STORY:
You could imagine a set of circumstances that would lead you to hunt down, and even pay someone, to mentor you in your finances, right? Or circumstances that would set you off on a search for a coach that would teach you how to eat well, or manage your time.
Sure you could. You could even see how it might become desirable, or even necessary, for this mentor to not just give you sound principles for these areas of life but also to show up and make sure you actually live by them day in and day out.
You can make sense of this kind of commitment and effort, because with things like your money, nutrition, and time, you feel the seriousness of what is at stake.
So if the thought of finding a mentor to teach you sound principles ... for how to pray, seems odd. And if desiring to have someone hold you accountable for praying this way, day after day, seems unthinkable -- as I'm sure it might for many today -- then perhaps we need to appreciate prayer's urgency.
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In the first episode of this series we introduced St. Benedict, who lived in Rome during the 6th century. And most historians will say that by Benedict's time, the Church and Roman Society had been internally fragmenting a good while. But then in 410, outsiders named the Visgoths sacked Rome, and suddenly the people felt an urgency for renewal and stability in every area of life.
In this period people needed guidance in economics, politics, philosophy, law, even producing and distributing enough food. So of all the places someone could step in and make a major impact by serving as a mentor in things that matter -- St. Benedict developed himself into someone who could mentor others in prayer.
Now, compared to the needs connected to issues like law and farming, we might see his decision as naive, or even irresponsible. We might ask, "Couldn't his intelligence and energy have been put to a more urgent matter?" But we'd like to suggest when Benedict did this, he placed himself at the very hart of the matter.
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See, when early in his life, Benedict visited Rome, which was the heart of the church, it's certain he saw and felt the issues everyone saw working in the body politic - violence and lawlessness, hunger and poverty. But he also saw or intuited deeper issues like infidelity, inauthenticity, fear, despair, and idolatry, things that festered in internal environments not already filled by the stronger virtues of faith, hope, and love.
And he knew that if the heart continued to be ravaged by these diseases, the larger body would never be healthy, no matter how many mentors set how many people off on who knows how many projects for self-improvement or societal reform.
So Benedict also recognized one of the most urgent treatments needed was a renewal in prayer.
So, instead of allowing cynicism and frustration to paralyze his own soul, Benedict decided to go live in a cave and pursue God. This solitary pursuit initially looks like a move in the opposite direction of becoming a mentor to others. But Benedict's life follows a pattern similar to that lived by so many who contributed something of enduring worth. Those who really help others change tend to begin with themselves.
So Benedict went to a cave and learned to pray for real.
But make no mistake, he was after not just a personal connection with God, but a larger Renewal of Christian Spirituality. And Benedict wasn't just seeking this Christian renewal for the sake of the church.
He believed that the world needed political revival and better food supplies, for sure. But he also trusted that if people were going to do good things in areas like those, then someone would have to help those people learn to commune with God.
A spiritually bankrupt church is of little to no good for the world. But if Benedict could help people plan their communities and plant their food and build shelter and administer justice out of communion with God's abundant wisdom and mercy and love, how good would that be for the world?
So, in risk of pushing the running metaphor scheme a little too far, we say when Benedict moved to his cave to learn to pray, rather than wasting his time and energy in such an urgent time, his cave became the new location for the heart of a church that would live for the good of the world.
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Now, when talking about the concrete good of either a single life, or of the whole world, saying "St. Benedict wanted to facilitate communion with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit," can sound, to contemporary ears, very abstract. We'll even admit we can understand how this might seem like an unattainable, otherworldly goal.
But this is part of Benedict's genius. In the Rule he developed to guide his monastic communities, he offeres ways for people to discover precisely that transcendent communion in everyday things like study, obedience, and community.
And when it came to prayer, Benedict saw that the Psalms offered real world, everyday words, for communion with God.
In chapters 8-20 of St. Benedict's rule, he provides daily instructions on what prayer should look like. These instructions are often called the "Daily Office," and were based on "the liturgy of the hours" which the Church of Rome had already formulated.
Essentially, it is a guide to praying 7 times a day, with specific Psalms and Readings listed for each day. People, especially Catholics and Orthodox, still use this kind of prayer guide, but it's also catching on in Protestant circles. You could even pick up a copy of Benedict's Rule from Amazon. But know, the point of this book has never been to be merely read it. It's always been meant to be lived and performed in the life of a community. If you do pick one up, think of it more as a exercise plan than a textbook. You wouldn't just read 50 pages on the principles of nutrition and cardio and lifting routines then expect your blood pressure to drop because new info was in your head ...
So Benedict required that any person who desired to be part of his monasteries would take a vow of consistency and stability in praying these Psalms every day within a community. It is an outline of Benedict's way of mentoring people. So, if you get into praying this way, you might want to think that you've also taken on Benedict as a mentor in prayer, who'll show up every day to check on how you're doing and give you feedback.
