Vigils Reading – Office for Vocations

THE PROMISES WHICH

YOUR LIPS HAVE UTTERED

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

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These three elements — stability, conversion of life, and obedience —

constitute the essential character of monastic profession… Blessed Benedict

recommends obedience, which he wants to be neither tardy nor tepid, neither

morose nor grumbling, unwavering in the face of injuries and adversities, and

unflagging even in the face of death…

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…

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.

If you have charity it is not necessary for you to be forced to fulfill the

promises which your lips have uttered. If you scorn fulfilling the things you

promised by putting your signature to them and calling on God and his saints as

your witnesses, you can be very sure you do not have charity. For do you love

someone you mock? If anyone does other than he has promised, he said, let him

know that he will be condemned by the God whom he mocks.