A letter from a Benedictine monk

A Letter from a Benedictine monk THE WEAPONS OF OBEDIENCE II: FORTITUDE

Calx Mariae is pleased to publish the fourth in a series of letters from a Benedictine monk. Each letter discusses one of the most important virtues and principles in the Rule of St Benedict – the rule on which the Western monastic tradition and Christian civilisation in Europe were founded.

In the Prologue of his Rule, St Benedict, the patron saint of Europe writes: “We have therefore to establish a school of the Lord’s service, in the institution of which we hope we are going to establish nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. But if, prompted by the desire to attain to equity, anything be set forth somewhat strictly for the correction of vice or the preservation of charity, do not therefore in fear and terror flee back from the way of salvation of which the beginning cannot but be a narrow entrance. For it is by progressing in the life of conversion and faith that, with heart enlarged and in ineffable sweetness of love, one runs in the way of God’s commandments, so that never deserting His discipleship but persevering until death in His doctrine within the monastery, we may partake by patience in the suffering of Christ and become worthy inheritors of His kingdom.” After looking at humility, obedience, and prudence in the Rule of St Benedict, in this edition we continue with the virtue of fortitude. May these reflections on one of the core virtues of monastic life help us to fulfil the duties of our state in life.

ST. BENEDICT SENDING MAURO TO FRANCE AND PLACIDO TO SICILY (1540). BARTOLOMEO NERONI. FRESCO FROM THE LIFE OF ST. BENEDICT IN THE GREAT CLOISTER OF THE BENEDICTINE MONASTERY OF MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE IN TUSCANY.

As I explained in my last letter, the human soul is endowed with three capacities or aspects: the intellectual, the desiring, and the spirited. The intellectual part exercises the blessed gift of reason; it determines what is to be done or sought and thus should steer the other two parts of the soul. The desiring part of the soul is the seat of the wants and yearnings that arise from the God-given instinct for preservation of self and species as well as the desire for personal fulfilment and happiness. The spirited or irascible part of the soul, finally, is the seat of the vitality, energy and drive that impel a person to overcome the obstacles that either impede the acquisition of some good or threaten its own well-being.

We have already discussed the virtue of prudence and how fundamental it is for St Benedict as well as for our spiritual lives. In fact, prudence, with its interconnected virtues of discretion and wisdom, is the mother of all the virtues; it is, as St Thomas Aquinas says, the form of all the virtues, insofar as every virtue is simply prudence in some particular respect. Thus, the virtue of temperance is merely prudence as regards the pleasures of the body; the virtue of fortitude is prudence in relation to any fearful or difficult thing that threatens our well-being or impedes our happiness; finally, justice is prudence in our relationships with others – with our neighbour and, above all, with God.

Turning now to the virtue of fortitude, St Benedict refers precisely to this virtue at the end of the Prologue when he speaks about the strictness of the monastic life: “And so we are going to establish a school for the service of the Lord. In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome. But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity, do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation, whose entrance cannot be but narrow.” St Benedict does little more than echo the words of Christ Himself in the Sermon on the Mount: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Mt. 7:13) The monastic life offers the way of life, since it offers the path of evangelical perfection. And just as the law of the Gospel is difficult (far more difficult than the Old Law, according to St Gregory Nazianzen), so the monastic life is difficult because it presents us with the same call to continual conversion, to a continual death of the “old man” so that the new man “created in justice and the holiness of truth”1 may not only live, but flourish in the peace of Christ.

It is natural, therefore, that the “old man” in us, upon encountering the “strictness” will experience not a little alarm and want nothing else than to turn and flee back to the world and the comforts it offers. Thus St Benedict (like Virgil does to Dante before facing the last and most formidable suffering of purgatory),2 immediately intervenes in order to encourage, indeed to coax, his new convert by showing him that the way won’t always be so difficult; though the road ahead remain narrow and arduous, the Lord will come to meet us in our weakness, “for as we advance in the religious life and in faith, our hearts expand and we run the way of God’s commandments with unspeakable sweetness of love.” Thus it is not the path which changes, but we ourselves who are so changed by God’s grace that what was once difficult becomes not only easy, but pleasant, thanks to the virtue of fortitude, which enables us to confront and endure the sufferings God has ordained for our purification and sanctification. The particular lesson regarding fortitude to be learned here is that it is nourished and sustained by hope in God’s continual help. That is why we end each hour of the Divine Office with the prayer “may the divine assistance always remain with us and with our absent brethren”.3

