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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, <\/em>and the weak nothing at which to take alarm. (Chapter LXIV) CHAPTER LXIV. Of the Appointment of the Abbot<\/strong> I have long cherished the book Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm<\/em>, translated and annotated by Dr Benedicta Ward. The introduction alone is well worth the price of the book; I put it in the same category as Dom Jean Leclercq’s classic, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God<\/em>. On this feast of Saint Anselm, I call your attention to this book. If you would understand Benedictine piety in its purest and sweetest form, you will need to read the\u00a0 Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm<\/em>.<\/p>\n Saint Anselm was born in 1033 in Aosta; three years after his mother’s death he entered the abbey of Notre Dame at Bec in Normandy, where, at the age of thirty, he replaced Lanfranc. Fifteen years later, in 1078, Anselm became abbot of Bec, and in 1093 he was named Archbishop of Canterbury, serving in this office until his death on 21 April 1109. The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm<\/em>, together with his Proslogion<\/em>, a meditation on faith and understanding (f<\/em>ides quaerens intellectum<\/em>),<\/span> all date from the time of Saint Anselm’s tenure as Prior of Bec. You would, I think, know the celebrated opening verses of the Prosologion<\/em>:<\/p>\n I do desire to understand a little of your truth Today, I want to present to you Saint Anselm’s prayer to Saint Benedict. There is another prayer of his to which I shall return at some later time: his prayer for an abbot. Both prayers are quintessentially monastic in their language, their form, and their theology. You will recognise in Saint Anselm’s prayers many of the themes that Saint Aelred would take up in his Pastoral Prayer<\/em> written about more than a half century later.<\/p>\n Prayer to St Benedict<\/strong><\/p>\n Holy and blessed Benedict, Benedict, blessed of God, For I profess to lead a life Holy Father Benedict At least, peerless leader My depraved mind is swift and untiring My blind and distorted soul is swift and prompt It would take too long, dearest Father, Sometimes my sins drag me here and there, See then, blessed Benedict, For shame! Shameless monk that I am! Alas, \u2018anguish closes me in on every side,\u2019 \u2018Faint within me, my spirit; be appalled, my heart; And you, my good leader, my gentle master, Help me! I beg you to be my protector. Lift up him who is cast down, strengthen the wavering, Do this, advocate of monks, of that charity Let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak nothing at which to take alarm. (Chapter LXIV) CHAPTER LXIV. Of the Appointment of the Abbot 21 Apr. 21 Aug. 21 Dec. Let him that hath been appointed Abbot always bear in mind what a burden he <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,271,207,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rule-of-saint-benedict","category-saint-anselm","category-saint-benedict","category-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-4Ed","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17869"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19879,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17869\/revisions\/19879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\n21 Apr. 21 Aug. 21 Dec.
\nLet him that hath been appointed Abbot always bear in mind what a burden he hath received, and to Whom he will have to give an account of his stewardship; and let him know that it beseemeth him more to profit his brethren than to preside over them. He must, therefore, be learned in the Law of God, that he may know whence to bring forth new things and old: he must be chaste, sober, merciful, ever preferring mercy to justice, that he himself may obtain mercy. Let him hate sin, and love the brethren. And even in his corrections, let him act with prudence, and not go too far, lest while he seeketh too eagerly to scrape off the rust, the vessel be broken. Let him keep his own frailty ever before his eyes, and remember that the bruised reed must not be broken. And by this we do not mean that he should suffer vices to grow up; but that prudently and with charity he should cut them off, in the way he shall see best for each, as we have already said; and let him study rather to be loved than feared. Let him not be violent nor over anxious, not exacting nor obstinate, not jealous nor prone to suspicion, or else he will never be at rest. In all his commands, whether concerning spiritual or temporal matters, let him be prudent and considerate. In the works which he imposeth, let him be discreet and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, when he said \u201cIf I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all perish in one day.\u201d Taking, then, the testimonies, borne by these and the like words, to discretion, the mother of virtues, let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak nothing at which to take alarm. And, especially, let him observe this present Rule in all things; so that, having faithfully fulfilled his stewardship, he may hear from the Lord what that good servant heard, who gave wheat to his fellow-servants in due season: \u201cAmen, I say unto you, over all his goods shall he place him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nwhich my heart already believes and loves.
