11/07/2022

Europe was built out of the collapsed Empire by the warriors of the Church the monks. St Benedict was a man who wanted to be able to live in the presence of God on this earth as it is lived in heaven. He wanted everyday to be without sin and trained himself to live as did the prophets praising Father, Son and Holy Spirit at all times. 

There had been many who in the Middle East had done this alone in the wilderness but St Benedict formulated this wish for Holiness into a rule for a community of men devoted to God. There became many of these Monasteries throughout the whole of Europe but unfortuately the worldly labours of these monks created, not out of intention, wealth which the individuals had all renounced by by vowing poverty. This paradox is much more in evidence today than ever before. Everywhere in Europe there are vast buildings, many of them beautiful and a credit to the creative diligence of our ancestors, but occupied by a handful of men.

I was brought up to believe that the Henry who coveted and acquired the vast estates did a great injustice to the Church founded by Jesus. Does life in the presence of God require the wordly wealth of the religious orders? Has not the corruption to worldly values of these sites of holiness and learning not taught us anything? 

To live a life without sin is a huge problem for mankind. Even the Apostles who formed an "order" in the presence of the Incarnate Son had on many occasions to be reprimanded and  then forgiven. Is the "Rule" of St Benedict a too great a target to be reached on this earth containing within it the certainty of failure and thus becoming corrupted into various praisewothy "charism"that fall far short of Jesus.

I cannot forget the hypocrisy revealed by the recent enquiry into child-abuse in the UK. We have to forgive the sin but the atomatic respect for the Priesthood and Consecrated Religious Life can never be renewed.

Dear Lord help me to avoid looking at other people beore I have cleared the plank from my own eye. Forgive all our sins and let your Holy Spirit inspire all your Church and let each and everyone of us accept the graces won for us in super abundance by Jesus who knows what we are all thinking in the depths of our souls as our lips and bodies perform the daily habit of worship. May the prayers of Mary and all the saints support us all in life and death and in sickness and in health.