Saint Benedict's Wisdom: Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church

by Luigi Gioia OSB, Barry Hudock (Translator)

2021 Catholic Media Association Award first place award in spirituality - contemporary Monastic spirituality has much to offer Christians who live far beyond monastery walls. In Saint Benedict's Wisdom Luigi Gioia, OSB, demonstrates that monastic spirituality is a gift for the whole Church. Because monastic vows are fundamentally a deep dive into one's baptismal commitments, monastic experience speaks to all the faithful who wish to do the same within different lifestyles. As an expression of divine wisdom, monasticism offers a way of deeply integrating spirituality with the rest of life, teaching us to seek holiness, not only in prayer, but also through work, sharing of food, sleep, and life in community.

Written by one of the most insightful commentators on monastic life today, Saint Benedict's Wisdom shines the light of monasticism on many aspects of contemporary Christian living, including evangelization, leadership, suffering, authentic chastity, the experience of God, reform of structures, and the practice of theology. It will appeal to anyone seeking to live a more authentic Christian life in addition to vowed monastics, monastic oblates, and associates.

Luigi Gioia, OSB, is a research associate at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry at Cambridge University and a professor of systematic theology at the Pontifical University of Sant'Anselmo in Rome. In great demand as a retreat leader all over the world, he is the author several books, including Say It to In Search of Prayer (the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2018) and Touched by The Way to Contemplative Prayer.

Genres: Spirituality

197 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2020

Reviews

[Andrew Marr · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many books out on Benedictine spirituality. As a Benedictine, I find this degree of interest gratifying. It does make for a crowded market and raises the question as to which such books are most worth reading. I would put this book near or at the top the stack.

Many important topics in Benedictine spirituality but, as the title suggests, the connections with Wisdom literature in the Old Testament receive much emphasis. Gioa demonstrates how the fascination with the natural world in Wisdom Literature is developed by Benedict in fashing a Rule that has monastics interacting with the mysteries of life through work, liturgy and communal interactions. The fundamental goodness of the natural world comes out especially strongly in the subject of chastity where, far from even a hint of prudery, Gioa offers tips on how to listen to the body creatively ways so that we can channel what we learn in constructive ways. Much of the same kind of advice is offered in relationship with angry. Rather than stifle anger, we should learn to live with it and learn from it. Gioa would also have us experience delight and appreciation in the liturgy and I found his comments most inspiring. Since reading them, I have followed his advice and opened myself up to taking in what the text has to offer and letting new levels of insight or simple affection enter in.

Much more could be said but what I have said should whet a reader's appetite to explore this book reflectively at length.

[Viggo van Uden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luigi Gioia wrote The Wisdom of St Benedict (2020) – originally published in Italian as La saggezza del monaco – while he was still a Benedictine monk. He has since become an Anglican priest. In this book, he proves himself to be both a connaisseur of the Benedictine tradition and a skilled theologian. The worlds of the Church, monasticism, theology, and everyday life converge in this work. Gioia doesn’t confine himself to St. Benedict alone but brings the monastic tradition and its spirituality into dialogue with other, including modern and contemporary, voices such as Karl Barth, Vatican II, and Pope Francis. The result is a remarkable book, which I have now read twice.

The book consists of an introduction, twelve chapters, and a conclusion. Gioia explores themes such as monastic vocation and how being eager for trials belongs to the essence of monastic life. Strikingly, wisdom and wisdom literature recur throughout the book, as the Rule of St. Benedict (RB) itself belongs to this genre. Several chapters then focus on key aspects of monastic life such as leadership, forgiving, and chastity.

In my view, the strongest chapters are VII–XII, in which Gioia reflects on Simplicity and Prayer (VII), Experiencing God (VIII), The Word of God and Monasticism (IX), Listening (X), Reform (XI), and Monastic Wisdom (XII). In the conclusion, Gioia offers profound insights on A Spirituality for the Church. As the subtitle of the book – Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church – already suggests, Gioia masterfully interweaves monastic and ecclesial dimensions, enriching the reader with both thoughtful and inspiring reflections.

Chapters I–XI certainly deserve attention as well – for instance, what Gioia writes about chastity as story in chapter VI – but one must sometimes be selective. In this review, I will limit myself to the conclusion, which contains some key takeaways that I find especially important and representative of the book’s general message.

The Rule gives primacy to two things: (1) the love of Christ and (2) the opus Dei (RB 4.21; 43.3). Gioia rightly notes: “the work of God [opus Dei] and the love of Christ are the same reality” (p. 216). The book offers “a radically transformed understanding of the opus Dei”. Gioia explains: “Therefore, the opus Dei is what God works in us. The Rule’s nihil operi Dei praeponatur doesn’t mean ‘put nothing before the works that we must do for God,’ but rather ‘put nothing before welcoming and celebrating what God does for us, that is God’s work of salvation in us – the covenant, reconciliation, communion with God.’” (p. 217). This is a beautiful and theologically rich interpretation of the opus Dei, one that reshapes our understanding of the liturgy. It’s not a work we perform for God; rather, God works through the liturgy, in which He acts for us. It is not an opus hominis, but truly an opus Dei (p. 169).

I had not encountered this interpretation before, and I find it both illuminating and important. Gioia discusses it earlier as well, in chapter XI on Reform, under the heading Monasteries and evangelization, where he comments on Pope Francis’ emphasis on “letting oneself be evangelized.” It becomes clear what nihil operi Dei praeponatur truly means: “in a word, [it] evangelizes us!” (p. 169). Because God acts through the celebration of the liturgy, those who pray are themselves evangelized: “The Lord constantly speaks to our heart, comforts us, wraps our wounds, frees us from our prison.” (p. 169)

The second primacy is: “Nothing must come before the love of Christ” (RB 4.21; cf. 72.11 and 5.2). Gioia emphasizes that this phrase is set within a communal context. In RB 72, we read: “Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all together to everlasting life.” This “together” (pariter) is essential to Benedictine spirituality, particularly in its understanding of communion.

Gioia then offers a remarkable paragraph entitled Communion as mission, the best part of his book in my opinion. While religious orders after the Middle Ages have tended to express their charism in terms of mission rather than communion, Benedictine monasticism is distinctive in this regard: “Throughout the winding path of its history, including some missteps, it has continued to recognize itself always and first of all in the double nihil praeponatur for the work of God and the love of Christ, and in the pariter, the priority given to communion over mission, in the belief that the most powerful form of mission was precisely communion itself.” (p. 221)

Benedictine communities have never defined themselves by their activities. The Rule’s emphasis on communion stems from a communion of love (John 13:35). It is not communion and then mission, but rather communion as mission. I believe this reflects the Benedictine Rule and spirituality faithfully and also resonates deeply with biblical witness and ecclesiological reflection.

“In conclusion,” Gioia writes, “the defining contribution of Benedictine monasticism to the church and the world is its ecclesial and catholic spirituality: thanks to the double prioritization of the work of God and of the love of Christ, its nihil praeponatur and its pariter, the Benedictine monastery is meant to be a sign and a prophecy of what the church is.” (p. 222). Christ has assigned this double priority to the whole Church. The final sentence is particularly striking for grasping the importance of communion: “In this way, communion becomes the most important means of evangelization, because loving fellowship alone is worthy of faith. Love alone is credible.” (p. 223).

With this emphasis on the double nihil praeponatur, the pariter, and the idea of communion as mission, Gioia truly brings together the two central themes of his book: monastic spirituality and the life of the Church. From his reflections on communion as mission, I have gained significant insight into the relationship between church, communion, and mission. Communion in the Church and mission cannot be separated; rather, communion itself is mission. Through these and many other valuable insights, I have been deeply enriched by this excellent book.

I have read a fair number of works on Benedictine spirituality, but this one stands out. It demonstrates the relevance of the tradition for the contemporary Church and builds strong theological bridges to our time. At the same time, it speaks to the reader on a personal level. These have merely been the key takeaways from the conclusion – the rest of the book offers many more insights you won’t want to miss.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book in much the same way as I find a lot of books, by finding it in my public library's digital books section. Being a sucker for monastic spirituality, how could I not have a look at this. I found the book good, but heavy going at times.

What was good about it was that it really was a thoughtful and careful theological reading of monastic spirituality. It is, I should caution, primarily concerned with the 'inside' view, that is, it is primarily about monastic communities, which limits it direct applicability to someone, like me, who isn't a monastic and not going to be one. That isn't a criticism because I often find the monastic perspective really helpful in living my vowed life of being a husband and father, But it is good to know the primary audience and monastic communities is it. I appreciated the erudition and the honest appraisal of this book and parts of it resonated with me.

However, like many theological works, the discussion can get a little abstract at times. Again, not necessarily a criticism, in the sense that the point of theology is to work out the big stuff in our spirituality, but parts were like stirring concrete with my eyelashes. And I doubt if I understood all of the book. That is, probably, a function of my limitations, but also the difference in audience. There are simply things I didn't understand because they aren't my experience, so no one is at fault with that. My policy in a book like this is to look for what is helpful for me and let go of the things that don't really make sense to my life as is.

So, definitely worth reading, if you're interested in monastic spirituality. Being a monk, I suspect, helps though, but even a middle-aged husband/father with a soft spot for monastic spirituality can get something out of it.