Since Rod Dreher benedict options ” was published in 2017, St. Benedict’s name has surfaced in discussions about faith and secularism. In honor of this Feast of St. Benedict, I wanted to take a closer look at St. Benedict’s actual choices and his decision to live a monastic life in the caves of Subiaco.
I already know something about the Benedictines. I have worked in an educational institution run by Benedictine monks. Spending time in prayer with the monks and reading the Rules helped me understand Benedict’s true meaning. Nevertheless, I wanted to know more about this man and began my pilgrimage to Il Sacro Speco.
As I climbed the mountain to the sacred cave, I prayed for my students, my colleagues, and the monks who run the school. I have asked that throughout the next school year we realize that we are more united to God and to each other.
When we reached the top, we were amazed by the beauty of the monastery (built in the mountains) and the landscape. After taking a few photos and saying some more prayers, I started my descent.
At that time, I thought: Being isolated in this mountain, there probably wasn’t much to do. I think Benedict’s motto was accurate. Ora Era Bora, prayer and work. Other than that, there was nothing he could really do.So how did he start a cultural and spiritual revolution that continues to influence the world 1,500 years later? Hype not far away benedict options This question became even more pressing for me.
Benedict certainly did not intend to start such a revolution. Most revolutionaries don’t try to change the world by reciting psalms for hours or doing mundane chores. His “revolutionary attitude” is what he calls his “revolutionary attitude” when faced with immediate issues that need to be “revolutionized,” whether it’s the worsening fragmentation of American society or the challenges facing his students. It certainly contradicts my way of thinking. For me, making a difference in the world or someone’s life starts with a plan or project. You have to devise the perfect way to solve the problem at hand. If I don’t, I feel like I’ve failed.
I have often seen this attitude manifest in the way I teach classes. My desire to help my students find God and make sense of their lives turned into a grand plan for the “perfect lesson” for my students to finally understand the truth. . What happens every time I come up with a new perfect lesson is that my students get bored. There always seems to be a disconnect between what I think they need and what I feel they need.
That’s when I realized the huge difference between Benedict’s attitude toward the revolution and my own. Benedict knew he didn’t have an answer. He knew that he did not have the key to “fixing” the decline of Roman society. Only God had the answer. And only a life dedicated to God, through prayer and work, through paying attention to what God has set before him and obeying what is asked, will produce true solutions.
My attitude was focused on constructing my own answer and imposing it on the problem. I, too, was quick to assume that I was a proper agent of change, that I could presume to know the answers to other people’s (and my own) problems, and that I could act as a savior. The truth is, we don’t know what other people need. I can’t save anyone. All I can do is pay attention to them and “follow” the situation at hand, asking God to reveal himself to me with each “yes.”
When I returned to work from my trip, I was faced with the following questions: What’s in it for my students? Am I trying to make a difference in their lives by coming up with the perfect lesson or the perfect solution to their problem? Or do I “follow” reality in the Benedictine sense, that is, pay more attention to reality and less to the minutiae of lesson planning?
I decided to follow the latter option. I knew that would be Benedict’s choice. I was hesitant at first because of the implied risks. If I abandon my idea of a perfect lesson or solution, I have to submit myself to the will of someone other than myself. A mysterious and unpredictable person. I was letting go of control. Little did I know that this risk would give me freedom.
I started noticing less resistance and frustration from my students as they began to trust me more. The disconnect closed as I listened more carefully to them and understood their actual questions and needs. As I spent a lot of time fleshing out details and basing my lessons on the concerns my students were communicating to me, rather than what I assumed they had, my lessons learned. has become more solid.
For example, I started my Christology unit with the first chapter of the Gospel of John. There, Jesus asks John and Andrew, “What are you looking for?” My students were curious about this question. “No one asks us that,” they said. I then moved on to the next lesson about the Samaritan woman at the well. They were not impressed with her story and asked her to tell about Jesus’ meeting with John and Andrew. I was hesitant at first. Spending more time on John 1 was not in my lesson plan. But at this moment I realized I had to make a choice. You can either stick to your plan or follow what’s happening with your students.
Following Benedict’s method of following the small details that God placed before me was…effective and satisfying. Perhaps this is why his charisma continues to influence the world 1,500 years after his death. His method was rooted in trust in God, not in a personal plan to change the world.
I decided to spend more time considering the existential questions Jesus asked. They were so fascinated that I decided to base their mid-term project on this theme. I was amazed by the work they produced and ended up learning from them.
I’ve come to the conclusion that my big ideas, no matter how exciting they may be to me in the moment, will never stand the test of time. It was much more effective and satisfying to follow Benedict’s method of following the details that God had placed before him. Perhaps this is why his charisma continues to influence the world 1,500 years after his death. His method was rooted in trust in God, not in a personal plan to change the world.
After talking about this much, benedict options As this issue continues to swirl in Christian circles, I strongly encourage you to pay more attention to Benedict’s actual “choices.” We don’t all need to go on a pilgrimage to Subiaco to understand that. All we need is a willingness to learn from his example and the humility to believe that praying and working is enough. The things God gives us, the things He asks us to say “yes” to, even if they seem mundane and trivial, are important to us and to ourselves. That is enough to change the people around you.
