Abbey-Roads2

In memoriam for the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, April 16, 2007.

(Photo from Kent State shootings 1970 - 4 dead, courtesy Wikipedia.)

As of this writing 32 people have been shot dead at the Virginia Tech Campus!  The worst shooting incident in U.S. history.

Check out any news agency or Drudge for details.

PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 St. Benedict Joseph,1748-1783.

 Some misconceptions regarding his life.

The first misconception would be that he was born in poverty when in fact his father was a merchant of some means, perhaps not unlike St. Francis of Assisi’s father.  Benedict was the eldest of 15 children and was educated, by uncles who were themselves priests.  This suggests Benedict’s embrace of absolute poverty was rather similar to that of our Holy Father St. Francis - of whose order Benedict was affiliated with.  St. Benedict was a “Cordbearer of St. Francis” - not a Third Order member however.

Was he mentally ill?

Fr. Benedict Groeschl believes he may have been.  As a psychologist, Fr. Benedict (who is named after our saint) believes so.  I’m not opposed to the idea, in fact I see it as a wonderful condescension of Providence for our neurotic society to have an intercessor who suffered mental illness.

Nevertheless, I have reservations in this regard.  Benedict Joseph was deeply pious as a child, and longed to enter La Trappe, the severe reformed Cistercian Abbey in France.  (Which could indicate a certain inclination towards Jansenism in the young Saint’s spirituality.)  As the eldest child, he asked permission of his parents at least three times to enter, each request denied, he was subsequently sent for more study.

Finally, he was allowed to enter the Carthusians, who dismissed him as unsuitable to their life.  In fact, every attempt at enclosed religious life was a failure and he was subsequently sent away.  Rather than mental illness being the cause, it may have had more to do with temperament.  While Benedict may have possessed some eccentric characteristics, I wonder if these can be referred to as classic mental illness? 

Unsuitable for cloistered life.

An idiosyncratic piety may have caused him to be judged unsuitable for communal life.  Oftentimes, anyone deeply attracted to mystical prayer is often seen as possessing a religious vocation to a contemplative community, only to be turned away for one reason or another.  On the other hand, a soul called to a life of prayer will see enclosed, regulated life as the only suitable lifestyle for themselves, although vocation directors may disagree.  

This doesn’t imply an individual has a psychological disorder.  In the way of Divine Providence, a deep attraction and call to a life of prayer, that is, the contemplative life, is often perceived as analogous with a call to enclosed religious life, or an eremitic life in seclusion.  Not unusually, this attraction to established religious life may rather be a call to a deeper life of prayer within the context of one’s current state in life.  The archetype of contemplative religious life may in fact simply be the perceived image of the contemplative life the soul understands best.

At some point in his pilgrimage, St. Benedict Joseph Labre understood his vocation in terms similar to that of St. Alexis - taking the last place in imitation of Christ, renouncing all the world esteems, as well as possessions, and following Christ in his shameful passion.  Within this context, an elevated gift of prayer and contemplation was realized.

The meaning of Benedict’s life for us.

I have met so many people who are convinced they have a monastic vocation, yet are repeatedly either turned away, or are not able to persevere in an enclosed religious community.  St. Benedict Joseph’s life demonstrates, that even at the lowest level of society, a soul can attain the greatest level of prayer and sanctity through the grace of God.

In and through the struggle to discern  the will of God, Benedict found his vocation, living in the world.  To imitate, or emulate his devotion, it is not necessary to become indigent and homeless, but rather to see the call to sanctify one’s life can be accomplished in whatever station in life we find ourselves.  Perhaps to follow the call to greater mortification and prayer within the confines of one’s life as it is in the present moment.

I believe it was Jacques Maritain who once said the contemplatives of the world will also be found amongst the highways and bi-ways of society, not just in monasteries and convents.  I think that is a fair statement.  Although if one were to ask St. Benedict Joseph if he was a contemplative, he would have even renounced that possession of identity, preferring no status, much less esteem, to worldly and vain preoccupation with the ’stages of prayer’ or virtue, much less, class and position.

The last misunderstanding.

Finally, St. Benedict Joseph Labre did not view poverty and homelessness as an ascetical practice to be condescendingly embraced.  Rather, he saw it as a vocation, contained within it a dignity unrecognised by culture and society.  For him it had little to do with “giving up wealth or achievement,” but rather acceptance of God’s loving Providence for all of his children, no matter their station in life.

The world esteems success and riches, power and position, while even some religious may cling to the ’status’ their vows afford, wearing their poverty and renunciation of the world as a badge of honor, as it were, proudly titling their religious name with the intials of their congregation as a doctor or academic does.  St. Benedict, like Christ, had nowhere to lay his head - that is, he was totally without honor amidst the world.  I think that is an aspect of authentic poverty and humility few appreciate, sometimes writing St. Benedict off as a mere eccentric.

Yet, he walked in peace through the midst of them.