The Oblate and the Call to Humility

THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT: CHAPTER VII

I have edited the text for the use of St. Anthony of the Desert, our own Chapter of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Our Chapter meets on the Second Sunday of each month at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas, Texas, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. to sing the Offices and share in a cold collation. All are welcome.

Chapter VII Of Humility

Introduction and the First Step of Humility

Brothers and Sisters, the Holy Scripture cries to us saying: “Every one that exalts himself will be humbled; and he that humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:11)[i]. Since Scripture says this; it shows us that every exaltation is a kind of pride. The Prophet declares that he guards himself against this, saying: “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” (Ps 131:1). What then? “If I was not humbly minded, but were exalted instead; then you would have treated me like a weaned child upon my mother’s lap.” (Ps 131:2).  

It is important to understand that Oblates are not Monks or Nuns. Monastics live in an environment where those within the monastery, by virtue of their vows, have committed themselves to fulfill the precepts of the Rule of St. Benedict, in the context of their community. The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration website gives the following description of the vows taken by Monks and Nuns.

Our Benedictine vows come from the Rule of Saint Benedict which was written centuries before poverty, chastity and obedience became the standard vows.

Saint Benedict's vows (or promises as he called them) are stability, ‘conversatio’ and obedience. Stability is a commitment of lifelong fidelity to God and our Congregation. ‘Conversatio’ is a commitment to embrace all of monastic life as a path to holiness and conversion. This includes poverty or simplicity of life and chastity. Obedience is a vow of listening, responsive love to the voice of God as it comes to us through prayer, the Rule of Saint Benedict, Scripture, our prioress and our sisters.[ii]

Oblates live in very different circumstances, and those around the Oblates are most often not committed to the same set of values to which the Oblates aspire. Nevertheless Oblates strive to take seriously the call to stability, conversatio, and obedience insofar as their station in life permits. At the center of Benedictine life is the understanding of humility; but that humility is dynamically opposite to the aspirations of the world around them.

On the surface that may sound very academic, but it’s not. It is often a painful reality. Oblates frequently struggle with the need for personal balance in settings that can be very conflictual, in the family, in the various places of employment, and even within the parish church. The call to humility may sound as odd as Latin in the ears of the children of the world; but listen to what the Rule of St. Benedict has to say to the Oblates who live in less than ideal circumstances?

Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we wish to reach the greatest height of humility, if we desire to attain speedily that heavenly exaltation to which we climb in the present life by our actions, we must erect the ladder which appeared to Jacob in his dream, on which the angels were ascending and descending (Gen 28:12). Without a doubt, we understand this ascending and descending to be nothing other than we descend by pride and ascend by humility.

The erected ladder is our life in this present world, by which, if the heart is humble, the Lord lifts us up to heaven. Our body and our soul are the two sides of this ladder; and into these two sides of our Divine Vocation, as Monks or Oblates, has inserted the various steps of humility or discipline which we must climb. If you would learn peace, learn humility.  If you embrace self-exaltation you embrace the disharmony that governs the world.

The starting place is learning Godly fear [or awe]. The Book of Proverbs tells us that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”^[iii] The very idea that God is to be feared is antithetical to the children of the world, and especially to the children of the world within the Church.  According to C. S. Lewis, “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter so long as they are contented'?  What we want, in fact, is not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves', and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of the day, 'a good time was had by all'.”^[iv] Those who hold God in awe understand that God’s Holiness is immutable in its perfection. Therefore, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire”.[v]

The first step of humility is that a man always ought to have the fear of God before his eyes ( Ps 35:1), never forgetting it, and always remembering all that God has commanded. He [each brother or sister] should keep in mind that those who despise God will burn in hell for their sins, and that life everlasting is prepared for those who hold God in awe. And while he guards himself always against sin and vices of thought, word, deed, and self-will, let him also make haste to cut off the lusts of the flesh. Let him recall that God always sees him from Heaven, and that the eye of God looks on all his works, and that the angels report his works to God every hour.

This has a direct implication on the calling of the Oblate as well as the Monastic.  To assume that the Monastic has less temptation than an Oblate is to gravely underestimate the temptations that beset the Monastic.  Temptation is a universal experience.  Paul tells us, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”^[vi]  Monastic and Oblate alike suffer temptations.

This section of The Rule offers three antidotes, and one of those is an understanding of accountability; heaven is not a mythical place, and neither is hell. Secondly, although we are dependent on grace we need to take action and guard our minds against sin and vice, and make haste to cut off, instead of entertain the lusts of the flesh. Many contemporary Christians fail to take this latter point seriously thinking that grace falls on the passive, rather than on the obedient. The Collect for the First Sunday in Advent makes both our obedience and our participation clear, “Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility.”[vii]

The prophet tells us the same thing saying “The searcher of hearts and minds is God” (Ps 7:9). And again: “The Lord knows the thoughts of men” (Ps 94:11) And also he says: “You discern my thoughts from afar.” (Ps 139:2). And: “The thoughts of man shall praise You” (Ps 76:10 Vulgate). Therefore, in order that he may always be on his guard against evil thoughts, let the humble brother always say in his heart: “I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.” (Ps 18:23)

The Lord knows every thought that crosses our mind, as well as every word that is on our lips. The full text is helpful, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.[viii]

Third, remember that we are never really alone. The shocking truth is that not only does God see us at all times, but according to St. Benedict even the angels, always present with us, report our works to God every hour.

Therefore we are forbidden to do our own will, because Scripture tells us: “turn away from your base desires” (Sir 18:30). Therefore we ask God that His will may be done in us (Mt 6:10). And we are rightly taught not to do our own will, when we heed the warning of Scripture, “There are ways that seem right to men, but the end plunges them into the depths of hell” (Prov 16:25).

            Remember that Obedience is one of the two fundamental Benedictine vows. St. Benedict tells us that if we would fight against temptation, we will have to learn obedience, saying, “Therefore we are forbidden to do our own will.” In Chapter V of the Rule, St. Benedict lays down the principle, “The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience,”[ix] He does not leave this as an abstract principle, “they must carry out the superior’s order as promptly as if the command came from God himself.”[x]

Let me remind you of the teachings of St. Paul who wrote in an era when persecution was immanent, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”[xi]

Rampant in the American ethos is the notion that each individual, Bible in hand, has the right, no! the Duty to criticize religious leaders. That is very far from the mind of St. Benedict. St. Vincent of Lerins wrote, “We take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”[xii] As Benedictines we are not called to be critics, but to be obedient, and that obedience is the foundation of humility and the source of our stability.

And we also fear what is said to the negligent, “They are corrupted and have become abominable in their pleasure" (Ps 14:1). As for desires of the flesh, let us believe that God is thus ever present to us, since the Prophet says to the Lord: “Every desire of mine is before You” (Ps 37:9). We must, therefore, guard against every evil desire, because death lurks close by the gate of pleasure. For this reason Scripture commands us, saying: "Pursue not your lusts" (Sir 18:30).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, may be an Ang Lee martial arts film, but it also has a spiritual application; death lurks close by the gate of pleasure. It is not that God is against pleasure, after all He created pleasure for His own good pleasure as well as ours,[xiii] but it is absolutely clear that God is against those illicit “pleasures” which will damage the soul, the inner person. That after all is the point of the Ten Commandments and of Jesus understanding of the Law in Matthew, Chapter Five. If you play with fire, you will be burned.

In the conclusion of the first step of humility St. Benedict returns to an earlier theme:

The eyes of the Lord observe the good and the bad (Prov 15:3), and the Lord always looks down from heaven on the children of men to see whether there are any who understand or seek after God (Ps 14:1). Our actions are also reported to the Lord day and night by the angels who are appointed to watch over us daily. Therefore we must always be on our guard. As the Prophet says in the Psalm, so that God may not see that we have "turned aside to evil and become unprofitable" (Ps 14:1). Take note that He has spared us in the present time because He is loving and waits for us to be changed for the better, and also in order that He might not say to us in the future: "These things you have done and I was silent" (Ps 50:21).

Remember that the first step is always the first step, and if you don’t climb the first step you won’t reach the second step. In his conclusion of the first step St. Benedict returns to the theme of the Watching God and His angels. We are not alone, we never are. God is always watching. What we do is reported day and night to God by His angels. That is the basic reason why we ought to be on guard, and it obviously has to do with holding God in awe. In order to understand the final verse in the first step of humility it helps to look at it in context. It has to do with our treatment, not only of those in authority, but also our treatment of each other, “You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”[xiv] Humility is not an abstract quality that exists in a vacuum, but something that is always worked out in community.

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[i] Care has been taken to verify all Scripture citations so that they may be found easily, and in some cases the text has been modified to conform to the English Standard or Revised Standard Versions for clarity.

