Blessed Schuster’s Daily Thoughts on the Rule: Monday after the First Sunday of Lent
Schuster reflects on the Parable of the Judgment given in the Mass for today. He speaks of it as the first day of the Lenten fast, since originally the season began with the First Sunday, while Ash Wednesday and the subsequent days were later added in order to achieve an exact forty days.
Monday after the First Sunday of Lent
Station at St Peter in Chains
The Shepherd of the Church
1. On the first day of the Lenten fast, the Station is at the Esquiline basilica of St Peter in vinculis.
The Gospel describes Jesus, Who in the final judgment divides the sheep from the goats, the elect on the right, the reprobate on the left.
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Saint Benedict in the Rule returns often to this impressive page of the Gospel.
‘Let the Abbot always remember that in the dreadful judgment of the Lord he will be examined both on his own teaching and on the obedience of his disciples; and let the Abbot consider that there will be imputed to the fault of the shepherd whatever of less advantage the master will find in his flock–as, on the other hand, if the shepherd shall have dedicated all his care to the unquiet and indocile flock, employing all the best remedies to heal his subjects of their vices, then at the divine tribunal the shepherd, released guiltless, will be able to repeat with the Prophet: I have not hidden Thy law in my heart, but I have preached Thy truth and salvation; they, on the other hand, have despised me.
‘Then, finally, the indocile little sheep of his flock shall be the prey of eternal death.’ (Rule, Ch. 2)
They will have that which they freely preferred.
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2. It is recounted that, when a certain monk at Solesmes was passing to eternity, Dom Guéranger trembled and said: ‘At this moment, at the tribunal of God they are also dealing with me!’
This is the reason why the Saints always avoided, sometimes by flight, the pastoral charge and the responsibility for souls. The Apostle Saint Peter [sic] gives the reason for this, enjoining on the subjects peaceful obedience, so as not to render their charge even heavier to the presbyters: ipsi enim pervigilant, quasi rationem pro animabus vestris reddituri. (Heb 13:17: ‘For they mount the night watch, as those who will have to render an account of your souls.’) While the others slumber, the shepherd does not manage to find sleep, preoccupied, as he is, by the cares of his office. Saint Benedict, anticipating by many centuries the Dies irae of Fra Jacopone, calls the judgment of God dreadful, because such also is it described for us in Holy Scripture: Non intres in iudicium cum servo tuo, quia non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens. (Ps. 142: ‘O God, do not call Thy servant to Thy judgment, because no mortal will be able to go forth justified from Thy sight.’)
There is a confidence in God which is the fruit of chaste love; and there is a confidence which is simply recklessness, a lack of faith. Even the reprobate sometimes display imperturbability and calmness in death, like Julian the apostate. But it is the consequence of skepticism and final impenitence. When the wound no longer hurts, it is becoming gangrenous.
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3. It is true that the divine judgment for Superiors is severe, but no less dreadful—Saint Benedict assures us—is that of the subjects: tremendo iudicio Dei. (Rule, Ch. 2)
Examining the care of the shepherd, will the Lord not also perhaps likewise look at the correspondence of the flock, and the intimate pains which it has inflicted on the Superior?
For this reason Saint Paul added: ‘Act in such a way that your prelates may not bear the burden with a sorrowful spirit, because this would not benefit you either.’ (Heb 13:17)
In Christ’s particular judgment, the object of examination, according to the Cassinese Patriarch [Saint Benedict], will be: doctrinae suae, vel discipulorum oboedientiae…facienda erit discussio. (Rule, Ch. 2: ‘There will have to be an examination both of his teaching and of the obedience of the disciples.’) The teaching and the execution.
At times the Abbot, in order to avoid exacerbating the position, will prefer to be silent with the uncompromising and rebellious monk. But the subject should not count too much on this silence, which Saint Ignatius of Antioch called even more fearful than the word of the prelate.
At the tribunal of God, the Abbot will be obliged to speak, and to say whatever he had kept silent on earth because, as Sacred Scripture notes: ubi non est auditus, noli effundere sermonem. ‘Do not waste words when there is no one who listens.’
