[Here beings the text of the rule]If there were not a full 13 verses in chapter 1, this is the only thing I'd talk about today. "It is called a rule because it regulates the lives of those who obey it." That raises the question of just how much does this little rule regulate our lives?
[It is called a rule because it regulates the lives of those who obey it]
There are clearly four kinds of monks. First, these are the cenobites, that is to say, those who belong to a monastery, where they serve under a rule and an abbot.
Second, there are the anchorites or hermits, who have come through the test of living in a monastery for a long time, and have passed beyond the first fervor of monastic life. Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against the the devil. They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the ranks of their brothers to the single combat of the desert. Self-reliant now, without the support of another, they are ready with God's help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind.
Two things we can say for certain about these two paragraphs: we as Lay Cistercian's of Gethsemani are neither monks/nuns, nor hermits. Although the call to solitude does not require monastic affiliation, Benedict is speaking of those who have lived in the monastery and now want to live alone. Let's keep reading, seeing if there is a place we as LCG do fit in the chapter.
Third, there are the sarabaites, the most detestable kind of monks, who with no experience to guide them, no rule to try them as gold is tried in a furnace [Prov. 27.21]. have a character as soft as lead. Still loyal to the world by their actions, they clearly lie to God by their tonsure. Tow or three together, or even alone, without a shepherd, they pen themselves up in their own sheepfolds, not the Lord's. There law is what they like to do, whatever strikes their fancy. Anything they believe in and choose, they call holy; anything they dislike, they consider forbidden.Which are we? I suspect that within every monastery and religious organization, that there is at least one of each kind. As Lay Cistercians we can not live as monks and nuns do in enclosed communities. That has been an objection from the OCSO for some time, how can the charism be lived outside the monastery, especially without obedience to an Abbot? Well, we don't live as they do, but our lives are tied to theirs in a mystical way, one which the Holy Spirit continues to prove.
Fourth and finally, there are the monks called gyrovagues, who spend their entire lives driting from region to region, staying as guests for three or four days in different monasteris. Alwyas on the move, they never settles down, and are slaves to their own wills and gross appetites. In every way they are worse than sarabaites.
It is better to keep silent than to speak of all these and their disgraceful way of life. Let us pass them by, then, and with the help of the Lord, proceed to draw up a plan for the strong kind, the cenobites.
That is a question I am unprepared to answer, but the representatives at Soria, Spain this summer will do their best to help answer it. I am a Lay Cistercian because God called me to be one. I hope that our groups internationally never become so like a Corporation that we become Lay Cistercian's of Gethsemani, a subsidiary of International Lay Cistercians Inc.
The Rule will be our guide in all things. "It is called a rule because it regulates the lives of those who obey it."
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