I got one of those self-administered automatic blood pressure monitors for my birthday a few months ago. I had slightly elevated blood pressure for several years and my physician put me on medication for it. Last year I lost a lot of weight and have been exercising seriously since then, so that my blood pressure is back in the normal range and I’ve been taken off the medication. The monitor helps me to keep track of my blood pressure to make sure that it doesn’t sneak back up into the high zone. I’ve noticed that when I get higher blood pressure readings it is usually after the latest antics of the various politicians that make up our government. I should stop watching the news for my health.
Every few weeks in recent months, I’ve run across a phrase “the Benedict option”. I was stumped when I first encountered it. I thought that it referred to Pope Benedict; perhaps his decision to take “early” retirement; that is, retire while he was still breathing. I was wrong. After doing a little research I realized that the phrase referred to St. Benedict of Nursia, the sixth century author of the Rule of St. Benedict and one of the founding Fathers of Christian monasticism. Most of the articles in which I encountered the phrase spoke of fleeing the insanity of contemporary urban life for the relative peace and stability of a monastery.
After a particularly hectic week at work and a constant overdose of political craziness cablecast on the news channels, some quiet time in a rural monastery can seem especially inviting. The opportunity to get away from the craziness and spend time in prayer, and taking in the beauty of nature is much needed. We need stability. We need prayer. We need to contemplate the beauty and wonder of God’s creation and grace as it touches our lives. It is difficult to meet these needs when we are caught up in a whirlwind of distractions. The traditional way Catholic Christians have gotten away from the chaos of life, at least for a brief respite, is through retreats.
A retreat is spending a few days away from home at a retreat house, convent or monastery and devoting those days to prayer, meditation, spiritual reading and simply being with God. It allows us to get rid of all the distractions of our ordinary routine and the noise that deprives us of the peace that allows us to focus on God. It helps us get back to the spiritual basics. It helps recharge us with a spiritual energy that the usual routine seems to drain from us. We all need a retreat every so often to keep our spiritual sanity and to stay rooted in our relationship with God. Just about every retreat I’ve gone on over the years has left me feeling better, rested, and more at peace. Some retreats have been pivotal points in my life. A retreat is a time of rest, nourishment and recharging. It allows us to return to the “world” and face its challenges a bit stronger and more firmly rooted in Christ.
While retreats are incredibly important to a healthy spiritual life, they are not what is meant by the phrase “the Benedict option.” This refers to a permanent commitment to the monastic vocation. If someone views the “Benedict option” as an escape from the craziness of the world and a form of “running away”, then the “Benedict option” is not for him or her. This is obvious to anyone who has ever read the Rule of St. Benedict.
While a monastery may be located far from an urban center, it is still a community of people who bring with them all their foibles and quirkiness. Anyone living in a monastery will find more than enough chaos and relationship challenges to give him or her a run for their money. Most of the Rule of St. Benedict is devoted to how the superior is to maintain relative peace, healthy relationships and spiritual growth among the monks in the monastic community. Given all the rules devoted to those specific issues, it is clear that Benedict knew that this was a challenge. Escaping from the “world” doesn’t work because the “world” follows you, no matter where you go.
The”Benedict option” is not about escape but is about pursuing God in a single-minded manner, freed from common distractions, along with a community of like-minded spiritual seekers. It is moving forward. It is not an escape from anything. This doesn’t mean that a Christian living in the middle of a busy urban center, surrounded by the noise and chaos of contemporary living, cannot be a single-minded spiritual seeker. Indeed, that is what many of us are called to be. Our life circumstances simply don’t allow us the option of living in a monastery, no matter how attractive that lifestyle may seem at times.
In whatever setting we find ourselves, we are meant to be spiritual seekers. We are meant to move toward the Kingdom of God and embody the Gospel in our lives. We are not to run away from any of the challenges that we encounter but face them, move through them and learn from them. We are always to strive to become more Christ-line, whether we live in a monastery or in Chalan Kanoa.