Humility and Charity Above All Other Virtues

For humility caused the Son of God to be born of the Virgin, in whom was found humility, not eager embraces or beauty of flesh or earthly riches or gold ornaments or earthly honors.  But the Son of God lay in a manger, because His Mother was a poor maiden.  Humility always groans, weeps and destroys all offenses, for this is its work.  So let anyone who wishes to conquer the Devil arm himself with humility, since Lucifer frevertly flees it and hides in its presence like a snake in a hole; for wherever it finds him, it quickly snaps him like a fragile thread.

And charity took the Only-Begotten of God, who was in the bosom of the Father in Heaven, and placed Him in the wormb of a mother on earth, for it does not spurn sinners or publicans but seeks to save all.  Therefore it often brings forth a fountain of tears from the eyes of the faithful, thus softening hardness of heart.  In this, humility and charity are brighter than the other virtues, since humility and charity are like a soul and body that possess stronger powers than the other powers of soul and bodily members.  How?  Humility is like the soul and charity like the body, and they cannot be separated from each other but work together, just as soul and body cannot be disjoined but work together as long as a person lives in the body.  And as the various members of the body are subject, according to their powers, to the soul and to the body, so also the other virtues cooperate, according to their justice, with humility and charity.  And therefore, O human, for the glory of God and for your salvation, pursue humility and charity; armed with them, you shall not fear the Devil's snares but shall have everlasting life.

Therefore whoever has knowledge in the Holy Spirit and wings of faith, let this one not ignore My admonition, but taste it, embrace it and receive it in his soul.

from Creation and Christ, The Wisdom of Hildegard of Bingen

Note:  On October 7, 2012, Pope Benedict opened the Synod on the New Evangelization by naming St. Hildegard of Bingen as a new doctor of the Church along with St. John of God. 

Humility of Character - Part II

Because humility avoids comparison, envy is a sure sign of its absence.  Humility can rejoice in the gifts of all, because it recognizes the fundamental oneness of all people in their humanity and in Christ.  Envy thinks of gifts as private property...

When a person has walked consciously in the presence of God and with God's help discovered how merciful God has been to him even in his sin, that person loves God more and more until this love casts out fear.  For Benedict, love overcame and cast out fear not because he came to believe there was no hell, but because he discovered how good God had been to him and he had no reason to think God would ever act differently toward him.  Fear helps keep us on the straight and narrow during the early and laborious days of our seeking to become what God will for us.  As we acquire virtue, we come more and more to do the good spontaneously out of good habit, delight in virtue, and love of Christ.

Humility is the truth about ourselves, the whole truth -- about our weaknesses, our failure, our history, our virtues, our gifts.  Once  we are truthful about ourselves before God and others, we can deal gently with others who are afraid to face the truth about themselves or who fancy themselves our competitors.  Christ humbled himself out of compassion; out of humility grows our compassion for one another.

~ Rev. Hugh Feiss, OSB

in Essential Monastic Wisdom

Humility of Character, Part I

...For Christ, humbling himself was a way to share the lives of his human brothers and sisters.  For us, humility is an acknowledgment that we share the weaknesses and sins of our human brothers and sisters.  Humility is also the recognition that we form one living system with the plants and animals, for all physical things, living and dead, arise ultimately from the humus, the moist ground of virgin earth.  Try as we me to forget it, we will always need to share water and air and sunlight with the plants and the animals.

Humility is an essential part of listening.  Only someone who believes he has something to learn is an attentive listener... 

Humility is not about comparisons with other people, but if we are inclined to make too much of our virtues or achievements, we should remind ourselves of how many people have been able to exceed any accomplishment of ours.  The more we know ourselves, the more we discover we are lower than our image of ourselves.  In knowing ourselves and avoiding making comparisons between ourselves and those we know less well, we should be ready to do them any service or accept any assignment.  Christ did the same.

~ Rev. Hugh Feiss, OSB

in Essential Monastic Wisdom

Keeping silence, not passing judgment

Passing judgment on others is aways a sign that one has not yet encountered oneself.  Hence pious individuals who become incensed over others have not yet encountered their own truth.  Their piety has not yet confronted them with themselves and their own sin.  For as Father Moses says:  "If anyone is bearing his sins, he does not look on those of his neighbors."

Judging gives us no rest.  For even while we are condemning the other, we unconsciouly sense that we too are not perfect.  Thus, renouncing judgment and condemnation is a way to inner peace with ourselves.  We let others be as we are, and in this way we can also be ourselves.

