BENEDICT DISCOVERED THE HOLY ONE IN OUR MIDST

ST BENEDICT, ABBOT

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Hos 11:1-4,8-9; Ps 80:2-3,15-16; Mt 10:7-15

Discovering the Holy One in our midst

In the passage from Hosea the prophet, Yahweh uses another imagery to illustrate his love for his people, Israel, and his fatherly interaction with them since they were rescued from bondage in Egypt and constituted as the people of God. We must recall they enjoyed the privileged attention of Yahweh because of his covenantal promise to Abraham. We have explained how the choice of Abraham is not in exclusion of others but for the salvation of all nations. God initiated his plan for human salvation in a definitive way with Abraham. It made significant progress through Abraham and his descendants because of their faithful cooperation. The needed cooperation became very difficult when they became a nation, Israel. God gave them all they needed to know him, love him, and serve him; he gave them his commandments, the prophets, priests, and kings to guide them on the right path. All these did not achieve the purpose of God because human wills were involved. “When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to them, the further they went from me; they have offered sacrifice to the Baals and set their offerings smoking before the idols.” Israel failed to understand that all their fruitfulness came from Yahweh; they ran after useless idols.

We cannot understand the divine presence in our lives because we lack a deep knowledge of God. This knowledge is not innate in us, as we explained previously, but depends on our seeking, asking, and knocking in prayer. “I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms; yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them. I led them with reins of kindness, with leading strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food.” The loving mercy and providence of God surround us every day. But it would be difficult to arrive at this knowledge if we do not employ our strength to seek the way the word of God outlines for us, our minds to inquire of the truth contained in the word of God through meditation, and our will to knock on the gate of life the word of God contains through holy desires in contemplation. By doing these holy activities, God will draw us by his leading strings of love. By reading, meditating, and contemplating the word of God, we have a good understanding of the purpose of creatures as gifts of God to guide us on our way to his loving communion. To have the gifts without knowledge of the giver causes the nations to worship them as idols, which brings evil and destruction to the nations. But God’s revelation of himself to Israel and subsequently to the nations is for all to know his loving kindness and providence.

The Son of God became man to fulfil the plan of God for human salvation. He came to reveal God’s love and presence in our midst. This is the content of the Gospel he sent his disciples to preach to the lost sheep of Israel, who have gone astray in their stubborn will. “As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.” To help the prophets understand the power of the word of God they carry and the providence of God guiding their mission, the Lord directed them not to take any provision. This same providence of God is around everyone who believes and takes up the prophetic role for the kingdom of heaven. For this, we celebrate St. Benedict, the Abbot, and originator of the Benedictine monastic rule. He was born in Nursia, in Umbria, and studied in Rome. The dissolute life of the city made him abandon the city to live a solitary life as a hermit. He employed himself to work and seek God; he became versed in spiritual life and guided many monks and monasteries on the path to holiness of life. The rule of St. Benedict elevates our eyes to the stars in contemplation of God and keeps our feet firmly on the ground and our hands employed in labour. The Benedictine monastic life had so much attraction for me after reading the life of St. Benedict until I came to know the Dominican life. We pray for St. Benedict's help to seek God in all we do.

Let us pray: O God, who made the Abbot St. Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before the love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands.