📜Saint Benedict of Nursia, born around 480 and deceased in 547, is venerated as the patriarch of Western monasticism. After a life as a hermit in Subiaco, he founded the monastery of Monte Cassino and established the Benedictine Order. His magnum opus, the "Rule of Saint Benedict," organizes monastic life around the balance of prayer and work ("Ora et Labora"), becoming a pillar of European civilization. His spiritual wisdom is reflected in the counsel: "First of all, when you begin any good work, you should ask him with the most insistent prayer to bring it to completion." Rightly, St. Benedict is acclaimed as a savior of Christian culture, as his monks were instrumental in the evangelization of almost all of Europe.
🙏Introit (Ps 36:30-31 | ibid., 1)
Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam, et lingua ejus loquétur judícium... The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment. The law of his God is in his heart. Ps. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
📖Epistle (Ecclus 45:1-6)
He [Moses] was beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction. He made him like the Saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies to cease. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments in the sight of his people, and showed him his glory. He sanctified him in his faith and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh. For he heard him and his voice, and brought him into a cloud. And he gave him commandments before his face, and a law of life and instruction.
✝️Gospel (Mt 19:27-29)
At that time, Peter said to Jesus: Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.
🤔Reflections
💡The promise of Jesus that "every one that hath left house... for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold" finds a paradigmatic example in St. Benedict. Monastic life, codified in his Rule, is the institutionalization of the evangelical counsel to abandon everything to follow Christ. St. Augustine teaches that the hundredfold reward refers not only to future material goods but to the spiritual wealth of the communion of saints and the inner peace received already in this life (Sermon 100). St. Jerome adds that the merit is not in the simple act of leaving possessions, but in the intention of doing so "for Christ's Name's sake," which constitutes the essence of the vocation (Commentary on Matthew, Book III). The wisdom that "the mouth of the just meditates," as the Introit sings, is the very wisdom of the Cross, which St. Benedict not only lived but taught to countless generations, becoming, like Moses in the Epistle, a lawgiver for the people of God in the desert of monastic life.
⚖️The Gospel of St. Matthew is unique in specifying that the Apostles "shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." St. Mark, narrating the same episode (Mk 10:28-31), adds a sober and realistic detail to the promise of the hundredfold: those who leave everything will receive houses, brothers, and lands "with persecutions," a reminder that discipleship includes the cross. St. Luke (Lk 18:28-30) reinforces the immediacy of the reward, stating that they will receive "much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting," emphasizing the blessing of the new spiritual family in the Church.
⛓️The abandonment of all for Christ echoes profoundly in the writings of St. Paul, especially in his letter to the Philippians. While Peter asks about the reward, Paul offers a personal testimony that illuminates the motive: "But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord" (Phil 3:7-8). This passage speaks not of a transactional exchange, but of a radical re-evaluation of values, where all that the world prizes becomes "dung" compared to the inestimable treasure of union with Christ, complementing the Gospel's promise with the perspective of the believer's inner transformation.
🏛️The documents of the Magisterium, such as the apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia of Pius XII, deepen the Gospel's teaching by framing the act of "leaving everything" within the "state of perfection." The Church teaches that while all Christians are called to holiness, those who profess the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience through public vows enter a stable state of life, recognized by the Church, which constitutes a more direct and secure path to perfect charity. This "religious state" is not just a personal act but an ecclesial consecration that makes the witness of the Gospel visible and permanent in the world, organizing Christ's promise into a canonically established way of life.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.
