Br. Cuthbert writes
ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLLECTS IN THE PRAYER BOOK
COMES AT THE END OF COMPLINE:
O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we
live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both
night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant
that we may never forget that our common life depends
on each other's toil.
Two things strike me about this prayer. One is its focus on the
importance of community. There is no hint of exclusivity, but
rather that "our common life" includes everyone in the world. The
second is that it is a prayer never to forget how interconnected
our lives are, implying that there is a danger that we will
forget our dependence on others.
In a culture that is constantly bombarding us with the message
that we need to be concerned only with self-sufficiency, the fact
that our very livelihood depends on others can be difficult to
accept. Rugged individualism does not sit well with the notion
that we need others just as much as they need us, so we sometimes
forget or ignore or perhaps even scorn others whose work seems to
be insignificant. In reality, however, failing to recognize the
importance of other people and their work in our own lives can
lead us to cut ourselves off from the wider world and to live in
the illusion that the only thing that matters is what we do or
say or think.
In his Rule, St. Benedict recognizes the ease with which people
can delude themselves with an exaggerated sense of self-
importance. In Chapter 57, for instance, he says that any monk
who is skilled at a certain craft should be made to stop
practicing his craft if he proudly begins to think that his work
is especially beneficial to the community. The point of this rule
is not to stifle creativity, but rather to prevent the spirit of
pride and self-assertion from turning into the even more harmful
sin of thinking that others in the community are not as
productive. Throughout the Rule, in fact, one can see how St.
Benedict's arrangements are designed to foster a sense of
community by warning against the myriad ways in which selfish
behavior can cause us to forget others.
One of the benefits of life in the monastery is the constant
daily reminder that each person's job is necessary if things are
to run smoothly. Phones need to be answered, guests greeted,
meals prepared and served, dishes washed, laundry done, bells
rung, liturgy organized. The list goes on and on. Still, as I go
about my daily chores, it is sometimes easy for me to forget that
my job is only one aspect of life as a whole, and it only really
makes sense when the entire life of the community is taken into
account. A perfect example of this can be seen in our corporate
worship in church.
More often than I would like to admit, my mind is not entirely
focused on prayer. I may be chanting the right tunes and bowing
at all the right moments, but any number of things could be
distracting me from turning my heart towards God. Obviously this
is not ideal, and I need to be continually trying to improve, but
when such moments of absentmindedness do happen, I try to
remember one small thing. By simply being in choir, singing the
psalms and saying the prayers, I may be helping someone who is
concentrating on prayer. In that sense, even my unfocused
participation may be helping someone else. At another time, I
might be praying fervently while others are struggling even to
stay awake; but just by being there, they are providing
encouragement for me to keep striving in prayer. Whatever the
case, the fact is that when we gather as a community to worship,
our mere presence and participation - whatever our level of
concentration - means that our common worship, the focus of our
common life, is strengthened.
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