Tag Archive for ‘Pennington’
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
by M. Basil Pennington OCSO The Young Abbot Bernard, the founding abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, was one of the most commanding Church leaders in the first half of the twelfth century as well as one of the greatest spiritual masters of all times and the most powerful propagator of the Cistercian reform. He [...]
Zeal
As we just heard in chapter fifty-eight of the Rule about receiving our brethren, Benedict says to see if the newcomer truly seeks God. The signs for that are in three zeals. Zeal is defined as eagerness in this text of the RB 1980. The Latin sollicitus means zeal. Zeal for the work of God, [...]
Being formed through listening
… It has been said that our Father Saint Bernard knew the Bible by heart. I do not know how true that is, but he was certainly filled with the Bible. Benedict is that way, too. And you will be, too, if you keep going to the Office, pray the psalms, listen to readings, and [...]
Commentaries on the Rule Of St. Benedict
Several Oblates have asked for suggestions on commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict (RB). The list is too exhaustive to list. Commentaries can be broken into three primary groups; devotional, line by line (exegesis), and a combination of the two. But before listing various commentaries, please remember that there are also quite a number [...]
Christ, the Way
Benedict immediately goes on, Christo omnino nihil praeponant. Absolutely nothing is to be placed before Christ. This is the crown of it. Christ is first, center, power, and the meaning of our life—the total center. The abbot has this meaning because he is the sacrament of Christ, and we need sacraments. He is there to [...]
Love for the Abbot
What Benedict says next is interesting; it is unexpected. You think now that after he has talked about the fear of God, he will immediately talk about the love of God. Instead, he drops in, abbatem suum sincera et humili caritate diligant. Love his abbot with a sincere and humble charity. This tells us how [...]
Pennington on Chapter 72 of the rule (cont.)
Obedience. Benedict goes on, oboedientiam sibi certatim impendant. We obey one another. We obey one another but certatim. Certatim expresses the idea of a certain jostling. If everybody is trying to obey each other, obviously there is going to be a certain competition there. That is what Benedict is saying. You struggle to be the [...]
Patience
First of all, we honor one another. Then, he goes on (and he is very realistic): infirmitates suas sive corporum sive morum patientissime tolerent. We tolerate, with the greatest possible patience, the infirmities of body and of the way of morum—the way of acting, functioning, the way we present ourselves, the way we live. We [...]
A Burning Love
Benedict goes on to describe this. It is really a description of what he sees as a way of spirituality, a way of growth into the fullness, a way of going into God. Hunc ergo zelum ferventissimo amore exerceant monachi. The monk is to make this zeal his own with a most fervent, burning love. [...]
Zeal of Monks
In this crowning chapter, chapter seventy-two, Benedict speaks of the good zeal of monks. He liked that word zeal. It is a powerful word that is used in the scriptures [3]. There is something about Benedict that is zealous. There is a certain energy to him, a certain vibrancy and vitality. He uses hasten (curritur, [...]
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