What kind of leadership is called for in these times?

Several recent experiences come together to shape an answer to this question:

• The uneasy transition to new national leadership in our country
• A book shared by Maureen Van Dinter, a member of our Benedictine Women of Madison Board of Directors at a recent board meeting, titled The Servant Leader, by Blanchard and Hodges
• The recent publication of a Joint Letter to President Trump from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM)
• The recent Statement by Major Christian Organizations on President-Elect Trump’s Policy Agenda and Political Appointments, posted by the National Council of Churches

And, closer to home:

• Joan Chittister’s The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century. In our sisters’ daily chapter meetings we have been reading from Joan’s commentary on Chapter 2 of the Rule, “The Qualities of the Abbot or Prioress.”

How do these many sources, and in particular our Benedictine values, speak to the kind of leadership that is called for in these times?

In their joint letter, the LCWR and CMSM reflect on the way they see leadership. Their statements resonate with the way we understand leadership as Benedictines:

• “The gift of leadership is given to American leaders by the ‘Right of the People.’”

Leadership arises from within a community; leaders are lifted up by the people. In a Benedictine community a leader is discerned and elected and then is supported in leadership by the entire community. Each community member shares in the responsibility of leadership by doing her part.

• “We and the members of our communities seek to be instruments of the reconciliation our people urgently need.”

Reconciliation is one of the calls of the Gospel. We seek to follow that call here at Holy Wisdom Monastery in the light of Jesus’ prayer in the Gospel of John, “that all may be one.” Reconciliation is what we are working on and moving toward, so how do we use our leadership for reconciliation rather than division?

• “We will actively work for the preservation of the dignity of all…”

From a Benedictine perspective, we live this out every day as we seek to receive all as Christ.

• “As religious leaders, we are committed to contemplative prayer which compels us to take a long, loving look at what is real, to name its truth and to respond lovingly to its call through our service and leadership. We write today from this contemplative space, immersed in the Gospel call for all of us to grow in unity, peace, dialogue, and ultimately, conversion to the Reign of God.” 

We see leadership as service—servant leadership. In Benedictine community life we serve the growth and freedom of one another by helping others recognize their gifts and by calling others to give their gifts. By sharing all our gifts we raise the whole as well as individual people.

Benedict also has a long chapter on “Humility” which informs leadership and community life. Servant leadership is not power over but power with others. We are all called to conversion toward more freedom in Christ and in our love for all.

Demetrius Dumm, OSB, asks a question with clear implications for leadership: “Were you a gift in the lives of others, helping them to grow, to feel forgiven, to find consolation and to become a source of goodness and freedom for ourselves?”  (Praying the Scriptures, p. 51)

The application of these ideals is our everyday and ongoing work. In the spirit of Benedict, God waits for us all to translate these teachings into action. (Prologue to the Rule of Benedict)

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Read other blog posts in Lynne’s series, Building Community.

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The sisters have been reading Joan Chittister’s commentary on the Rule of Benedict at our morning chapter meetings for the past several weeks. I’ve been thinking about the perspective on life that the Rule offers, especially compared to the tone of the current debates going on in this country.

A few days ago, we read chapter 70 of the Rule: “The Presumption of Striking Another Monastic at Will.” The title gives me pause. One might assume that a monastery would be the last place for fisticuffs. However, Benedict must have experienced this problem in his monastery. Otherwise, there would be no need for this chapter.

It appears that Benedict is not thinking primarily about fistfights. Here is the line that caught my attention:

“If any member, without the command of the abbot or prioress, assumes any power over those older or, even in regard to the young, flares up and treats them unreasonably, let that one be subjected to the discipline of the rule.”

This is not just about hitting someone but about letting our anger or our sense of authority get the best of us. It’s been a long time since I’ve hit anyone. But I do occasionally flare up and treat the person in front of me unreasonably. In our culture, where it seems increasingly acceptable to flare up and demean another or let one’s anger/fear/authority take one so far as to strike or kill another, we need the perspective of the Rule.

