July 2025: St Benedict and the Jubilee Year of Hope
When we first moved to Yorkshire the forest behind the monastery was very dense. It was easy to get lost when you walked in the woodland rides unless you left yourself guides for the return journey, or, safest of all, that you made sure when you turned back you could see light at the end of the pathway. This light was a sign of hope, and seeing it you walked with confident step.
In this month of July, on 11th, we celebrate the Feast of St Benedict and he too, is a light, a sign of hope when we are searching for a secure way of seeking God. Early in the Prologue to his Rule Benedict imagines the Lord calling out: ‘Is there anyone here who yearns for life?‘ (Prologue 14). To the one who answers ‘yes’ he outlines the way to ‘true and eternal life’ (Prologue 17). It is very simple. The first step is good will, shown by turning from evil in word or deed and actively doing good: it is a way of seeking after peace (Prologue 17). Once you do this Benedict promises the Lord will say to you: ‘Here I am’ (Prologue 18).
Throughout the Rule St Benedict encourages us to hope in God’s love. There will be ups and downs but we are never to give up, ‘Never despair of the mercy of God’ (Ch 4:74).
Benedict is offering the way to true or eternal life. This is Christian hope. Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness (CCC 1817). But we cannot arrive under our own steam. For Benedict, once the journey is begun, support and guidance come through prayer and the support of those who are fellow seekers. Benedict focuses on the Divine Office for twelve chapters of his Rule teaching that we should put nothing before the Work of God. This is because the psalms and Scriptural readings instruct us and open our hearts to seek God’s ways. They teach us to listen to his word. Being open to the mind of Christ draws us to love him. In this way we learn to pray, not just for ourselves, but for the whole world. Praying the Scriptures teaches us that love reaches out to others, especially those in need.
Every day, then, there is to be faithfulness to prayer, and round and through this are woven the tasks of daily life. This can be in community or in our own family. Here we put God’s teaching into practice.
It is all about becoming. I remember a Benedictine writer, Sr Macrina Weideker, saying that we have to open our hearts to the people we are becoming as though we are waiting for ourselves to arrive. This seems a perfect image of hope. Travelling this road of becoming, we reach out to one another, to guests, to the sick and the poor. And Benedict promises that as we do this our ‘hearts will expand with the inexpressible delight of love’ (Prologue 59). Indeed, in Chapter 73 of the Rule, Benedict tells us our human relationships must become ever more loving and humble…We should ‘each try to be the first to show respect to the other’ (cf. Rom 12:10). No one is excluded. We learn that we bring one another the grace of God through our patience and caring.
Living faithfully in this way, being loving in little things, we see our hope growing beyond this life to the eternal life St Benedict promised as we began our journey: ‘Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all together to everlasting life’(Ch 72: 12).
This is the fullness of his teaching.
What an encouraging message for the Year of Hope!
Sr Petra Simpson OSB
Image of St Benedict is from a mural by Dame Joanna Jamieson, Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester. Copyright Stanbrook Abbey.