But the ultimate object of our hope is the heavenly bliss of the beatific vision; it is this which most engenders fortitude. For this reason, right after St Benedict reminds us of God’s unfailing assistance, he then directs our gaze to our heavenly homeland: “Thus, never departing from His school, but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching until death, we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom.” In this sublime passage St Benedict shows us that the sufferings we encounter along the path of following Christ are not accidental; they are not merely to be tolerated as necessary evils as we journey towards heaven. Rather, they are an

essential part of the journey; it is precisely those sufferings, when humbly accepted, that conform us to Christ in His humility, longanimity, obedience and meekness; it is for this reason that the Desert Fathers relished trials4 and that Sts Paul and Barnabas would preach that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God”. (Acts 14:22)

Nevertheless, St Benedict places the emphasis on the reward, not on the means to the reward; in this way he merely echoes St Paul: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18)

An important element in the passage from the Prologue we have just looked at is perseverance, a virtue that is tightly interconnected with fortitude. As Benedictine monks we make a vow of stability to persevere in the monastic discipline in the monastery until death. Our vow of stability thus provides us with an ongoing opportunity to exercise the virtue of fortitude, especially under the forms of patience, longanimity and meekness.5

The sister virtues of patience and longanimity (also known as long-suffering) are in many ways two sides of the same coin. They both demand a calm endurance of unpleasant or even painful circumstances. The main difference between the two, as far as I can tell, is that longanimity is the endurance of a painful situation that continues for some time. Thus, it is patience that has been prolonged.

St Benedict requires that the novice in the monastery be “thoroughly tested in all patience”.6 Indeed, even before being admitted to the novitiate he must show “himself patient in bearing harsh treatment and difficulty of entry”.7 Once admitted to the novitiate, he must demonstrate that he truly seeks God by his eagerness for trials, or humiliations (opprobria) in addition to zeal for the Divine Office and for obedience. “Let the novice be told all the hard and rugged ways (dura et aspera) by which the journey to God is made.” St Benedict is remarkably realistic. He has no romantic ideas about a pleasant life of roses within the cloister. Some romance is important, of course, and for some temperaments and personality types it may even be necessary. But in order to be faithful to one’s calling a realistic appraisal of the cross that calling entails is even more important than the romance. It would be good to apply this realism of St Benedict to marriage and other states of life in the Church; perhaps fewer life-long commitments would be made, but those few would be stronger and have a much greater chance of enduring the test of time.

“Let the novice be told all the hard and rugged ways (dura et aspera) by which the journey to God is made.” The path of obedience to God requires much toil, and the monastic life offers daily opportunities to experience this toil, the novitiate being the mere beginning. Often the monk is placed in circumstances that stretch him, so to speak, beyond his strength. There are the penances and mortifications imposed by the Rule and common life such as the fasting, vigils and common dormitory. The monk is sometimes asked to do things which he finds humiliating, or to work with brothers with whom he does not get along, or refrain from doing things which he strongly desires to do. Thus in the fourth step of humility, St Benedict asks that the heart (or conscience) of the monk quietly embrace suffering (or patience, patientiam) when it comes to practicing obedience under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions. Sometimes a monk feels inadequate or incapable of doing something commanded him; if, after humbly explaining his position, the superior sticks by his command, our holy father says that he should obey “in love, trusting in the help of God” (RB 68).

