SHEEP AMONG WOLVES


SAINT BENEDICT, ABBOT

Gen 46:1-7, 28-30; Ps 37:3-4,18-19,27-28,39-40; Mt 10:16-23

The Weakness and Strength of Spiritual Life

Our Lord gives us the core wisdom that guides our spiritual life and the principle of its purification and growth. The Son of Man has the fullness of knowledge concerning our human nature and our human conditions. Given this fullness of knowledge, he captures the danger or the difficulty of the spiritual life we have received and the principle that ought to guide us in carrying out the mission that accompanies the gift in these words. “Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.” When compared to the proud worldlings, we are vulnerable, due to our way of life modelled on the word of God. Our Christian faith makes us live and think in a way that is harmless to everyone. The way of life and thinking of the worldlings are different and opposed to ours, and make us easy prey for them. The Lord acknowledges this challenge by referring to us as sheep and to the worldlings as wolves.

The Lord exposed our disadvantage as Christians in the world and gave us principles that would protect us from the world. The saving principles are: ‘so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.’ We are never to alter our harmless way of living and thinking, for that is our identity and authenticity as Christians. Our harmlessness as doves is also original in meaning. We are doves because we live and think in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, whose symbol is the dove. To remain harmless or innocent as doves means we should continue to draw our life and inspirations from the Holy Spirit, notwithstanding our difficulties and challenges in the world. The second aspect of the saving principle is to acquire the wisdom of the serpent. Saint Augustine explains that this consists in taking the utmost care in preserving our head from attacks or injury. The first impulse of the serpent in danger is to save its head from injury or wound. Our head in the spiritual life is Jesus Christ; we must preserve our faith in him, by which we received the spiritual life. We must never allow any persecution or tribulation to diminish our faith in the Risen Lord. With these precautions, God keeps our spiritual life intact and flourishes it under the challenge of facing the wolves in the world.

These saving principles ensured the continuous presence of God for the well-being and flourishing of Jacob and his children in Egypt. “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I myself will go down to Egypt with you. I myself will bring you back again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” Faith in the God of his fathers guaranteed the safety of Jacob and his children in Egypt, and will guarantee ours in the world. The same faith enabled Saint Benedict to overcome the temptations and attacks of diabolical powers, the attraction of this world, and to establish the Benedictine Monastic life. He was born in Nursia, Umbria, and studied in Rome. He left the city when he could not endure the dissolute life therein. He became a solitary hermit at Subiaco. He faithfully established himself as a virtuous and wise hermit. His reputation spread, which attracted some monks who implored him to be their abbot. They tried to poison him when they could not endure the discipline he imposed on them. He established various small monasteries for monks and nuns, among which is the great monastery of Monte Cassino. The monastic rule he formulated for his monks is wise and balanced. Many have used it to establish many religious and non-religious communities. It is a practicable rule for beginners and the advanced in spiritual life. Its wisdom lies in faith in God’s abiding presence and continuous work in each of us. May the prayers of Saint Benedict help us to be as wise as the serpent and as innocent as doves.

Let us pray: O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.  

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