[ii] The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration:  http://www.benedictinesisters.org/content.php?pageid=5&secid=2&subsecid=5

[iii] Proverbs 1:7

[iv] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

[v] Hebrews 12:28-29 

[vi] 1 Corinthians 10:13

[vii] The Book of Common Prayer, p. 211

[viii] Psalm 139:1-4 

[ix] RB, Ch. V, verse 1

[x] Ibid

[xi] Romans 13:1-2 

[xii] St. Vincent of Lerins, The Vincentian Canon, “Now in the Catholic Church itself we take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all. That is truly and properly 'Catholic,' as is shown by the very force and meaning of the word, which comprehends everything almost universally. We shall hold to this rule if we follow universality [i.e. oecumenicity], antiquity, and consent. We shall follow universality if we acknowledge that one Faith to be true which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is clear that our ancestors and fathers proclaimed; consent, if in antiquity itself we keep following the definitions and opinions of all, or certainly nearly all, bishops and doctors alike.

[xiii] Luke 12:32 "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[xiv] Psalm 50:20-21   

Three Christmas Poems

GLORIA                   

Gloria!

Birth moans

in strawed stable.

The King has come,

his lusty wailing

rends dark night.

Gloria!

Birth bloody

as his death,

the King has come.

His reality

mouth and mother's breast.

Gloria!

Birth starlit in musked air,

The King has come,

God swaddled in human need.

Gloria!

Jesus Son of God Most High.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Gloria!

LADY LAUD YOUR SON

Lady laud your son.

Cast down your golden crown and worship him,

born a babe in stable laid,

who walked the hills of Galilee

with fisher folk and tax collectors

made of them a warrior band,

shocked the scribe and Pharisee

not less than priest and Sadducee.

No simple man, nor plain was he.

He has the power to call forth you and me.

Lady laud your son

whose death pierced your own soul

with grief too sharp to bear

fulfilling prophet's words in temple court

so long ago.  Proud mother of a little babe

with head bowed down,

you contemplate the way

he cast down the mighty from their thrones.

Lady laud your son.

You have given once again

as you have given many times before.

Resurrection joy, ascension parting mingled in your breast.

The old ways of holding him can never be again.

Lady laud your son.

Cast down your golden crown and worship him

in the circle of the saints, his sisters, brothers,

all your children now, all crowned like you

God-bearer, now for ever blessed

held in warm embrace by glad hearts everywhere.

Lady laud your son.

The Winding Centuries Have Come and Gone

The winding centuries have come and gone

Still the Christmas song goes on and on.

Some have loved the Babe, some still hate him;

Christmas joy is for hearts that welcome him.

Peace on earth, the thronging angels sing,

Throughout the heavens hear the merry chorus ring.

Simple shepherds on the hill rejoice to hear

The news that Almighty God has drawn near.

But Herod on his throne feels a deadly chill;

Any who threaten his power he will kill,

Wife, or son, or even little baby child.

There is no safety for child or mother mild.

Now Herod is dead; the years have come and gone;

Only Christ will come with the breaking of the dawn.

Virginal Conception, Virgin Birth

Lo! newborn Jesus

Lo! newborn Jesus
Soft and weak and small,
Wrapped in baby's bands
By His Mother's hands,
Lord God of all.

Lord God of Mary,
Whom His Lips caress
While He rocks to rest
On her milky breast
In helplessness.

Lord God of shepherds
Flocking through the cold,
Flocking through the dark
To the only Ark,

The only Fold.

Lord God of all things
Be they near or far,
Be they high or low;
Lord of storm and snow,
Angel and star.

Lord God of all men, –
My Lord and my God!
Thou who lovest me,
Keep me close to Thee
By staff and rod.

Lo! newborn Jesus
Loving great and small,
Love's free Sacrifice,
Opening Arms and Eyes
To one and all.

[Christina Rossetti, The Complete Poems, (London: Penguin, 20012), p. 83, 84]

How can a man comment on the Virgin Birth of Jesus? It takes a woman’s touch. Joseph, and all men by necessity stand on the outside nervously looking in on the birth event. Joseph’s world and ours is upended by the trusting surrender of Mary to our God. We are bystanders, but the sword that pierced the heart of Mary will pierce our own hearts also. “The busy world is hushed, the dear Christ enters in.” The surrender of Mary calls for our own surrender, not just once, but many times over the days and years of our lives.

It is the high and solemn responsibility of Joseph to model and teach the Christ Child what it means to be a man in this wicked world. Mary cannot do that; it is neither her calling nor her gift. Joseph, what has Mary done? Her action will define the very calling of your life and ours. None of us are left outside the stable. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you beside the manger looking in and watching, caring, loving, and strangely proud. The living God has become a living man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.