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Finally, there is a beautiful play between structure and movement in a Benedictine life of prayer. Because the structure Benedict gave to prayer tethered it to the biblical Psalms, and these Psalms are songs -- so they offer more than just concrete words for communion with God -- as songs they also provide prayer the movement of poetry and music. But this means more than we might think. In 2022, we might be tempted to say "praying the psalms is just a movement of poetry and song" but with the problems we're facing we need real action. Just like we might say Bob Dylan's "Blowin in the Wind" or "Maggie's Farm" were just songs that spoke of the concrete problems of his own time and place, while people in other fields actually did something to engage them.
But if we appreciate that the form of doing squats and the structure of a nutrition plan, when combined with the energy and movement of actual food and exercise can facilitate bodily health, we might also see how Benedict's structure for prayer, wed to the energy and movement of poetry and song, can be a practice that helps the soul cultivate virtues like obedience and discernment, courage and perseverance, faith, hope, and love.
And if this poetry and melody fueles virtues like wisdom and charity and fortitude, there is no "just" about it.
This is why Benedict understood prayer, rather than just being some private spiritual boost, was training for revolution. The necessary engine for renewal. And if this is what prayer is, can you justify doing it in any way other than with discipline and rigor?
Can you imagine the Yankees training only when they felt like it, or the military drilling only when they all happened to feel particularly inspired, or a symphony never rehearsing together?
St. Benedict desired to form a people that would serve as a critique for the church, but even more than that, he wanted his monastic communities to be a positive healing presence, for the sake of that very same sinful and sick Church. So the church could again be something capable of living for the good of the world.
So in the conversation that follows, Kevin, Julius, and I talk though some of the common barriers we might feel when approaching prayer this way, and what we might do about them.
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DISCUSSION:
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MEDITATION:
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For this meditation, we thought we'd give you a chance to listen in on a Benedictine Prayer office to get a feel what it's like to pray in this way. If possible, I recommend a comfortable position and some headphones. Then try to let the words carry your imagination somewhere. Though, if you would like to do a little more and actually join in, there is a transcript of the liturgy available on the podcast page of our website, shemasd.org.
This is the Little Office of the Trinity, one of the earliest surviving Benedictine Little Offices.
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V: God, come to my assistance.
R: Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: O beatific and blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: to you be praise, glory, and thanksgiving.
Psalm 54 - Kevin
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: O beatific and blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: to you be praise, glory, and thanksgiving.
Psalm 118 - Wil
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: O beatific and blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: to you be praise, glory, and thanksgiving.
Psalm 8 - Julius
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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Hymn: Te Decet Laus
It is right to praise you;
It is right to sing hymns to you.
Glory to you:
God the Father and the Son
With the Holy Spirit,
World without end. Amen.
Antiphon: O beatific and blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: to you be praise, glory, and thanksgiving.
Reading: 1 John 5:7-8 - Kevin
V. May God our God bless us, may God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth tremble before him.
R. May God have mercy on us, and may God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth tremble before him.
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Hymn: Veni Creator Spiritus
Come, O Creator Spirit, come,
And make within our heart thy home;
To us thy grace celestial give,
Who of thy breathing more and live.
O Comforter, that name is thine,
Of God most high the gift divine;
The well of life, the fire of love,
Our souls' anointing from above.
Thou dost appear in sevenfold dower
The sign of God's almighty power;
The Father's promise, making rich
With saving truth our earthly speech.
Our senses with thy light inflame,
Our hearts to heav'nly love reclaim;
Our bodies' poor infirmity
With strength perpetual fortify.
Our mortal foes afar repel,
Grant us henceforth in peace to dwell;
And so to us, with thee our guide,
No ill shall come, no harm betide.
May we by thee the Father learn,
And know the Son, and thee discern,
Who art of both; and thus adore
In perfect faith forevermore. Amen.
V. May the name of the Lord be blessed.
R. Both now and forever.
Antiphon: We confess you with our whole hearts and our mouths, unbegotten Father, only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, holy and undivided Trinity; we praise you and we bless you, and we give you glory forever.
Magnificat - Amy
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: We confess you with our whole hearts and our mouths, unbegotten Father, only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, holy and undivided Trinity; we praise you and we bless you, and we give you glory forever.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father ...
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
V. Let us bless the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
R. Blessed are you Lord; teach me your statutes.
Prayers: May the exalted and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless and guard us and drive all sinful deeds far from us. Holy and undivided Trinity, relying on you we ask that you blot out the shame of your servants and preserve us in your service.
May the all-powerful God, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all they contain, bless and guard us.
May the Holy Trinity and undivided Unity be blessed, may we confess him, that he might show us his mercy.
O beatific and blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: praise, glory, thanks, honor, power, and strength be to you our God forever.
Exalted and only Deity, we ask that you might absolve us of our sins, remove our faults, and grant peace to your servants, so that we might give you glory in all things forever.
Psalm 143 - Julius
Concluding Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, co-eternal majesty and only Deity, you who persist in Trinity and remain in Unity: Grant, we beseech you, that we who are weighed down by our sins might obtain pardon through your swift kindness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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