...Not-judging comes out of the encounter with the self.  Those who have encountered themselves know all about their own errors.  They know their shadow side.  They know that they bear within themselves what they condemn in others...  Psychologists tell us that when we pour abuse on others we are revealing what is in ourselves.  We project our own shadow side, our repressed wishes and needs, onto others; and so we revile them instead of looking our own truth in the eye.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trails, Part V

The question is whether this positive view of temptations can help us today.  For one thing, the perspective might liberate us from a false striving for perfection.  Those for whom everything depends upon being correct will miss out on life for fear of making some mistake.  Their lives will atrophy.  They will, it is true, be correct, but not vital and capacious.  Coming to terms with temptation, the certainty that temptation is a part of us, make us more human, or, as the monks say, humbler.  It shows us that we are alays under attack, that we can never claim to stand above all temptations, that hatred and jealousy, say, or adultery are not problem for us.  Anyone who maintains that he would never betray his wife or girlfriend has not yet encountered his own heart.  Coming to terms with temptation makes us alert. 

We sometimes have a false image of holiness.  We think that the saints are beyond all temptations, but that's wrong.  Knowing about temptation without being overpowered by it is a way that keeps us alive, that concintually reminds us that we cannot make ourselves better, that only God can transform us.  Only God can give us the victory in the battle with temptations, can bring us profound peace that can't be experienced as intensely without a struggle.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trails, Part IV

Without temptation the monks become careless.  They let themselves go, and so live any old way.  Temptatins force them to live consciously, to exercise discipline, and to be wakeful.  Thus the monks don't pray for temptations to stop, but for God to Give them enough strength...

Temptation forces us to fight.  Without a fight there is no victory.  But victory is never something we have earned.  In our struggles we learn that Christ is working with us, that he frees us for endless conflict and gives us a profound peace.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part III

Temptation brings us closer to God.  That is how Isaac of Nineveh saw it:  "Without temptation there is no gaining trust in him, or learning the wisdom of the spirit, or solidifying the love of God in the soul.  Before temptations you pray to God as if you were a stranger.  After you have been withstood the temptations out of love for him, without letting yourself be led astray by them, God looks upon you as one who has lent to him and who is entitled to the interest, and as a friend who has fought for him will against the power of the enemies."  His words show that the monks had no anxiety about temptations or about sin.  The monks who fall into temptation become familiar with God in a new way.  At the same time in temptations they sense the nearness of God more deeply than usual.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part II

...by temptations the monks mean thoughts in our mind, passions, and demons.  These temptations are an essential part of us.  They test us, try us, and leave us the better for it.  But this also means that we can't come to God with a clean slate.  Our task is rather to take part in the fight with the demons and to be wounded over and over again by it. 

The monks don't insist that we be perfect and flawless, correct and without stain.  Those who get to know the demons in temptatin will encounter the truth of their souls.  They will discover in themselves the abyss of the unconscious:  murderous thoughts, sadistic imaginatings, immoral fantacies.  We become mature persons only when we confront these truths, when we prove ourselves in temptations.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part I

The struggle with temptations and trials is an essential part of being human.  We must deal with the fact that we are tempted by our passions.  The monks speak of demons fighting with us.  By that they mean the forces that emerge in us, that pull us one way or another, that we do not consciously want.  They focus on the experience that we are not simple and straightforward, that we are tossed here and there by various thoughts and feelings.  And they use those terms to describe the forces that we have buried in our shadow side, the unconscious.  Despite our attempt to be decent, the thought occurs to us to throw everything overboard, to simply dispense with the commandments.  For all our amiability we sometimes think that what we'd really like to do is kill our neighbor.  It would be naive to say that it's enough to keep the commandments and to will the good.  There is a raging conflict in our heart between good and evil, between light and darkness, between love and hatred.  For the monks this is perfectly normal.  It's not wrong; it's the test that make us tried and true.  Nowadays we might say that it's a way to live with greater awareness.  The monks know about their shadow side; they come to terms with the fact that their unconscious harbors forces that they do not know yet, that they have to be careful with.

Temptations, the monks tell us, make us human.  They bring us into contact with the roots that bear the trunk.  Facing temptations means encountering the truth.  Thus one father says:  "Take away temptations, and no one will be whole, for whoever flees useful temptation, flees eternal life.  There are in fact temptations that have prepared crowns for the saints."

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

The Holy Spirit as Sapientia

I heard a voice saying to me,

"This Lady whom you see is Love,

who has Her dwelling place in eternity.
When God wished to create the world,

He leaned down,

and with tender Love,

provided all that was needed,

as a parent prepares an inheritance for a child.

And thus, in a mighty blaze

the Lord ordained all His works.

Then creation recognized its Creator

in its own forms and appearances.