Notes on The Annunciation to Mary

In Elizabeth’s sixth month the angel Gabriel is sent from God to Nazareth in Galilee, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.  Both Mary and Joseph are of the house of David.  Mary is betrothed, or formally pledged, to Joseph, but they have not yet come together and Mary is still living in the home of her parents.  Tradition and the common practice of those times tell us that Mary would have been around fourteen years old. 

Here we come to the heart of a Christian doctrine that many find challenging, but the issue is not that of a Virgin Birth, but rather of a Virginal Conception.  Any virgin nine months pregnant is going to give birth, that is not the miracle; the conception is.  The actual miracle is microscopic; the size of one sperm, the divine seed that forever unites God with human flesh. This event is the hinge of history, even though secularists today flee away from BC and AD.

While the angel who appears to Joseph remains unidentified, the angel who appears to Zechariah (Lk. 1:11-12) is same Gabriel who appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9: 21), and the same one who appears to Mary.   This appearance to Zechariah was actually the first of the angelic appearances that ended the long drought of the famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord prophecied by Amos. (Amos 8:11-12).  

Gabriel’s first word to Mary is often translated, “Greetings,” or “Hail” but it also means “Rejoice.”  “Rejoice, Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you.”  The phrase “O favored one” is translated by the Latin Vulgate as “gratia plena” or “full of grace.”  The unmerited favor, the grace of the Holy Spirit rests on her in unusual measure.

We are told that Mary is troubled, or agitated by the greeting.  She tries to puzzle out what the greeting means.  Being genuinely “gratia plena,” full of grace she was probably quite unaware that she was at all unusual.  Self-awareness often spoils potential saintliness.  The angel says, “Do not be afraid” you have found grace (charis) with God.  She need not fear the grace she has received, it is an unmerited gift from God, it is divine favor, the steadfast covenant love of God that rests upon her.

The angel Gabriel is clear and direct in his declaration, “Behold, look, you shall conceive in the womb, and bear, give birth, to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, Yeshua, God Saves.”  Mary understands this to mean now, not at some distant time.  Today you have to go to your obstetrician in order to determine the gender of a child, but not Mary and not in this situation.  The child is to be the prophesied Messiah, and as response to ancient prophesy is to be a male child, a son.  Further the child is to be named Jesus, Yeshua; a short form of Yehoshua, meaning Yahweh is Salvation. 

The implications of the Name are not made clear at this point and we await the strong hint of pain that comes in the prophecy of Simeon “a sword shall pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35).  But now only the troubling statement of Gabriel is on Mary’s mind.  Mary is without doubt well aware of her lineage, and the lineage of Joseph.  They are of the house of Judah, descendants of David.  But they are poor relatives, not wealthy prominent heirs.  To the least of David’s line the promise is given. 

The angel’s message in some sense seems unlikely, or at the very least, a bit of a stretch.  “He shall be called the Son of the Most High” (v. 32).  The expression “the Most High” is drawn from an Old Testament Name for God, “El Elyon” which means “God Most High” (Genesis 14:18; Psalm 57:2 and other places).  To this Jesus, son of God Most High, the Lord God (Yahweh Elohim in Genesis 2:4) will give the throne of his father David.  At Gabriel’s declaration of the coming Incarnation, the highest Names of God are evoked, and that for a reason.  We are to understand that it is no less than YHWH [Yahweh] who is initiating this act of divine humility. 

There is in verse 33 an interesting twist, this child to be born will rule over the house of Jacob forever.  Often the phrase “house of Jacob” refers not only to Israel in general, but to the Northern Kingdom.  Both the house of David, the tribe of Judah, and the displaced house of Jacob that once held sway from Samaria will be ruled by him.  Of his kingdom there will be no end, even though earthly kingdoms come and go.

Mary asks a simple question, not as a matter of doubt; and she may well have known the Messianic prophecy, “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (Isaiah 7:14).  The question is rather an enquiry into how this is going to take place.  She also makes it clear that she herself is a virgin.  Certainly the angel treats the question in this light.  He says “The Holy Spirit, the Ruach Ha Kodesh: will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.”  The phraseology harkens back to the anointing of David by the Holy Spirit, “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers And the Spirit of YHWH (LORD) rushed, came mightily upon him from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). 

Mary is to experience a distinct and powerful anointing, a veritable baptism of the Holy Spirit who will overshadow her like the Shekinah Kabod, the Cloud of Glory that both accompanies and cloaks the manifestation of the Living God.  Because of that anointing, the child “will be called holy—the Son of God (v.35).  The angel Gabriel further encourages Mary with the news that her previously barren cousin Elizabeth is in her sixth month, because “No rhema (not ‘nothing’ but no personal word from God, will be impossible with God.”  As God has spoken his word to Zechariah, and to Mary, He will fulfill it, for no prophetic word is impossible with Him. Mary’s answer is one of humble submission and acceptance, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  Let it be to me according to your rhema, according to your prophetic word” (v. 38).

