There have been many challenging chapters in The Rule of St. Benedict. Perhaps no chapter challenges me as much as this one. After all, I may be offended by rules about discipline, punishment, and excommunication. I may fear loss and the ability to return if I continue to drift away from community. I may sympathize for the abbot and the weight of responsibility carried on behalf of others. However, those are the challenges for others. I am compliant, obedient, and safe – right? This chapter requires me to lose all my possessions. Benedict has gone from being strict to meddling in my life! How can I possibly be expected to relinquish ownership of all my stuff? This is one thing if I lived in a monastery, but how can I practice this rule outside the monastic walls?
My questions of protest echo the young man speaking to Jesus. The young man wanted to be devout. He had followed the law throughout his life. He had been blessed with success. He may have credited his wealth to God’s blessings. When he asked Jesus what more could be done, Jesus answered, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”[1] This story highlights the power of possessions. Still, a fair question that remains is how to practically live this difficult rule. Perhaps there are two points to be considered. First, what are my goals? Second, where is my community?
In considering my goals, our Lord said that my heart and my possessions are linked together.[2] We may attempt to rationalize the need for our stuff, but we are often convicted by our attachment to our possessions. The child receives some money as a gift and fixates on his desire to spend it. He his mind constantly thinks on what he can get with it. He damages relationship with parents, siblings, and friends by his schemes and demands to get stuff. The possessor becomes possessed. The owner is owned by stuff. This is more about attitude than material. What are my goals? Do I want bigger houses, bigger barns, more cars, and clothes? What is my motivation? What am I doing with the small things that I have now? Do I fool myself into believing that I will be more benevolent with more possessions? What makes me think that I will be possessed any less with more? Yes, my possessions have a way of possessing me. It is a matter of attitude. I need help from others to hold me accountable. Benedict warned members of the community to guard against the material and focus on caring for one another.
When I hold possessions loosely and invest in the needs of community then my attitude reflects the attitude of my Lord who, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…”[3] How do I know where is my heart? I ask myself where I grieve. Why do I grieve when an automobile accident destroys my car? What about when it gets scratched in the parking lot? How do I feel when my neighbor celebrates a major promotion? What about the foreigner who dreams of a life where they are warm and feed? The homeless? The afflicted? Where are my treasures and where is my heart?
The second question considered is, where is my community? For Benedict, life in community was revealed in shared possessions. For those who live cloistered, they may continue to follow this rule. Personal possessions are valued intrinsically for the relationship they represent. I offered a small container of incense to a Benedictine brother who had been kind during my personal retreat at the monastery. He retains that gift to remember our friendship. The treasure is not the item, but what it represents. The heart and the treasure resides in brotherly affection rather than material gain.
There are examples much more near to home than monastic life. What about in the home itself. The most perfect example of relationship is displayed in the Trinity of God Himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The sacramental reflection of family is intended to portray that relationship. The closest form of community ought to be family. However, material possession can invade the home. Rather than two becoming one, each maintains their ownership of their stuff. Perhaps the ideal place for us to begin to practice this chapter of The Rule is in our home.
[1] Mark 10:21.
[2] Matthew 6:21.
[3] Philippians 2:5-6
