center rather than
Christ, the temptation to find inordinate pleasure from the senses, in other
words, temptations of the flesh, and finally, he overcame the temptations to hold
on to grudges and seek revenge.
We find these temptations abounding in our modern
culture. Again, the remedy is the same
for us as it was for St. Benedict, prayerful silence and mindfulness of God,
allowing the word of God to seep back into our bones, and back into our
culture. Benedict wrote, “your way of
acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come
before all else.”
Parents, if you want your children to be happy, make your
family as fertile in faith as possible; don’t teach or pressure our children to
have empty lives, but above all to seek to put their gifts and talents in the
service of God. Encourage them to at
least consider a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated religious life.
Our seminary here in Cleveland will have over 80 young men
studying for the priesthood; that’s more seminarians than some European
countries. And our diocese also has many
young women seeking to enter religious life.
Our young people no doubt see the emptiness the world offers and wants
something more.
Through word and sacrament may each of us be strengthened in
holiness and strive ever more for the building up of the Church for the glory
of God and salvation of souls.
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