Release Date: 3/24/2009

Homily for the Feast of St. Benedict

Homily for the feast of St. Benedict
March 21, 2009
Br. Aaron Brunner, OSB

“He never wanted to become a larger-than-life hero. He never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become an unreachable icon. He was a seemingly ordinary man, quietly producing extraordinary results.” (Collins, Good to Great)

That’s Benedict. Benedict Maxwell, one of the 11 good-to-great CEOs of the century described in Jim Collins’ bestseller, “Good to Great.” He describes successful companies and leadership.

Our Holy Father St. Benedict is not listed among the “Level 5 leaders,” even though he offers us something even more. Who else can say that his “companies” have a tradition of almost 1,500 years?

What was the key to his success? What kind of person was this that his advice should continue to be valid throughout 1,500 years and go on forming people even today? Benedict must have been a remarkable person.

But when we look back into history and try to present a picture of Benedict, we are quickly disappointed. What stands in the foreground is not the person of Benedict, but his work, the Regula Benedicti.

Our Holy Father St. Benedict was a real “Level 5 leader”! He was an innovator. No one had ever set up communities like his before or directed them with a rule. What is part of history to us now was a bold, risky step into the future.

The story of Benedict’s influence encourages us to ask what Benedict would like to say to us now, what his message is for today – not simply for us monks, but for all who are in search of God.

“My child, if you take my word to heart, you will understand what the fear of the Lord is and discover the knowledge of God.”

These words from the first reading from the Book of Proverbs seem to come from the mouth of St. Benedict himself, so well do they capture his manner.
“Ausculta et pervenies” – listen and you will arrive. These are the cornerstones in the Rule of Benedict.

“Listen” is the first word and “arrive” the last word in our rule. We have to listen to the gentle voice of God. How can we do that in the business of our world?

There is an enormous pressure on us to do what is ordinary and proper. To be called to monasticism or priesthood is a call to move away from the ordinary and proper places. Benedict confronts us with this persistent voice, inviting us to move from where it is comfortable, from where we want to stay, from where we feel at home.

What does Benedict require from his monks? Listen and move! Displacement. Benedict fled Rome as a young student and followed God’s call to live a life in deep solitude. With his followers, he moved from the ordinary and proper places to the places where they could listen to God’s voice.

As long as our families, houses, parishes, monasteries are only ordinary and proper places, they will awaken only ordinary and proper responses and nothing will happen. As long as we are only doing well what others are doing better and more efficiently, we can hardly expect to be considered the salt of the earth or the light of the world. Then, we are not candles in the wind.

In short, as long as we avoid displacement, we will miss the compassionate life to which Jesus calls us and our Father St. Benedict has built in our monasteries. Displacement makes it possible for us to be in the world without being of it.

The mystery of the incarnation is that God did not remain in the place that we consider proper for God, but moved to the condition of a suffering human being. In the life of Jesus, we see how this divine displacement becomes visible in a human story.

“Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

Most of us have experienced painful physical displacements. We have left a lot behind us. We have moved from one country to another, from East to West, from a small town to a large city, from a small intimate high school to a large, impersonal university, from a playful work milieu to a competitive position, from single life to married life, in short, from familiar to very unfamiliar surroundings.

Beyond these physical displacements, our lives may be marked by deep inner displacements. As the years go by, familiar images are often pushed out of place. Family traditions and church celebrations that have given us our most precious memories are suddenly abandoned and even laughed at as sentimental, magical, or superstitious.

Let us see Benedict’s displacements as living reminders that God calls every human being in a unique way and each of us ought to be attentive to God’s voice in our own unique lives.

“Ausculta et pervenies.” Listen, my son, and you will arrive.

The disciples in the Gospel complain, saying, we have left everything and followed you. And still it is not that easy to hear God’s voice. Our first, and often most difficult, task is to allow these actual displacements to become places where we can hear God’s voice.

Listen, my son, and you will arrive. Listen, God is all around us.

God works in and with us. We are his instruments. Even though we can’t see, hear, touch, embrace or taste him, he is here, living in you and me. God is like the wind: You can’t see it, but feel it. God is living in you and me.

Working in people who dare to proclaim his good news.
Working in people who risk and live their life for others.
Working in you and me.
Working in our politicians who try to lead the world as best they can.
Working in people who help us when we are struggling.
Working in people who take us into their arms and wipe away our tears.
Working in people who share our happiness with us.
Working in people who love each other.
Working in people who support others in financial, mental, psychological or prayful ways.
Working in you and me.
Working in our old and sick people who pray for us and give us examples of patience.
Working in our parents, siblings and friends.
Working in enemies who start to talk to each other after years of fighting.
Working in our superiors who try to form and lead us.
Working in you and me when we help each other become more holy.
God is working when we pray – and he is here – working in you and me.
God is working in and with our community.

The same God called each one of us. And the same God is reaching out now to make us his own. The Eucharist is God’s physical embrace of us, God’s touch.

Let us give thanks to our God for he is good.
Let us be thankful for our vocation.
Let us be thankful for all the great examples we have in our community.
Let us be thankful for our oblates who pray with us and for us.
Let us be thankful for all our deceased confreres who have made this place possible for us.
Let us be thankful for our elderly confreres who are living examples of patience and trust and faith in God.
Let us be thankful for our younger confreres who are seeking God in our community and are signs of hope. You are like candles in the wind.

We have to reaffirm that fundamental truth, that out of many, we are one. To those who meet us with cynicism and who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of our community: Yes, we can.

Fifteen hundred years separate us from the life of Benedict. Benedict was a real “Level 5 leader.” On our way from “good to great,” let us keep in mind that God is all around us.

All we have to do is listen.