Today’s Chapter: In the Hearing of the Ear She Hath Obeyed Me
Chapter 5: Of Obedience (vv. 1-13)
The first degree of humility is obedience without delay. This becometh those who hold nothing dearer to them than Christ, and who on account of the holy servitude which they have taken upon them, either for fear of hell or for the glory of life everlasting, as soon as anything is ordered by the superior, suffer no more delay in doing it than if it had been commanded by God Himself. It is of these that the Lord saith: “At the hearing of the ear he hath obeyed Me.” And again, to teachers He saith: “He that heareth you heareth Me.”
Such as these, therefore, leaving immediately their own occupations and forsaking their own will, with their hands disengaged, and leaving unfinished what they were about, with the speedy step of obedience follow by their deeds the voice of him who commands; and so as it were at the same instant the bidding of the master and the perfect fulfilment of the disciple are joined together in the swiftness of the fear of God by those who are moved with the desire of attaining eternal life. These, therefore, choose the narrow way, of which the Lord saith: “Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life”; so that living not by their own will, nor obeying their own desires and pleasures, but walking according to the judgment and command of another, and dwelling in community, they desire to have an Abbot over them. Such as these without doubt fulfil that saying of the Lord: “I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.”
Having laid out for us the instruments to be used with Mary in the workshop of Nazareth, Saint Benedict proceeds throughout the rest of the Holy Rule to describe how they are employed in the work of the monastic life. Madre Cànopi comments on this chapter:
Having been welcomed into the ‘workshop’ of the monastery, the monk is immediately set to work: a work which is anything but repetitive and monotonous! It requires the use of all the seventy-three instruments of good works placed at his disposition, committing all his physical, moral, and spiritual faculties.
In Chapters 5-7 of the holy Rule is envisaged the ‘ascetical work’; later we will encounter the more specifically spiritual, the manual, and the ‘social’. It is not a question, naturally, of ‘activities’ separate one from another, but ones that are complementary and equally necessary for the global formation of the person, of the monk. And we can say that in such formation the Virgin Mary plays a very important role, as model, as guide, and ‘sign of sure hope’. Given the great importance of the ascetical work, we will address it in three distinct moments, starting from obedience, and then considering silence and humility.
Chapter 5 of the Rule begins with an expression which, in its brevity, indeed contains everything: ‘The first step of humility is immediate obedience. This is proper to those who maintain that they have absolutely nothing more dear than Christ’ (vv. 1-2). True, authentically religious obedience is not born from dread, even if it is pervaded by holy fear; it is not servility, even if it is ready to deny itself in everything: it is the response of love in a humble and pure heart.
For Mary, it is precisely obedience that is the measure of humility and love of God. She makes of her own existence a continual adherence to the Will of God. Of her the Lord could certainly say: ‘In hearing me, immediately [she] obeyed me’ (cf. v.5) To the angel, in fact, she responded her ‘yes’ without reserve; her full and total fiat, fruit of a faith hard as a diamond, as is the faith required of monks.
After having underlined the aspect of the promptness proper to obedience, Saint Benedict immediately adds: ‘And again, addressing teachers of the faith, the Lord declares, ‘He who hears you, hears me’ (Lk 10:16)’. (v. 6) At the moment of the annunciation, Mary did not have a theophany like Moses; she did not hear the voice of God speaking to her from the burning bush or from the cloud; no, God sent her an ‘angel’, His messenger, and Mary believed and obeyed this intermediary. The function of angel, of envoy, is fulfilled in the Church by those whom Jesus sends: the apostles, their successors, and all those who are established in authority: for the monk it is the abbot. Obeying them, one obeys the Lord; from how such obedience is offered is ascertained the extent of one’s faith and love. We are easily prompt to excuse our spiritual slowness and paralyses by saying: ‘No, I do not see that the will of God is as it is indicated to me, it does not seem so to me…, I don’t like it that way!’, and we conduct ourselves according to our criterion, our way of feeling and thinking. If we live by faith, we say to ourselves instead: ‘The Lord speaks to me through this person: I listen with faith, I respond with love, I entrust myself with hope.’ (Anna Maria Cànopi, Nel ‘Sì’ di Maria, translation by a Benedictine monk, pp. 36-38)
From the Annunciation to the Cross, Mary shows us how to obey immediately, to choose the narrow way, to hold nothing dearer than the Son Whom she so loved.