A Chapter Conference for Ash Wednesday

+ “In these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity and should in this sacred season expiate the negligence’s of other times.” Thus our Holy Father Saint Benedict enjoins us in Chapter 49 of his Rule this evening.

Ever the realist, the author of this “little Rule for beginners” (ch. 73) prefaces his exhortation with the observation: “The life of a monk ought at all times to be lenten in its character,” and then observes in the light of his experience and wisdom that “few have the strength for that.”

St Benedict knows us, his twenty-first century sons, only too well!

And so, spurred on by his paternal chastisement, we begin this sacred season with the resolution to take up our monastic observance anew with great purity of heart and mind and body. If we can’t mount a concerted effort to do this in Lent, when can we? Let us therefore be more careful in our observance of silence and in avoiding idle chatter throughout the monastery. Let us not allow anything to come before our fruitful participation in the Work of God or to eat away at the time consecrated to its digestion and contemplation. We must ensure never forget to carry with us into choir the intentions of those who ask for and so need our prayers and to thank God and implore His abundant blessings on our kind and faithful benefactors. Let consideration of the needs of our brethren be uppermost in our thoughts and deeds. May the quality of our manual work, howsoever trivial it may seem, bespeak true penitence and bear witness to our love of God in all things.

St Benedict also enjoins us that “In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond the wonted measure of our service…” We receive a Lent book to nourish us in these forty days. We have prepared our Lenten resolutions—communal and personal—and ask the blessing of Almighty God for them, begging His grace in persevering in them.

Let not the experience of past Lents when, perhaps, we hoped to do much, but achieved far less, discourage us. Do not allow unconquered vices and the wounds inflicted by past sins to cripple us before we even begin this Lenten pilgrimage. For as St Paul teaches us in the Epistle for the first Sunday of Lent: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2) The graces offered to us in these days are particular and they are privileged. Even though we are weak we must have faith in the power of Almighty God to transform us, as the Church taught us through the words the Lord addressed to St Paul in the Epistle for Sexagesima: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)

When St Paul himself needed such a reassurance, how can we be discouraged?

For an increase in faith in the power of Almighty God to transform and heal us in the very roots of our weakness, let us pray and fast and give the alms of our time, of our goodwill and of our love this Lent. If we but make the effort, the grace of Almighty God will do the rest.

Lent 2018 finds our little monastery is growing in number. This is a particularly important time for us, for those who have come to us already and for those who, please God, will also do so in the course of this year and beyond. I ask in a particular way that we offer prayer and fasting for our monastery, that we may ever be worthy stewards of the vocations whom the Lord sends. And I ask that in these privileged days of grace we accompany those whom Almighty God may be calling to seek the habit of Saint Benedict amongst us through our penitential practices and in our prayer.

Each new brother is nothing less than a precious gift to our monastic family enabling us to add more to our measure of service throughout the year. In this most holy season we must purify ourselves so that the Lord will find us more worthy of the gifts he is giving in abundance. And, through our Lenten observance we must also win for our new brothers, and for those whom the Lord is calling to take their place amongst us, the graces they need so as to hearken without delay to the precepts of the Master and not become dismayed and run away from the way of salvation, the entrance of which, St Benedict insists “must needs be narrow.” (cf. Rule, Prologue).
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This morning at Conventual Mass we were reminded with the ashes imposed on us that we are dust. Most often we ponder this reality in respect of our mortality. This year I propose that we contemplate this reality in exactly the opposite way. For we read in the Book of Genesis that “The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen 2:7)

Yes, we are truly dust. But through the power of Almighty God dust can have life breathed into it. Mere dust can become the apex of God’s creation—it can become a new creature that is the very “image” of God Himself. (Gen 1:27) My brothers, during this Lent Almighty God wishes to recreate us, to breathe life anew into the dust we are, into the sin-stained dust we have become.
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In these privileged and holy days let us attend His re-creative breath with all our energy, so that we may be able to celebrate the venerable and ancient rites of Holy Week with even greater fervour this year. When the light of Easter morning shines upon us may it illumine all that, though our humble penance and prayer, God’s grace has been able to do in us throughout this Lent. +