For in the beginning,

when God said,

"Let it be!"

and it came to pass,

the means and the Matrix of creation was Love,

because all creation was formed through Her

as in the twinkling of an eye.

~ St. Hildegard von Bingen
trans. B. Newman (mod.)

Light from Light

My soul,

have you found what

you are looking for?

You were looking for God,

and you have discovered

that he is the supreme being,

and that you could not possibly imagine

anything more perfect.

You have discovered

that this supreme being is

life itself,

light wisdom,

goodness,

eternal blessedness

and blessed eternity.

He is everywhere,

and he is timeless.

Lord my God,

you gave me life

and restored it when I lost it.

Tell my soul that so longs for you

what else you are

besides what it has already understood,

so that it may see you clearly.

It stands on tiptoe to see more,

but apart from what it has seen already,

it sees nothing but darkness.

Of course it does not really see darkness,

because there is no darkness in you,

but it sees that it can see no further

because of the darkness in itself.

Surely, Lord,

inaccessible light is your dwelling place,

for no one apart from yourself

can enter into it

and fully comprehend you.

~ St. Anselm

in Praying with the Benedictines

A Window on the Cloister

God Alone

And when prayer is come to perfection, then will the soul also mount to the supreme degree of Humility, which regards God considered absolutely in Himself, and without any express or distinct comparison with creatures; for hereby a soul fixing her sight upon God as all in all, and contemplating Him in the darkness of incomprehensibility, does not by any distinct act or reflection consider the vacuity and nothingness of creatures, but really transcends and forgets them, so that to her they are in very deed as nothing, because they are not the object which with her spirit she only sees, and with her affections only embraces.

~ Augustin Baker, OSB

in Praying with the Benedictines,

A Window on the Cloister

What Stability Does - Part II

Stability encourages the skill of looking for the best in the other person.  Negativite thoughts and judgments are easy, and negatiave pronouncemednts may make us feel better or even superior for a while.  But in the end, all it does is separate us in hurtful ways.  Stability, on the other hand, enables us to look for the good in each person.

Stability also brings a call for forgiveness.  When we choose to be in a community -- whatever that community is -- there are bound to be differences and often little quirks about other people that annoy or anger us.  There can also be major disagreements.  Living in a community puts before us the opportunity to practice forgiveness.

Our commitment to stay put helps us move beyond those temporary blips on the screen of life to embrace the bigger picture.

St. Benedict's Toolbox

The Nuts and Bolts of

Everyday Benedictine Living

by Jane Tomaine

What Stability Does - Part I

Stability calls us to work out our problems with the people who are a part of our lives.  When we flee physically or emotionally, we only bring our old problems with us into the new situation or relationship.  The truth is, if I don't work out my problem with this person, I'll end up working out the same problem with the next person.  Best to stay put and work things out!

Stability prevents us from running away from necessary development.  Progress is not possible without growth pangs.  We think it is, however, and respond by projecting our inner dissatisfactions on the community.  We blame others for the negativity we experience in ourselves.  Stability keeps us from being buffeted about by our moods or doubts.  We surrender them to God and seek God in the situation before us.  We can recognize that our passing moods don't necessarily represent the true desires of our hearts.  Such thinking can help us stay put until balance returns.

St. Benedict's Toolbox

The Nuts and Bolts of

Everyday Benedictine Living

by Jane Tomaine

What Is Benedictine Stability? - Part II

Benedictine stability is as countercultural in our day as it was in Benedict's.  Our culture says, "Don't get tied down.  Keep your options open.  Be free.  If it doesn't work (whatever "it" is), bag it.  Go on to something or someone else."  Stability takes a different approach.

Stability is a promise to stay put with the people with whom God has placed us.  Stability is staying put right there, knowing that Christ is at our side to help us.  Stability recognizes that there are times when God may place us in a situation not so much for what we can personally get out of it, but for what we can give to others.

Esther de Waal writes that a life guided by stability has both an exterior and an interior dimension.  The purpose of the exterior dimension -- staying in a place, relationship, or situation -- is to establish what she calls "stability of the heart."  That means being content where we are because we believe that God placed us there and is with us in every part of our life.  Where I am is important and counts because it is where God wants me.  Stability of the heart is important in our mobile culture.... we...carry with us a core that is constant -- our rootedness in Christ.  From that center we draw strength.

St. Benedict's Toolbox

The Nuts and Bolts of

Everyday Benedictine Living

by Jane Tomaine

What Is Benedictine Stability? - Part I

Stabilis is derived from the Latine word stare, meaning to stand, to stand up, or to be still.  From this comes the figurative meaing to be firm, to stand fast, to endure, to persevere, to be rooted.  The essential feature is resting on a solid foundation, fixed by strong and unshakable roots.  In a nutshell, stability is the action of staying put, remaining steadfast and faithful to the situation in which God has placed us.  It is persistently sticking with a situation, with people, and with God.

