The Rule of St Benedict Chapter 34
Whether all ought to receive necessary things alike
Text
As it is written: Distribution was made to everyone, according as he had need.1
Sicut scriptum est: Dividebatur singulis, prout cuique opus erat.
By this we do not say that there should be respecting of persons (God forbid!), but consideration of weaknesses.
Ubi non dicimus, quod personarum (quod absit) acceptio sit, sed infirmitatum consideratio.
Therefore whoever needs less, let him thank God, and not be saddened: but whoever needs more, is humbled because of his weakness, and not puffed up because of the mercy [shown him]; so that all the members are in peace.
Ubi qui minus indiget, agat Deo gratias, et non contristetur: qui vero plus indiget, humilietur pro infirmitate, et non extollatur pro misericordia; ita et omnia membra erunt in pace.
Above all, let the evil of murmuring not arise, for whatever reason, by word or sign.
Ante omnia, ne murmurationis malum pro qualicumque verbo vel significatione appareat.
If anyone is found guilty of this, let him be subjected to severe discipline .
Quod si deprehensus fuerit quis, districtiori disciplinae subdatur.
Translation notes:
The phrase “respecting of persons” is the accepted translation of this phrase “acceptio personarum”. “Persons” could be personalities or status.
“Omnia membra” – the word membra also means limbs, so the image here is of a body, at peace in all its parts.
Comment
This chapter focuses on two things; need and murmuring.
True equality is not giving everyone exactly the same, whether it be tools, food, or support. Some don’t need as much, some need more. The common perception is that giving people exactly the same is fair – see the rationalisation of the principle of universal income, or the state benefits level. The Christian way of things is to give everyone what they need.
These are the challenges for charity – we often find ourselves saying, like a child, “it’s not fair!” If one monk is given a new mattress because he is unable to sleep and this is affecting him physically, do the others all ask for new mattresses too? Or do they, in a spirit of charity, accept that the monk has a new mattress because he really needs it and they don’t? The correct action is to give thanks to God that their brother has received what he needs.
Murmuring is a big thing for St Benedict as it undermines charity and peace in the monastery. He even goes to the lengths of saying they shouldn’t murmur by words or signs – think rolling the eyes, or a look of disgust. These all too human reactions are to be eliminated as the monastic community lives in the spirit of fraternal charity.
Bishop Erik Varden, in Entering the Twofold Mystery, says:
When someone murmurs, he or she assumes, at least implicitly, a posture of rebellion. Of course, a murmur is vague and indistinct. One can hear that someone murmurs but rarely what is murmured. Murmuring is different from speaking up, which is an honest business. What makes murmuring noxious is its quality of stealth, its procedure of secret undermining.
Bishop Varden reminds us that the people of Israel murmured against Moses in Exodus 15:24 when they found the water of Marah bitter. They blame Moses for their predicament. God sweetens the water using a tree, a type of Christ’s cross. Marah is linked to our sinful condition. St Benedict prescribes Psalm 94 to be recited every day, which reminds us of the people of Israel murmuring in the desert. The people failed to trust in God, and that is ultimately what murmuring is about. Bishop Varden goes on:
The people are so absorbed in present need that there is no space on their horizon for the future or the past, for where they’ve come from, where they’re going…. What does Moses do? He tries to restore perspective.
Moses reminds them they are murmuring against God. He attempts to draw the people out from their blindness, to shift their attention from rumbling tummies to the Lord’s promise.
But they keep murmuring, even when the people can see Canaan. God tells them that the murmurers are unfit to enter the Promised Land, they must die in the wilderness. This is the lesson St Benedict is teaching.
Bishop Varden also reminds us in the Gospel of Matthew (20:1-16) about murmuring. In the parable of the householder hiring labourers, those hired first murmured about being paid the same as those hired later. There are multiple examples of this kind of complaining in the New Testament.
Murmuring acts against the peace of a community, hollowing it out from within, as Bernard Ducruet OSB describes in his short book “Peace of the Heart”
...murmuring is the thing most incompatible with peace of heart, and that peace which we should have, spreading out in the community.
The cellarer ought to be an agent of communion, not just an administrator. St Benedict describes him as a man of relationships; he calls him the “father” of the monastery. He is an agent of peace through his discernment in just sharing.
Bishop Varden concludes:
Murmuring displays the capitulation of hope through a nursing of retrospect, a refusal to move forward. Yet our life of faith is a journey. Its destination is glorious if only we look up to behold it. May we not be like the murmurers of old.
1 Acts 4:35