March 21 is the Solemnity of Saint Benedict when we celebrate the “passing” of Benedict. This month of Benedict provides a timely opportunity to consider Laudato Sí through a “Benedictine eye.” Many values and themes associated with the Rule of Benedict are at the heart of Laudato Sí so March is a fitting time to consider a few.
We read in the Rule, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way….” RB 4:20 If one lives well according to the Rule one’s life will be different. One will be a stranger to the world. What will happen to us if we choose to understand and embrace the teaching of Laudato Sí, On Care for Our Common Home? We will become a stranger to the world’s way. We will become different. We will listen. We will reverence.
Listen…with the ear of your heart. Benedict sets forth this expectation in the very first word of the Rule. Continuing through the Prologue and the entire document we are taught how to listen, to whom, to what purpose. We are to listen with our whole being, compassionately – to God, the sick, the stranger, the poor – so that we become more open and loving, able to recognize Christ in all others.
Laudato Sí challenges us to hear “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” LS 49 — to hear in a way that feels the pain and knows the suffering of the entire material universe. True, deep listening….with the ear of one’s heart will enable us to experience ourselves “as part of the universe….all of us….linked by unseen bonds and together [forming] a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect….” LS 89
Reverence: “…regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar. …nothing is to be neglected.” RB 31:10-11 While this statement is found in the chapter describing the “Qualifications of the Monastery Cellarer” it has also been regularly used to remind us of our need to find the sacred in the ordinary. The use of such tools can be seen as a way to participate in God’s ongoing creative care for humanity, and to recognize the sacredness of all people. [A Commentary on Laudato Sí: Examining the Background, Contributions, Implementation, and Future of Pope Francis's Encyclical by Kevin W. Irwin]
Such a reference to all utensils and goods as sacred vessels of the altar can also be understood as a divine, priestly role being summoned. As baptized persons we were “anointed as priest, prophet, and king.” Benedict reminds us that as “priest” one is to acknowledge and bless these ordinary objects as sacred and all people as making Christ present.
Throughout the entire encyclical, Laudato Sí proclaims the sacredness of all creation. Pope Francis begins, “’Laudato sí, mí Signoré – ‘Praise be to you, my Lord’. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. ‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs’”. LS 1
He continues, “I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of … an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. …He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” LS 10
Samuel Torvend, PhD, and Benedictine oblate writes, A “scriptural vision of the earth is marked by thanksgiving for the gift of creation that flows continually from God and by reverence for its diverse forms of life: from water to fish; from soil to plants.” The divine presence is everywhere. …All things are holy since they come from the hand of God. [Monastic Ecological Wisdom, A Living Tradition]
Does this not describe well what we find in the encyclical? If we accept the challenges of Saint Benedict and Pope Francis, to listen, to reverence, we will become a stranger to the world’s way. We will become different.
Suggested Actions:
Choose 1 or 2 actions that will express the Benedictine value of listening.
Of reverencing. Practice them.
