Whatsoever You Do

Yesterday at Morning Prayer, our reading from Chapter 52 of the Rule of St. Benedict said, “When the Work of God [i.e., communal prayer] is finished, all should leave in deepest silence and show reverence to God so that anyone who may wish to pray alone is not disturbed by the insensitivity of another.”

It is interesting that St. Benedict links reverence to God and sensitivity to the needs of others. When we remember that God’s Spirit dwells in all persons (“Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” [1 Corinthians 3:16]), then reverencing God becomes very practical. It entails simple acts of thoughtfulness, consideration, and kindness.

In her book Preferring Christ, Norvene Vest comments that “this ‘humdrum’ and ‘external’ matter of everyday thoughtfulness for one another is where Benedict locates ‘spiritual’ progress.”

We may be accustomed to charting our spiritual progress through quantifiers such as the number of retreats we attend, our faithfulness in attending Mass, and the amount of our charitable giving — all laudable activities, to be sure. However, for St. Benedict, seeing Christ in others and responding to them through humdrum acts of service such as doing household chores, leaving the last piece of cake for someone else, and taking care of others when they are sick is the highest form of reverence for God. St. Benedict takes seriously the words “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” and invites us to do the same.