Vigils Reading

VIRTUES AND OBSERVANCES

From “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx

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It remains for us to inquire what conversion of life according to the Rule

of Saint Benedict is. If we resort to virtues here, so that, for example, a once

proud person is hereafter humble and a once hot-tempered person meek, surely

we can say that this conversion of life is enjoined not so much on monks by the

Rule of Saint Benedict as on all Christians by the Gospel. Hence for some

diversity to be found among the diverse types of conversion of life which are

professed according to the diverse rules, there is nothing to which we may have

recourse except those traits which constitute the diversity among the diverse

rules…

How then can anyone who does not keep these things keep to his

profession? Someone will say: if someone is proud, stubborn, impatient, and yet

observes all the things mentioned above, must we say that he keeps the Rule of

Saint Benedict? I maintain that if a monk has committed any of these faults

against God’s law, he will not be guilty of transgressing his profession if he

makes amends for them according to the means prescribed by the Rule.

But what if someone looks at the Rule of Saint Benedict as a tool for

pruning away vices more easily and fulfilling the gospel precepts more carefully,

and yet, as could happen, abusing this excellent tool, he neither prunes away his

vices nor acquires virtues by it. Does he not keep the Rule to his peril then, and

still not fulfill Christ’s precepts? Does blessed Benedict not allude to this? We

are going to establish, he says, a school of the Lord’s service, in which we hope

not to institute anything harsh or burdensome, “but if reason and fairness

dictate being a little stricter to correct faults or to persevere love, do not then

and there become daunted by fear and run from the way of salvation”.

Now…what is this strictness which he encourages beginners not to fear?

He certainly confirms that what he has established is situated in this strictness.

If patience, humility, and the other virtues were meant, would he say he was

going to establish them, as though they were something new? Assuredly, there is

nothing to which we have recourse – except to the new practices he institutes.

Neither the law nor the prophets nor Christ himself gave these precepts.

To beginners, of course, this strictness seems not inconsiderable when

they think about the meager, paltry quantity of food and drink, the roughness of

the clothing, the discomforts of fasts and vigils, the wearing grind of daily work,

and all the other things we find he instituted in the Rule. If anyone does not

agree that the Rule consists of these alone, at least let him admit what cannot be

denied except by stubborn obstinacy: that our profession and Rule consist of

both, that is, of virtues and observances, and let him therefore not refuse to

admit – that we necessarily practice both.