"Let This Suffice..."

Benedict was an early monastic leader. He founded the Benedictine order which was committed to virtues like humility and simplicity. The key acts of the order were prayer, study and service. The reading below is a selection from the Rule of Benedict. It has to do with how we live--and the resources we expend.

Though it rings with an unfamiliarly authoritative voice to us today, the underlying values which are affirmed are enduring ones and should guide us in each spiritual journey or life of Christian discipleship.

(1) How much stuff is "sufficient" for a meaningful life and ministry?

(2) How can we continually reduce the number of things or possessions which we consider to be our "private property" and hence not available for our neighbor's needs?

(3) How can our communities assure that everyone has "all the necessary articles", food, relationships, education, health care, training and so forth, according to individual needs and capacities?

If we answer these three questions well, we contribute to the well-being, unity and purposefulness of our community. If we answer these questions dishonestly, either keeping and using too much ourselves, or refusing the necessities to others, then we add to the burdens of the global community and open ourselves to the "retribution of God". Let's toy with the thought that global warming, terrorism, and violent tensions around our world today have long cords which tangle up with many dishonest answers to this one question: Do you have what you need and no more? Or better still, do you love God and neighbor as much as you love yourself?


For bedding let this suffice:
a mattress, a blanket, a coverlet and a pillow.

The beds, moreover, are to be examined frequently by the Abbot,
to see if any private property be found in them.
If anyone should be found to have something
that he did not receive from the Abbot,
let him undergo the most severe discipline.

And in order that this vice of private ownership
may be cut out by the roots,
the Abbot should provide all the necessary articles:
cowl, tunic, stockings, shoes, belt,
knife, stylus, needle, handkerchief, writing tablets;
that all pretext of need may be taken away.
Yet the Abbot should always keep in mind
the sentence from the Acts of the Apostles
that "distribution was made to each according as anyone had need" (Acts 4:35).
In this manner, therefore,
let the Abbot consider weaknesses of the needy
and not the ill-will of the envious.
But in all his decisions
let him think about the retribution of God.