How St Benedict Can Help Us During Lent
Reading The Rule of St Benedict each morning can help us working folks in so many ways (we've talked about this many times), but here are a few ideas that you'll find especially helpful during Lent.
When you read The Rule, you immediately notice that simplicity, balance and moderation permeate all the great saint's writing. We may not be monks, but we who work in the world ought to recognize the value of simplicity, balance and moderation - as well as the challenge. Just imagine a world where these three were the rule not the exception.
The Rule is permeated with discipline, fasting and penance. How appropriate for Lent. But The Rule isn't designed just for Lent. It's meant to be observed all the time. So think about your Lenten discipline in that light. Are you slogging through your fasting and abstinence just so you can really live it up once Easter arrives? Or does your discipline draw you closer to God? I hope the latter. If so, then you'll find you won't so much look forward to what you can eat and drink starting Easter Sunday. You'll think more about the passion, death and glorious Resurrection of Our Lord - an act of inestimable, infinite love that will draw you closer to Him and inspire you to live a more holy life, even at your place of work.
Besides what you give up for Lent, I hope you've taken to expanding and improving your time devoted to actions which will cultivate your intimacy with God, such as prayer, spiritual reading, applying yourself diligently to every aspect of your work. Remember that monks and nuns sanctify their lives in just the same way that we lay people do, by sanctifying the ordinary.
You don't need to live a terribly austere life to become holy, to draw closer to God. You do need to remember, though, that grace builds upon nature, which just means that each of us works out our salvation through the ordinary activities of daily life. Try to use your Lenten discipline as a reminder, a means to sharpen your understanding and appreciation of this. I've been keeping a simple fast each day of not eating anything until noon. It's not that big of a deal, but the occasional hunger pang helps me to elevate my mind and heart to God every once in a while. Ditto for when I wait a few minutes after saying grace to eat that first bite of the day at lunch.
These are just a few thoughts about how St Benedict can and does help me during Lent. But let's end with this from Blessed Cardinal Newman, who wrote concerning a monk's life. He said such a life must consist...
When you read The Rule, you immediately notice that simplicity, balance and moderation permeate all the great saint's writing. We may not be monks, but we who work in the world ought to recognize the value of simplicity, balance and moderation - as well as the challenge. Just imagine a world where these three were the rule not the exception.
The Rule is permeated with discipline, fasting and penance. How appropriate for Lent. But The Rule isn't designed just for Lent. It's meant to be observed all the time. So think about your Lenten discipline in that light. Are you slogging through your fasting and abstinence just so you can really live it up once Easter arrives? Or does your discipline draw you closer to God? I hope the latter. If so, then you'll find you won't so much look forward to what you can eat and drink starting Easter Sunday. You'll think more about the passion, death and glorious Resurrection of Our Lord - an act of inestimable, infinite love that will draw you closer to Him and inspire you to live a more holy life, even at your place of work.
Besides what you give up for Lent, I hope you've taken to expanding and improving your time devoted to actions which will cultivate your intimacy with God, such as prayer, spiritual reading, applying yourself diligently to every aspect of your work. Remember that monks and nuns sanctify their lives in just the same way that we lay people do, by sanctifying the ordinary.
You don't need to live a terribly austere life to become holy, to draw closer to God. You do need to remember, though, that grace builds upon nature, which just means that each of us works out our salvation through the ordinary activities of daily life. Try to use your Lenten discipline as a reminder, a means to sharpen your understanding and appreciation of this. I've been keeping a simple fast each day of not eating anything until noon. It's not that big of a deal, but the occasional hunger pang helps me to elevate my mind and heart to God every once in a while. Ditto for when I wait a few minutes after saying grace to eat that first bite of the day at lunch.
These are just a few thoughts about how St Benedict can and does help me during Lent. But let's end with this from Blessed Cardinal Newman, who wrote concerning a monk's life. He said such a life must consist...
“in having neither hope nor fear of anything below; in daily prayer, daily bread, and daily work, one day being just like another, except that it is one step nearer than the day before it to that great Day which will swallow up all days, the day of everlasting rest.”I suggest we non-monks can take these words to heart as well.
A blessed Lent to you all.
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