\nI do not seek to understand so that I may believe,
\nbut I believe so that I may understand;
\nand what is more, I believe that unless I do believe I shall not understand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nthe grace of heaven has made you rich
\nwith such full blessing of goodness
\nnot only in order to raise you to the glory you desire,
\nto the rest of the blessed, to a seat in heaven,
\nbut that many others be drawn to that same blessedness,
\nwondering at your life,
\nstirred by your kind admonitions,
\ninstructed by your gentle doctrine,
\ncalled on by your miracles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nwhom God has blessed with such wide benediction,
\nto you I flee, in anguish of soul.
\nI fling myself down before you
\nwith all the humility of mind possible;
\nI pour forth my prayer to you
\nwith all the fervour possible;
\nand implore your help with all the desire possible;
\nfor my need is too great; I cannot bear it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nof continual turning to God,
\nas I promised by taking the name and habit of a monk;
\nbut my long life cries out against me
\nand my conscience convicts me,
\nas a liar to God, to angels, and to men.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nhear what I ask of you;
\nand I beg you not to be scandalized
\nby so many faults and such deceit,
\nbut hear what I acknowledge before you,
\nand have more pity on my sorrows than I deserve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\namong the great leaders of the army of Christ,
\nyou have pledged me to serve under your leadership,
\nhowever feeble a soldier;
\nyou have placed me under your tutorship,
\nhowever ignorant a pupil;
\nI have vowed to live according to your Rule,
\nhowever carnal a monk.
\nMy perverse heart is dry and as cold as a stone
\nwhen it comes to deploring the sins I have committed;
\nbut when it comes to resisting occasions of sin
\nit is indeed pliant and soon defiled.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nto study what is useless and vile;
\nbut even to think of what is for its good
\nmakes it weary and stupid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nto throw itself into vices and wallow in them,
\nbut how slowly and with what difficulty
\ndo I even call to mind the virtues.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nto recall each thing separately.
\nIt would be too long a story to tell
\nof all the gluttony, sloth, inconstancy, impatience,
\nvainglory, detraction, disobedience,
\nand all the other sins which my wretched soul commits,
\nderiding me each day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nmocking at this wretched and tattered little man;
\nand at other times they come in a mob
\nand trample me underfoot in triumph,
\nand triumph that they can trample me underfoot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nhow bravely fights this soldier
\nwho is under your leadership;
\nsee how much progress your pupil is making
\nin your school;
\nsee what a marvellous monk this is,
\ndead to sin and the desires of the flesh,
\nfervent and living only for virtue!
\nNo, you see rather a false monk, lost to all virtue,
\ndominated by a crowd of vices,
\nburdened with a weight of sin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nHow dare I call myself a soldier of Christ
\nand a disciple of St Benedict?
\nFalse to my profession,
\nhow have I the effrontery to let people see me
\nwith the tonsure and habit of profession
\nwhen I do not live the life?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nfor if I deny my sovereign king,
\nmy good teacher and my profession,
\nit is death to me;
\nbut if I profess myself a soldier, scholar, monk,
\nmy life argues that I am a liar
\nand I am judged thereby.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nbreak forth and cry, O my soul.\u2019
\nJesus, good Lord,
\n\u2018consider my affliction and my trouble
\nand forgive me all my sins.\u2019
\n\u2018Hear, 0 Lord, do not cast me off or forsake me\u2019,
\nbut \u2018lead me and help me to do your will\u2019,
\nso that my life may attest
\nwhat my heart and mouth confess so freely.
\n\u2018Hear the voice of my prayer, my King and my God,\u2019
\nby the merits and intercession of holy Benedict,
\nyour dear friend, my master, and my leader.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nmy dear father, blessed Benedict –
\nI pray and beseech you,
\nby the mercy you have shown to others
\nand by the mercy that God has shown to you,
\nhave compassion on me in my misery,
\nfor I rejoice with you in your bliss.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nDig me out from the mass of sin that buries me,
\nfree me from the ropes of sin that bind me,
\nloose me from the wickedness that entangles me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nprepare the helpless with spiritual weapons of virtue,
\nlead and protect him who is fighting in the battle.
\nBring me to the victory and lead me to the crown.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nwhich you were so anxious for us to take
\nas our rule of life.
\nMake it your care that we may be sufficiently willing
\nand effectively able to do whatever we ought;
\nso that both you, on account of our discipleship,
\nand we, on account of your leadership,
\nmay glory before the face of God
\nwho lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"