How is the monk to endure and persevere in these trials? St Benedict asks him to have a supernatural point of view; armed with the Scriptures, he encourages the monk to keep his mind fixed on our heavenly reward, as well as on the love of Christ: “Then, secure in their hope of a divine recompense, they go on with joy to declare, ‘But in all these trials we conquer, through Him who has so greatly loved us.’” (RB 7; Rom. 8) But it is to the Psalter, above all that, St Benedict turns: “Let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord!” (Ps 26); “You have tested us, O God”; “You have tried us as silver is tried, by fire”; “You have brought us into a snare”; “You have laid afflictions on our back”; “You have set men over our heads” (Ps 65). The Psalter reveals itself to be the most preferred and beloved of all prayer books for St Benedict, and

it should become so for every monk as well. One of the main reasons for this is because the Psalms are prayers for and about fortitude; they continually present to us the experience of facing daunting and fearful trials, of hoping in God amidst these trials, and of facing and overcoming them with His help. “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer” (Ps 17); “Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly” (Ps 45); “Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name’s sake” (Ps 78); “Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war. My mercy, and my refuge: my support and my deliverer” (Ps 143).

The last psalm quoted has imagery of warfare and combat; God is blessed for teaching us how to fight. How are we to interpret this passage, and so many similar ones in the Psalter which seem to encourage us to anger and hatred of our enemies? The answer is that they are supposed to be interpreted and understood spiritually, that is, as referring to our spiritual enemies, which primarily are our evil passions, and secondarily are the demons who continually incite us to follow our evil inclinations. It is against them that our warfare is waged, in accordance with the words of St Paul: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Eph. 6). When

properly prayed, the Psalms lead us to overcome the passions of anger and hatred and make it possible for us to love even our enemies.

Indeed, just as, on the one hand, fortitude is thwarted by the vices of acedia, sloth, sadness, cowardice and faintheartedness, so it is likewise undermined on the other hand by anger and the desire for vengeance. Both extremes fail to correctly use the irascible faculty of the soul, which, when perfected by fortitude, enables us to face and overcome the obstacles that either impede the acquisition of some good or threaten our well-being. Anger in particular destroys this virtue, and makes us alien to God, “for the anger of man worketh not the justice of God”. (James 1:20) That is why St Benedict, echoing the teaching of Christ, tells us not to give way to anger; not to nurse a grudge; not to forsake charity; to bear injuries patiently; to bless those who curse us; to endure persecution for the sake of justice; and finally, to love our enemies (RB 4). It is here, in the patient observance of these instruments of good works, that the virtue of fortitude comes to its full blossoming, for it is perfected in the virtue of meekness, which responds to injuries, injustices and insults with gentleness and love, and which has always shone in God’s saints. We read in the Book of Numbers that Moses “was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth” (Numbers 12:3); we sing in the Psalms “O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness” (Ps 132:1); and finally, our Lord says of Himself, “Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart.” (Mt. 11:29) Our holy father himself is a shining example of meekness: like King David before him, he wept when he learned of the death of his enemy, and mourned the fact that death had overtaken him before he had been converted from his sinfulness.8

In order to exercise the virtue of fortitude to such a heroic extent, we must realise that our strength alone is not enough; we must implore the Holy Ghost to come to our aid with his gift of fortitude, which enables us to suffer for God’s sake. This gift of the Holy Ghost is received in a special way in the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is the gift that seals us as soldiers for Christ, prepared to do battle for the faith even unto death. It is for this reason that the bishop, in the traditional rite of confirmation, gently strikes the cheek of the newly confirmed Christian, to remind him of the trials which he would inevitably meet in striving to serve Christ. Let us, therefore, tap into this deep source of grace within us; let us ask God to renew and confirm that gift in us, so that we too may be soldiers for Christ.

May God bless and strengthen you all.

ENDNOTES:

1. Creatus in iustitia et sanctitate Veritatis (from the rite of novice oblation). 2. Figliuol mio, qui può esser tormento, ma non morte. My little son, here there can be torment, but not death. Purgatorio XXVII, 20-21. 3. Divinum auxilium maneat semper nobiscum et cum fratribus nostris absentibus. 4. Cf. Sayings of the Desert Fathers; Evagrius, 5: Take away temptations and noone will be saved. Also Theodora, 2: Amma Theodora said, “Let us strive to enter the narrow gate. Just as the trees, if they have not stood before the winter’s storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.” 5. Cf. Galatians 5:22: But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness (meekness), faith, modesty, continency, chastity. 6. RB 58: Probetur in omni patientia. 7. RB 58: si…iniurias et difficultatem ingressus…visus fuerit patienter portare. 8. Cf. Life of St Benedict, Chapter 8.