Monastic spirituality has much to offer Christians who live beyond monastery.
Fr Terence Richardson, Prior of Ampleforth Monastery, spoke about the Benedictine way of life and spirituality to people from across the Diocese at Blessed Trinity Church, Wickersley. He began by stressing that this does not involve just monks. There are many Benedictine communities of nuns and many lay people who are oblates of the Order.
St Benedict
Fr Terence said that very little is known about St Benedict and even that which is known cannot be guaranteed with absolute certainty. He was born in in Italy in 480 of distinguished parents who sent him to Rome to study. He was upset by the lose morals in Rome and decided to embrace a religious way of life. He went into the hills outside Rome and lived in a cave as a hermit relying on just one other person who brought him food. After a time people began to regard him as a holy man and gathered around him. He, in turn, started to organise them into a monastic community.
Later he founded a second monastery at Monte Casino, the site of the famous World War II battle. It was here that he wrote his ‘Rule’ which was to become the guiding document for all Benedictine Monasteries and others as well. So far as is known this was the only thing he ever wrote. He is believed to have died in 547.
The Rule of St Benedict
Originally it was in Latin but has since been translated into many languages. It comprises 72 chapters but is only a small book because many of the chapters are extremely short. Much of it is more like a spiritual reflection than a set of rules. In it, St Benedict recognises the need to be flexible to meet the needs of local cultures, circumstances and conditions; therefore, he gives abbots of monasteries the authority to change the Rule as they see fit. At the centre of the Rule is the requirement that each day monks pray at seven different times although St Benedict makes clear that they should also pray all the time. They are also required to read and study the scriptures and to carry out physical work. There is no discrimination in this work and monks who hold higher positions with the community are expected to work the same as the rest even if this means carrying out menial tasks.
Fr Terence said that the requirements of the Rule were the main reason why the monastic life had had such an influence on the development of western culture and civilisation in that it had created a climate of prayer, reflection, innovation and settled harmonious community. A monastery has to earn its own keep and this is why they still carry out a range of activities from running schools, to selling agricultural produce and brewing cider and wine.