Monastic stability, as described by Benedict and as practiced by Benedictine women and men, is first and foremost a commitment to a place and a group of people in the belief that it is this place and these people who will help them find God.  The English Benedictine Basil Cardinal Hume wrote this of stability:

We give ourselves to God in a particular way of life, in a particular place, with particular companions.  This is our way:  in this Community, with this work, with these problems, with these shortcomings.  The inner meaning of stability is that we embrace life as we find it, knowing that this, and not any other, is our way to God.

...Stability is saying "Yes" to God's will for me in the place where I believe God has placed me and with the task that I believe God has given me to do.  In this we follow Jesus, who embraced the task that God gave to him. 

St. Benedict's Toolbox

The Nuts and Bolts of

Everyday Benedictine Living

by Jane Tomaine

The Scriptural Roots of Benedictine Stability

Faithfulness to place and community... is the mian ingredient in the Benedictine vow of stability.  It's a faithfulness expressed through action and it's biblical in its derivation.  All stability, the Bible tells us, is possible because God is faithful.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, hesed is the word given for God's faithfulness:  we turn from God but God does not turn from us.  We run after other gods, yet God reaches out to us to draw us back again.  The Divine Presence is constantly with us even when we choose to ignore this Presence.  Sin separates us from God through our own actions, yet our actions don't determine God's actions.  In spite of everything, God stays with us.

God's faithfulness to us is the model for Benedictine stability.  Benedict says that we can be faithful because God is faithful...  God in Christ is our Rock and as Christians, we want to put on Christ and become a rock, too.  We want to have a firm and solid center at the core of our being so that we can withstand the unpredictability and transience of our world.  What makes us stead is having a heart that rests in God...  Stability also means to remain, abide, be united to, live in, dwell in, or stay with.

St. Benedict's Toolbox

The Nuts and Bolts of

Everyday Benedictine Living

by Jane Tomaine

Sequence for the Virgin

A royal scepter and a crown

of purple, a fortress

strong as mail!  O fortress

of maidenhood, scepter

all verdant:

The way you bloomed would have startled

the grandsire of us all,

for the life father Adam

stripped from his sons (praise

to you!) slid from your loins.

You never sprang from the dew,

my bloosom, nor from the rain --

that was no wind that swept

over you -- for God's

radiance opened you

on a regal bough.  On the morn

of the universe he saw you

blossoming, and he made you

a golden matrix, O maid

beyond praise, for his word.

Strong rib of Adam!  Out of you

Gold scupted woman:  the mirror

of all his charms, the cares

of his whole creation.  So voices

chime in heaven and the whole

earth marvels at Mary

beloved beyond measure.

Cry, aloud!  A serpent

hissed and a sea of grief

seeped through his forked

words into woman.  The mother

of us all miscarried.

With ignorant hands she

plucked at her womb and bore

woe without bounds.

But the sunrise from your thighs

burnt the whole of her guilt away.

More than all that Eve lost

is the blessing you won.

Mary, savior,

mother of light:

may the limbs of your son be the chords of the song

the angels chant above.

~ Hildegard of Bingen

in Praying with the Benedictines,

a Window on the Cloister



God Alone

And when prayer is come to perfection, then will the soul also mount to the supreme degree of Humility, which regards God considered absolutely in Himself, and without any express or distinct comparison with creatures; for hereby a soul fixing her sight upon God as all in all, and contemplating Him in the darkness of incomprehensibility, does not by any distinct act or reflection consider the vacuity and nothingness of creatures, but really transcends and forgets them, so that to her they are in very deed as nothing, because they are not the object which with her spirit she only sees, and with her affections only embraces.

~ Augustin Baker, OSB

in Praying with the Benedictines, A Window on the Cloister

A Taste for Prayer

The desire for prayer is that internal attraction towards prayer.  It is not a question of our attitude being "I ought to pray," but a question of "I want to pray."  It is true there is a midway stage where I can say, "I want to do what I ought to do."  And this is fair and proper, but is is insufficient.  There has to grow with us a desire for prayer, a nostalgia for prayer, a taste for prayer...  But the desire for prayer is something which comes, I suspect, only slowly and with practice.  I think it a truism of prayer to say that the desire for it, the taste for it, follows the practice of it.  It is not because we are drawn to prayer that we first begin to pray; more often we have to begin prayer, and then the taste and desire for it come.

~ Cardinal Basil Hume, OSB

in Praying with the Benedictines