The Feast of Saint Benedict

I earned my first Master’s Degree at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota; I began my studies there in the autumn of 1999 (CE) and graduate in the winter of 2001 (CE).

Collegeville is home to Saint John’s Abbey, named for John the Baptist, and it is the largest Benedictine congregation in the world…I studied Church History and Systematics at the School of Theology there.

Saint John’s Abbey was home to Godfrey Dieckmann, the monk and scholar who led a liturgical-reform-movement, which would be best summarized as a return to the spiritual practices of the patristic era, the ante-Nicene era, to the apostolic era, to a time in the life of the church where it’s members actually remembered the life of Jesus, and could recall the church-life that Jesus envisioned in response to the social pressures of his day.

By the mid-twentieth century the liturgical-reform-movement had gained significant support among the magisterium of the Church, and in the 1950’s (CE), at the Second Vatican Council convened by pope John XXIII, Godfrey Dieckmann’s movement redirected the future history of the entire Church; changing the way Catholics celebrate the mass, the language it is officiated in, the music we sing, and in some cases even the bread we share at the eucharist and who is invited to the feast…even to the point of sharing an open table.

While I was studying at the School of Theology, I taught world religions at the Preparatory School, and wrote my master’s thesis on the topic of universal salvation, its reasonableness and historical authenticity[1]; my work is also rooted in the ante-Nicene world, and in particular, the theology of saint Irenaeus of Lyons and I found support in other theologians from the early to mid-twentieth century, who like Dieckmann, were interested in returning the church to its foundations, to the way that was established through the ministry of Jesus.

My thesis challenged the theology of the Imperial Church and my work was well received by my students, my peers and my professors at this Benedictine in central Minnesota.

I took courses on medieval and monastic history, on monastic spirituality and one course specifically related to the Rule of Saint Benedict, from which I have taken a phrase that I use most often in my ongoing theological work.

Obsculta![2]

                      It is the first word in Benedict’s Rule, in Latin it is expressed as an imperative…the command to listen!

I use the command interchangeably with: be mindful, know this, understand…remember.

Today we celebrate the feast of saint Benedict, who purportedly lived between the late fifth-century and the mid sixth-century of the common era (CE).

Be mindful.

What we know of Benedict comes from the writing of pope saint Gregory I (otherwise known as Gregory the Great); what he wrote is not exactly a biography, but rather a reflection on the idealized life of an abbot, most of which is a fiction developed c. 593 CE.

Nevertheless, Benedict, whether real or imagined, produced a Rule (a guide for community living) that became the foundation of western monasticism; among other things his rule enjoins the monk to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience, a commitment to work and to a studious-meditative reflection on the psalms.

The Life of Benedict, and the writing attributed to him has influenced the lives of thousands upon millions of people. As I mentioned, it was a group of monks living under his rule who built the university where I earned the title of theologian, housing the second largest library of original ancient manuscripts in North America, and who produced the first fully illuminated manuscript of the sacred text since the invention of the printing press[3] it is where I honed my skills as a historian and philosopher, where I proved my thesis that we may have faith in the salvation of all people…simply on the basis that God desires all people to be saved, and it is where I became a member of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

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[1] RHADUS: the Reasonableness and Historical Authenticity of the Doctrine of Universal Salvation

[2] Listen

[3] The Saint John’s Bible Project: https://saintjohnsbible.org/

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Founders of the Christian Church

Not all Christians celebrate the lives of the saints; this is understandable because few of the people we honor with that title lived saintly lives, but today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, who, following Jesus, are the principle founders of the Church. We celebrate them on the anniversary of their martyrdom, on the day they were executed on the charge of atheism, irreligion and for being enemies of the Roman state.

The influence of Peter and Paul on Christian doctrine was more extensive and more enduring than Jesus’ own teaching. Though Jesus was purportedly literate, he read and taught in synagogues and was well-versed in the law, we do not have a single written-word from him who is known to us as the Word of God.

Through his letters to Paul wrote the core articles of Christian doctrine, including the Apostle’s Creed, while Peter was the first bishop of Rome and patriarch of the Latin Church, and the two men did not always see eye to eye

While Jesus’ brother James was the bishop of Jerusalem, Peter carried the rank as chief of the disciples. Paul came from a different place, becoming apostle to the gentiles, founding churches all over the ancient near east, Greece, Asia Minor and throughout the Mediterranean world; though Paul never met Jesus he was a greater teacher than his cohort Peter, and was more responsible for opening Christianity to the world than other person with the possible exception of the man Paul named the Christ..

Note well:

Peter is given credit for founding the church of Rome, and the traditional-lore tells us that he was its first bishop…this is pure mythology. The earliest record we have of a bishop in Rome refers to a man named Linus, tradition now holds that Linus was the bishop following Peter, but no-one called either of them pope (or papa), a title which was not in use during Peter’s day. And while Rome was important in this era, the center of the Christian movement was still in Jerusalem, where it was James who resolved the conflicts catechetical conflicts between SS. Peter and Paul.

Most credible historians believe that Peter is credited with founding the church in Rome because without credit for founding a church (somewhere…anywhere) he would not be able to bear the title of apostle, and so he was credited with founding the churches at Rome and Antioch by way of apology. In the canonical Book of Acts, Paul and his companion Barnabas are credited with its founding…though Peter may have visited once.

It is true that Peter travelled and was an ambassador of the faith, but Paul was a true missionary; he founded churches wherever he went.

It is accepted as true that both men were put to death in Rome, they were martyred there on account of their commitment to the Church and its mission; to feed the hungry, take care of the widow, and the orphan and the poor. They were not put to death, as much for the content of their beliefs, as for leading the kind of secretive society that was generally feared by the emperors of Rome’s.

Paul was a Roman citizen; his letters are the earliest known Christian writings, and though not all of the letters ascribed to him were written by him, Paul’s actual influence on the Christian narrative and its doctrine are immeasurable…there would be no Christianity without him.

A casual observer of history may find the authority he held to be odd, because as mentioned, Paul never met Jesus, did not know him, never heard him speak. Prior to his conversion Paul was the type of man who would punish members of his community if they were not properly observing the traditions of the synagogue; he fulfilled a function similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the morality police in Iran…and Christians were his primary target.

After Paul’s conversion to Christianity he opened the way to the masses by sharing the good news that Christ had risen, making it so that a person did not need to become Jewish first in order to join the church as peter would have had it...the two men had different ways, but they were martyred together on this day.