What Scriptural Lessons Can We Draw From the Rule of St. Benedict?

Though it may seem an unlikely source, the deeply moving and ever practical Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia (A.D. 480 - 547) offers many beautiful insights into the way we ought to approach Sacred Scripture and the Christian life.

From beginning to end, the Rule is saturated with Scriptural imagery; more than 160 biblical citations fill the short work. These form the backdrop for Benedict’s repeated emphasis on the primacy of love over law, grace over works.

Although the work is called a “Rule,” Benedict is keen to show that its various precepts and proscriptions are ultimately for the sake of building a community of love:

Therefore we intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service. In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. (Prologue)

For Benedict, the formation of the monastic community is made possible only by obedience to God’s commandments, which are always from and for love.

This point is driven home time and again as he assures his monks that they will not understand the Scriptures until they realize the deep connection between love and law. In practical terms, this means the monks are reminded to see their relationship to their superior as that of a son to a father. Hence, the bonds formed in the monastery take on a familial character, to such an extent that Benedict warns that the abbot of the community will be held responsible for the souls of his monks.

In the spirit of the psalmist who urges a sacrifice of “a broken and contrite heart” (Ps 51:17), Benedict also reminds his monks not to confuse their exterior ascetical practices with the interior conversion of heart which those practices are meant to bring about. He clarifies: “We must know that God regards our purity of heart and tears of compunction, not our many words” (ch 20).

In this way, the Rule stands out less as a handbook of asceticism—although it does involve plenty of asceticism!—and more as a handbook for the building of a community of mutual obedience. This community has as its aim a shared way of life that is lived in accordance with the Scriptures. At every stage, moreover, Benedict is clear that it is the grace of the Spirit, rather than the works of the monks, which builds up the community.

Naturally, the Rule still contains a strongly practical bent, including provision for all sorts of good works; indeed, these works are essential in the life of the monk. Yet they are always to be situated in light of the divine grace which makes them possible and worthwhile. In these ways, Benedict offers us a lived expression of the Scriptures: a way of life where love and law, obedience and sacrifice, grace and works join together in dynamic harmony.

Further Reading:

The Rule of Saint Benedict, ed. Timothy Fry, OSB (Vintage: 1998)