Homily for Thursday, 11 July 2019– Memorial of St. Benedict

Readings of the day: Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29, 45:1-5; Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21; Matthew 10:7-15

Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

This homily was given at the Kateri House Women's Residence Chapel, St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

How do we exercise hospitality in our lives?

When Jesus commissions his disciples in the Gospel reading we hear today from Matthew, he sends them out to accomplish fairly great ministries with fairly little: They are to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” In doing so, Jesus’ disciples are to set out without many even basic possessions, let alone luxuries: “Take no gold or silver or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff.”

Not only does Jesus ask his disciples to travel lightly, but he goes on to invite them to live hospitality as essential to their ministry: To “give without payment” as they have “received without payment”; to take what is offered them in each house “and stay there until [they] leave.”

Modeled on Jesus’ invitation to his disciples to exercise hospitality, St. Benedict of Norcia, the sixth-century abbot of Subiaco and then Monte Cassino, Italy, whose feast we celebrate today, developed his Rule of Benedict for the communities of monks he founded. The first lines of the Rule of Benedict urge the monks to listen: “Listen, O my son, to the precepts of your master, and incline the ear of your heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of your loving Father, so that by the toil of obedience you may return to [God], from whom by the sloth of disobedience you have gone away.” In the original Latin of Benedict’s Rule, the commands to “listen” and to “obedience” are derived from the same verb, audire, to hear or to listen. Obedience, ob-audire, in this sense of listening, is the foremost act of hospitality, toward another person or toward God.

Farther on in Benedict’s Rule, St. Benedict devotes a chapter to the proper reception of guests into Benedictine monasteries. “Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ,” St. Benedict writes, “and let due honor be shown to all, especially to those ‘of the household of the faith’ and to wayfarers.”

The Rule of Benedict has become the basis for the rules of many religious orders to this day, both monastic and more active orders, including mine, the Basilian Fathers. The Basilian Way of Life [39] pays homage to the Rule of Benedict when it says that “hospitality is a Christian virtue and a Basilian tradition. We must recognize the Lord not only in strangers and in those in need, but in all those who visit our communities.” The Basilian Customs, the next-most important Basilian document after our Way of Life, says this about hospitality and table fellowship, not only among Basilians but with anybody who visits our communities: “We ought to pay special attention to the art of conversation, both at the table and elsewhere, not allowing ourselves to be satisfied with minimal courtesies, but finding in our conversation support and encouragement.”

In other words, first, may we recognize the Lord in our neighbour, created in God’s image and likeness, and treat our neighbour, whether guest or stranger, with appropriate hospitality. Second, conversation that offers “support and encouragement” is essential to the hospitality to which not only the Rule of St. Benedict, the Basilian Way of Life and Customs, or other religious orders’ rules invite us, but to which Jesus himself invites us, his disciples, through the Gospel of Jesus’ own way of life.

Homily for Tuesday, 11 July 2017– Memorial of St. Benedict

Readings of the day: Genesis 32:23-33; Psalm 17:1b, 2-3, 6-7ab, 8b, 15; Matthew 9:32-38

Tuesday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time

Is there anybody here who has ever wrestled or who enjoys wrestling? I must admit that wrestling is not my favourite sport. Yet today we hear in our readings the continued story of Jacob. We hear about Jesus’ confrontation with the mute man with a demon, and we celebrate this feast day of St. Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century abbot whose Rule is the basis for life in many religious orders to this day. Jacob, Jesus, and Benedict were all expert wrestlers.

Of course, they were not wrestlers in the sense of the sport we are familiar with today. They are wrestlers in a spiritual sense, at least in the case of Jesus and St. Benedict. But do we not have to admit that each were involved in some epic wrestling matches? Even if we, like Jacob, were quite confident in our wrestling abilities, how many of us would dare to wrestle with God? Talk about a heavyweight class matchup! I wonder what our best chance would be against an opponent as powerful as God. Would we opt for Greco-Roman wrestling, or maybe freestyle? Or maybe we might try oil wrestling, which I understand is the national sport of Turkey, or beach wrestling (yes, this is actually a type of wrestling)? In any case, I do not think many of us would stand much of a chance in a wrestling match against God!

