 |
| Oblate Cassian Heath in St. Stephen's newly renovated chapel. Cassian built the furniture for the Holy Cross Oratory in the Seminary as well. |
In Chapter four of the Rule St. Benedict list the instruments of good works. Number 22 through 33 of these instruments could be called "The love of enemies."
To quote from the Rule: "You are not to act in anger or nurse a grudge. Rid your heart of all deceit. Never give a hollow greeting or peace or turn away when someone needs your love. Bind yourself to no oath lest it prove false, but speak the truth with heart and tongue. Do not repay one bad turn with another. Do not injure anyone, but bear injuries patiently. Love your enemies. If people curse you, do not curse them back but bless them instead. Endure persecution for the sake of justice." Love of others and even love of our enemies has a place in everyone’s life, even sometimes in monastic life. St. Benedict was very human. He knew the human situation. Of course we will all have enemies in life, those who do not like us because the life we live, or because we live a life in contradiction to their life. The first thing to take to heart of course is to try to not be anyone’s enemy ourselves. But if we do have an enemy then these practical suggestions that St. Benedict lists here should be taken in hand. Not to yield to anger. The first thing we want do when we have an enemy is to get angry. While this is natural, this must be stopped immediately and not nourished. Not to nurse a grudge is a good way to get away from anger. We must step in and try to stop the object of the anger or the anger can easily become uncontrollable. The more we nurse the grudge the greater will become our anger. St. Benedict also encourages us: not to hold guile in our heart, not to make a false peace. Remember that sincerity and truthfulness are of first importance in dealing with others. They are of first importance if we are to love others. It seems to me that St. Benedict in this section gives us some very good advice in how to deal with others, whether that be our confreres in the monastic life, our friends, our co-workers and, yes, even our enemies. Let us reflect on these words of the Rule and see how we can put them into practice in our day to day life.