Benedictine wisdom in a time of uncertainty

Is it a curse to live in interesting times? I think we could be forgiven for thinking that we’ve been so cursed. In a time of rapid change and uncertainty we need to look at what it means to be Benedictine.

We live in a time and culture of instant action and reaction. We read the news (or Facebook) and know immediately what we think and begin to react accordingly. Our minds are made up and we’re planning our action. And, given the state of the world, lots of action is needed.

But Benedictines have been around for over 1500 years because they take the long view, not the reactive view. Through the centuries of the rise and fall of empires, wars, plagues, decline and reform, Benedictines are still around. We are around because we are rooted in prayer and humility. Every day, no matter what is going on, we pray. We pray because the fate of the world does not depend solely on us. We pray because we are people of faith who believe in the power of God. We pray because we know that the ultimate “systemic change” comes from each of us changing the actions and attitudes that become dysfunctional systems. Unless each one of us does the hard inner work of getting past our anger, judgment, arrogance, entitlement, etc. etc. then we have not really contributed to changing and healing the world.

Mary Lee Bendolph

I suspect that our deep focus on the value of humility as the embodiment of what it means to be Christlike is what the world needs now. Yes, we need to act, but perhaps even more we need to be agents of change through our willingness to see our world as a community in which we are all committed to being transformed. We start with ourselves first which gives us the credibility to call others to change. It seems appropriate that humility, which comes from the word humus or earth, is truly the grass roots change we are trying to demonstrate. It is up to us to model that change and to support one another in the process. A quote often attributed to Gandhi, that I suspect Benedict would like, is: “be the change you want to see in the world.” May this be our gift to the world.