But Jacob holds his own. This wrestling match goes on all night, “until daybreak.” And then, in the upset for the ages, Jacob actually wins his match against God, disguised as a man in our reading from Genesis. Sure, Jacob ends up with a dislocated hip, but this is not bad for somebody who has just emerged from an all-night wrestling match against God! Jacob gets a blessing from God after his victory. We know that God is a good sport; even if he dislocates your hip, he will give you a blessing, especially if you ask as Jacob did. Jacob also gets a new name, Israel, which, Genesis tells us, means one who has wrestled or “striven with God.” And in memory of Jacob’s unprecedented victory, his having “seen God face to face” and lived, the people of Israel no longer eat “the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket” of animals.

Jesus’ wrestling match with the mute demoniac is described more briefly in Matthew’s Gospel than Jacob’s match with God is in Genesis. But it is as much or more of a classic match as that of Jacob. In fact, this match between God and demonic forces, against Satan himself, is still going on. God has promised us that he will win this match.

But God, through Jesus Christ, has asked for our help. We might follow the example of St. Benedict, who saw the Christian life as a participation in a spiritual battle; a wrestling match. The Rule of St. Benedict says, “When you begin a good work, earnestly pray to God to bring it to perfection.” St. Benedict invites us to prayer. Jesus invites us to the harvest, and to pray for more “labourers” to join the harvest. They, along with Jacob, invite us to wrestle with God and with demons. The best part is that, if we accept this invitation to wrestle, we are guaranteed victory.

Homily for Saturday, 11 July 2015– Memorial of St. Benedict

Saturday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Proverbs 2:1-9; Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11; Matthew 19:27-29

“Listen carefully, my child…” These are the first words of the Rule of St. Benedict, whose feast we celebrate today. Who is St. Benedict, and to whom does he ask us to “listen”? What is the goal of our listening?

St. Benedict founded the famous Benedictine monastery in Monte Cassino, in Italy, in the early 500s. He is often called the “father of Western monasticism”; the father of life in religious community as the Church has known it for most of its history. And so as a Basilian religious I have a special fondness for St. Benedict.

“Listen,” St. Benedict begins his Rule, which has influenced the rules of many religious communities including our own Basilian Way of Life. We might say, “Be obedient,” since words like “obedience” are from the same Latin root as to listen. And the Rule of St. Benedict continues: “Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving Father’s advice, so that by the labor of obedience you may return to him.”

“Listen”; be obedient. These words are for more than religious under vows. They are an invitation to all of us. To whom, then, are we to “listen”; to direct our “labor of obedience”? I believe we are all called not only to listen to the advice of wise people; children to their parents and grandparents; religious to their superiors (although I am sure Fr. Paul1 appreciates this), but first to God. And what is the goal of our listening; our obedience to God? Our goal (all of us, not only vowed religious!) is eternal life; that we “may return to” God.

This is Jesus’ promise to all of us who listen for God; who discern; who “receive willingly and carry out effectively” the will of God in our lives: “Eternal life.” But I have a slight issue with our Gospel reading today, from Matthew. Jesus reminds us that careful listening; obedience is a sacrifice. He hears Peter’s objection: “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us”? And we hear Jesus’ reply to Peter: “Everyone who has given up” material belongings; family “for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” My issue is not that following Jesus or particularly religious life does not involve sacrifice. It does. But every vocation involves some sacrifice. Might many if not most of us have had in the back of our minds the concern of Peter when discerning our vocation: “What will there be for us”?

My slight issue is that in my experience vowed religious life, poverty, chastity, and obedience, has been much more a joy than a sacrifice. But if we have discerned our vocation from God; God’s will for our lives well, I think it is well for us to enjoy living our vocation: A loving marriage; single life or priesthood given in service to God and our Church; the great community life we Basilians of St. Kateri; that many religious enjoy… These are signs to us now of our ultimate goal and joy, “eternal life,” which God promises to all who listen to and for God; who “receive willingly and carry out effectively” the “labor of obedience”; the vocation to which God has called us.
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1 Fr. Paul English, CSB, is Pastor and Rector of the Basilian Fathers of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Irondequoit, NY.