The Law of Undulation

C. S. Lewis’s character Screwtape, the Senior devil in The Screwtape Letters, has an interesting take on human nature.  He observes that our lives have a natural rhythm, an ebb and flow, a series of troughs and peaks that affects every area of our lives—our interests, our loves, our work.  We go through times of spiritual insight and responsiveness, and times of dryness and dullness.

That shouldn’t surprise us; the rhythm is written into nature.  In simpler times I have sat by sea and watched the waves; the rhythm of the waves breaking on the beach, then retreating to break interminably upon the beach again. And I have watched the long ebbing of the tide and its flowing back; a rhythm governed by the cycle of the moon upon the earth.

The rhythms of our lives are part of the dance of life that all God’s creatures dance.  The dance becomes un-rhythmical, disharmonious, erratic, when the dancers fail to move with the dance and try to force their way unnaturally.  This often happens when the dancers fail to notice that they are dancing the dance, and that the law of undulation is a natural law.

Some of God’s children try to force their way into perpetual spiritual highs, others surrender to the lows and allow depression to govern all their days.  You can’t live on the heights, and you best not camp permanently in the low valleys of your experience.

The first correction that we can make is the simple acknowledgment that we have highs and lows; that highs and lows are a natural part of life, and that there is nothing wrong with having highs and lows.  Barring chemical imbalance, which is a matter for wise doctors and counsellors, having highs and lows is not a call for some pacifying medication to homogenize our days.  Bland is not beautiful.

Rather than that, make use of your highs, those moments of greater energy and joy, and rejoice that your God has made you and all things good.  In those moments step into the flow of His creativity and dance the dance with confidence. 

In the lows, do not condemn yourself or accept Screwtape’s counsel of despair. Instead, use the steady tools of your faith; pray the prayers of Morning Prayer, read Holy Scripture, especially the Psalms; that book of ups and downs.  Talk quietly with your friends, give love, accept love, read quietly things that delight the mind, listen to a symphony, and be at peace; the rhythm always returns and every ebb is always followed by a flow.

St. Benedict reminds us that “We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that in every place the eyes of the Lord are watching the good and the wicked” (Proverbs 15:3). But beyond the least doubt we should believe this to be especially true when we celebrate the divine office” (RB 19:1,2).  First, understand that your Lord is with you in the lows as well as in the highs.  Even Screwtape knew that our Lord makes great use of the troughs in our lives, observing, “It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be.  Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best” (Screwtape, Letter VIII).

Second, observe that steady discipline maintained through both highs and lows is the clearest channel of grace.  The simple truth is that if we steadily hold our souls aloft to God, He will pour His blessing upon us.  Our daily prayer and Scripture reading doesn’t have to be flashy, it just has to be as regular as we can possibly make it.  There is a difference between infused grace, that moment of gratuitous spiritual intensity that we so often seek and cherish, and acquired grace.  Infused grace is temporarily rewarding, acquired grace builds slowly but steadily towards a deeper union with the God whom we love.

Third, observe that we take ourselves too seriously.  That is a result of our misguided view that we are actually in control.  Banish the thought from your mind.  The Psalmist says, “I am a man who has no strength…I am shut in so that I cannot escape…I am helpless” (Psalm 88:4,8,15 ESV).  You only think you are in control.  That in itself ought to provide the biggest occasion for self-deprecatory humour, that is, if it weren’t so often painful.  Relax into the hands of God, accept His forgiveness, accept His patience with you and extend some of that divine patience to yourself and to others.  From a divine perspective, in all our solemn seriousness, we may all be somewhat amusing.  That is to say, ease up on yourself and live in forgiveness and divine acceptance.

One of C. S. Lewis’s characters, at the moment immediately preceding her encounter with God, had the following flash of insight, “Supposing one were a thing after all—a thing designed and invented by Someone Else and valued for qualities quite different from what one had decided to regard as one’s true self?  Supposing all those people who, from the bachelor uncles down to Mark and Mother Dimble, had infuriatingly found her sweet and fresh when she wanted them to find her also interesting and important, had all along been simply right and perceived the sort of thing she was?” (C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, (New York: Scribner, 1945), p. 315).  The question really isn’t, “What do I want to do?”, or “What do I want to be?”, but “What has my Maker designed me to be?”, and “How has he moulded me through the apparent accidents of life?”