LITMIR.BIZ

      In outlining four types of monks, Benedict is also pointing out four basic types of Christian. His aim is to encourage cenobitic monks, those who live in an established community in obedience to an abbot. As such he addresses all who live in an established community, whether it is the nuclear family, or some wider community.

      He gives pride of place to the solitary monks who fight the spiritual battle single-handed. But he wisely observes that no one should adopt this life until they have proved themselves through a long life in a religious community.

      While Benedict recognizes the high calling of the true solitary he also understands that ‘it is not good for man to be alone’ (Gen. 2.18). Benedict recognizes that being part of a ‘body’ is integral to the Christian commitment (1 Cor. 12.27). In a society where more and more people are living alone, Benedict's call to community life encourages us to be ‘joiners’ and to get involved in our local communities.

      The root of the word ‘commitment’ and the word ‘community’ is the same. It means ‘with’. Benedict recognizes that the spiritual way is not easy and so calls us to run the path of perfection with others. In this way there is mutual support, faithfulness and loyalty. So the mature Christian will see the need to commit to others: first to his immediate family, then to his extended family, his local church, his workplace and his wider community. It is through his commitment to the monastic community that the monk grows spiritually, and it is through our commitment to our various communities that we learn the lessons of self-sacrificial love and construct stability in our lives.

      It is important that children learn the value of commitment at an early age. This means a sense of duty should be taught from the beginning. The obnoxious wail, ‘But that's boring!’ ought to be checked at its first appearance. At that point even a young child should begin to accept that certain duties may not always be entertaining, and that commitment means being faithful in small things (Matt. 25.21). This is especially true of worship. Nothing has eroded the dignity of Christian worship more than the expectation that it must be entertaining. Regular attendance at church may not be entertaining, but that unfailing commitment establishes priorities and sets inner values that help build character and equip each child to face life's challenges with confidence.

      January 9

      May 10

      September 9

      CHAPTER I

      THE KINDS OF MONK (B)

       The third kind of monk is the abominable one of Sarabaites, who have not been tested by a rule, as gold is tested in a furnace, nor been taught by experience, but are like soft lead. They keep faith with this world by their actions, but manifestly lie to God by their tonsure. These people live in twos and threes, or even alone; they have no shepherd, they shut themselves up in their own sheepfolds, not those of the Lord; and their law consists in yielding to their desires: what they like or choose they call holy, and they reckon illicit whatever displeases them.

       The fourth kind of monk are those called Wanderers. These are never stable throughout their whole lives but wanderers through diverse regions, receiving hospitality in the monastic cells of others for three or four days at a time. Always roving and never settling, they follow their own wills, enslaved by the attractions of gluttony. They are in all respects worse than the Sarabaites.

       It is better to pass over in silence than to speak further of the unhappy way of life of all these people, so let us pass them by, and with God's help set about organising the strongest kind of monks – the Cenobites.