Benedictine Reflections: Stability and the Tyranny of Good Ideas

Yesterday, I reflected on the nature of stability and how important it is to build one's house on rock even if hewing out the rock is hard work.

I also made mention of one threat to stability, namely the "grass is always greener on the other side" phenomenon.

Where does this come from?

A good question, Why do we always believe that we could be living a better life if only we just ?

You can see that this is a lack of stability because we are always looking beyond at possibilities which are not yet realities. Of course, it is sensible to try and forge the best for one's future and to make plans for what is to come. We can even be bold and dare to dream of big things. The trouble with these big ideas is that they can destabilise us.

The rule for hopes and dreams must be the same as for thoughts and movements of the soul. We must test the spirits to see whether they be of God. We take every thought captive and, after trying them, we dash those which be not from God on the rock that is Christ. If we are truly rooted in Christ, then we will be able to crush these thoughts more easily than when we were young. This is the problem which the young in the faith have: they have not had time to hew strong foundations in Christ, so when the storm hits, what can they do?

The monastery provides the scheme by which the young can cling on despite their newness to the faith. St Benedict sets up a hierarchy of elders by order of their length of service in the monastery or by merit as determined by the Abbot. At first, all they have is the pattern of prayer and the directive to be obedient to their superiors in all things. We will look at the nature of Obedience later, beginning with this Sunday's sermon. Stability is born from obedience and commitment even and especially in the hard times. The novice needs to look to God rather even than to his future as it is the trust in God that will force the Tyranny of Good Ideas to take a back seat.

All very well for the monk, but what about those out in the world away from cloister? Even before the religious life was formed with the great desert fathers, the Catholic Church was formed by communities surrounding the bishop. Right from the beginning, the instrument of Christian stability is to be found within the clergy and those layfolk well-versed in the faith. Just as the pearl is formed by the accretion of matter, so the Church is formed by the accretion of people and their experiences of Christ. That's not to say that Experience is a source of authority in the Church, but rather a catalyst of discovery of God being regulated by the rock of Scripture and Tradition along with Right Reason therefrom.

We do have to be careful not to idolise the clergy and lapse into some medieval view of priest, prelate and pope becoming the unquestioned authority and perpetrators of arbitrary rules. This abuse of power has always dogged the Church in those individuals who set themselves up against the authority of Christ in His Holy Church. The clergy are called to be stable, to be reliable, to be dependable, so that those who are in distress may find strength through their wisdom and through the sacraments that Christ gives at their hands. If the clergy are to be stable, then they too must seek to find their stability in the Church by seeking to keep their vows at ordination and devote themselves to the practice of humility. Anything less is a gravely near occasion of sin.

The Tyranny of Good Ideas is the source of a temptation to pride whereby we seek to pursue our own interests regardless of the consequences.

Our Lord says:

For which of you,intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else,while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (St Luke xiv.28-33)

It is the Cross of Christ we must both bear and pursue. It is always our commitment to Christ that we need to examine and bring into line not only with the doctrine that the Church teaches, but putting that doctrine into practice without seeing anything more desirable beyond it. We simply cannot drop everything that becomes too hard for us as is the custom in our present society, but rather we should seek to find support in the Church through the prayers of the faithful, gird our loins, and offer our hardship up to God as a sacrifice of thanks and praise to Him and for all those who cannot pray for themselves. That way, we become rock too and can support those who might depend on our stability as befits our participation in the Body of Christ.