We speak about people having a charism, or the charism of a founder, but perhaps it is better to talk about the specificity or the characteristics of the entire Order. No-one would deny that the charism of saint Benedict ought to have its influence on us all.
"The first kind of monks" - those for whom Benedict wrote his rule - "is that of the Cenobites, those who dwell in a monastery, soldiering under a rule and an abbot". St Benedict’s definition of a monk is not just the fruit of his three years of solitude, spent hidden from the eyes of the world, "living with himself" in the cave at Subiaco, but comes also from the time he spent living in community, a life which he made into the "way of salvation" for those wish to consecrate themselves to God. In other words, Benedict’s definition of a monk, which he uses to attract others to follow him on the way to God, cannot avoid showing us something essential about himself, his experience of God and his own charism.
"Soldiering"
(militans)
A person who "soldiers" is one who struggles so that his life and the life of others might be better. The desire to live and to live in a better way is what makes a militant, and also forms the root and basis of the monastic life. This is indeed what saint Benedict means when he asks the question in the Prologue: "who desires life?". The monk, then, must be above all a living being, someone who wants to live and to live better. We enter the monastery to live, not to die (except, of course, to die to the "old man") ... But if monastic life doesn’t make us live, if it doesn’t "enlarge our heart", then it is not meant for us. When a brother is fed up, loses his joy, when he has no more enthusiasm, and can no longer give himself – I’m not talking here about the kind of trials of life which always pass – it is the sign that he is not where he should be, that the monastic life is obviously not his way.
This concern for life guides saint Benedict when he speaks about the challenges the community has to face, whether it be food and drink or work and prayer. He wants to respect the resources and capabilities of each member, so that they can all live without being crushed or discouraged, yet, at the same time, be invited to give according to their measure, with joy. Notice that the "joy of spiritual longing" is the measure of our Lenten asceticism. A community which, for instance, finds it has to prepare many special dishes for individuals, should perhaps reflect, not simply on the quality of its food but on the space and conditions of the fraternal life.
Where can we find this "life", for today, for tomorrow? This question should be kept in mind when we have to take decisions. The abbot needs to remember that his task is to lead people who are really living - living for God - towards the threshold of death.
"In
a monastery"
To live and want life, the joy of life, is not reserved to monks, but is part of every vocation. The joy of living in a monastery is, however, our special characteristic. Just as keeping to one’s cell was one of the requirements and characteristics of the Fathers of the Desert, the capacity of living within the enclosure of the monastery is one of the fundamentals of the monk of saint Benedict. The monastery and its enclosure are for the monastic community what the cave of the Sacro Speco at Subiaco was for saint Benedict: it is here that both he and we can "live with ourselves" and "meet our God". The "monk of saint Benedict" has to renounce a certain number of things, in particular, freedom of space and movement. His option for Christ is expressed in his choice of a restricted space. Here, he comes to experience his own self and his God, in a way of life which can only be lived by depriving oneself of certain freedoms, by renouncing legitimate possibilities. Here we find a truth, a quality, a depth and a beauty, like that of a face or of a landscape, which one cannot perceive except by studying them, each day of one’s life, not allowing oneself to be distracted by other things.
This is the reason why saint Benedict wanted all things that are necessary for daily life to be found within the enclosure of the monastery. He realizes that the heart of a monk must not be divided and cannot have its center of interest habitually outside the community and monastery, without grave damage.
"Under
a rule and an Abbot"
We cannot live and do things together unless we are agreed on the means to be employed. To the one who "wants life" and comes to knock on the door of the monastery, saint Benedict, presenting him with the Rule, says: "here is the Law under which you wish to fight. If you can observe it, enter, if not, you may freely depart" (ch. 58: 10). The monk of saint Benedict is one who agrees to a rule of life which, unlike the case of the Gyrovagues and Sarabites, was not written by himself, and whose guarantor and interpreter is the abbot, helped by the counsel of his brethren.
In accepting the Rule and the Abbot – and this can only be done with humility and obedience – what is it, exactly, that the monk accepts? It is the search for God carried out in community. Humility, obedience, silence, values which are found in every form of religious life and every spiritual quest, are to be lived by the Benedictine monk in company with his brethren and within the framework of his community. The loving fear that a monk has - fear that he does not love God enough - will be made concrete in his fraternal relations. Fraternal love, expressed in mutual service and obedience, is the Benedictine monk’s way of expressing his love and his search for God. When saint Benedict asks the monk to do everything and to live in community in and for that love of God, he is doing no more than make him observe the commandment which summarizes the whole Law: "to love God with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself".
The charism (if we must use that word) of the monk of saint Benedict, can be located in the love of God lived in the hidden place community life, within the monastery. It is the acceptance and the capacity of giving myself to God by giving myself to a restricted number of brethren whom I have not chosen for myself, but whom I must prefer above the others, which makes me a Benedictine monk. I shall really be a monk if, before anything else, I try with all my heart to create with them a community, for they are the ones whom Christ has given me to love, and it is with them, above all, that God asks me to live.
The charism of the Benedictine monk is, on that level, rather like that of the mother of a family who, in the secret silence of her love and her home, gives her life to those to whom she has given life. This is why it is so difficult to speak about our charism, to get others to understand it, and why people from outside often ask: "what on earth do you monks do" – to which, we are tempted to reply: "Nothing!" The brethren can do all kinds of different works, as a means of giving themselves to the community and to create community. Indeed, what kind of things haven’t monks done in the past and even today? Conversely, when a particular work becomes more important than the community, it often turns against both the persons involved and the community. If the Benedictine Order can be proud of having produced great, wise and learned figures, the immense majority of Benedictines form a hidden yet holy cohort of brothers and sisters who, in the anonymity of cloistered walls, made and continue to make our communities live.
When we say "Benedictine monk", we spontaneously think of "liturgy", at the risk of making that the Benedictine charism. But, when we realize that the liturgy is only a reflection of what is lived in the community, it is clear that the conventual Office, no matter how stunning may be its form and language, will be prayerful, appealing and lead towards God only in the measure that the community lives the kind of unity in love about which Christ says: "by this will all know that your are my disiciples..." .
This fraternal love in community, this "making of community in love", with all the implications of joy and sorrow, patience and amazement, trust and pardon is our challenge, our mission, the "work of God" to which nothing must be preferred, on which the monk of saint Benedict will be judged.