Joan writes in her commentary: “Benedict simply does not allow a culture of violence. Benedictine spirituality depended on personal commitment and community support, not on intimidation and brutality.”

This perspective could be helpful in our own day. It is easy to get caught up in a culture of flaring up at one another because it feels good to let off steam or to exert my authority over another. But that tears at the fabric of society. When I am triggered by something and feel the inclination to flare up at someone, it is helpful to step back and get some perspective on the situation.

Taking time to look up into the trees at Holy Wisdom can offer a new perspective

The practice of centering prayer, meditation or mindfulness, aids in the ability to observe one’s reactions and step back before deciding how to respond. Making a retreat, sitting by the lake, walking through the prairie or the woods or going to the top of the hill to look out over the city where one lives can provide another viewpoint on life.

Benedictine life puts an emphasis on community and interdependence. Each member of the community is responsible for the life and health of the whole. We are encouraged to take into account the other’s perspective and consider what is best for her or him. This attitude of personal commitment and community support could contribute to a building up of the common good today.

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Read other blog posts in Lynne’s series, Building Community.

Read other Living in Community blog posts, by various community members.

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On other days I watch the appearance of an adolescent cooper’s hawk in various locations around the property—on the electric lines above the road, in an oak tree in the neighborhood. As I stop to gaze at it, it turns its head to size up this stranger surveying it. These are graced moments.

Benedictine spirituality moves us to maintain the grounds at the monastery as a place where guests, retreatants and community members can have these kinds of encounters that foster an awareness of the sacredness of creation of which we are all a part.

Joan Chittister writes in In the Heart of the Temple, “Benedict requires five qualities of the monastic that affect the way the monastic deals with the things of the earth: praise, humility, stewardship, manual labor, and community, each of them designed to enable creation to go on creating.” I am struck by how these five qualities could help the human community as we seek to find a sustainable relationship to the earth.

Praise causes me to stop and appreciate the world in which I live.

Humility teaches me that I am not the center of the universe.

Stewardship challenges me to take an honest account of what I need and be mindful of the needs of others—humans and animals, insects and birds, plants and trees. Stewardship teaches me to tend and care for the earth’s resources and all of life that is so interconnected.

Manual labor brings me into intimate contact with the earth and calls me to contribute to the flourishing of life wherever I find it.

Community reminds me that I cannot and do not do any of this alone. As Joan says, the point of all of this is “to enable creation to go on creating.”

As I see the turkey hen appear shyly out from under a blue spruce and the grass ruffle as the chicks venture out looking for insects, I am grateful to be reminded of the on-going process of creation and our community’s part in it.

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Read other posts in Sister Lynne Smith’s series:  Building community

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Midday prayer always includes a non-scripture reading for meditation as well as a reading from the Gospels. We have most recently been reading selections from The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living, excerpts from the works of Father Thomas Keating, compiled by S. Stephanie Iachetta. The readings are usually short, but full of substance for contemplation.

In July we read from The Breath of the Soul, Reflections on Prayer, by Joan Chittister, OSB. This is a small gem of insights into “the attitudes that prepare us for prayer,” gleaned from Sister Joan’s life of prayer within her Benedictine community. More food for the soul.

We also celebrate special days of Commemoration on the liturgical calendar at Midday Prayer. October 15 marks the Commemoration of Teresa of Avila, a contemplative who was a prolific writer, perhaps best known for The Interior Castle. I have recently discovered the following lines she wrote which speak to me in times of discernment:

I am yours because you created me,
yours because you redeemed me,
yours because you supported me,
yours because you called me,
yours because you waited for me.
I am yours because I was not lost.
What do you want to do with me?
– Teresa of Avila

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In a very similar way, Oblate candidates unpack the emerging gifts of Benedictine spirituality during their year of formation. We meet regularly, often with the community of already committed Benedictine Oblates at Holy Wisdom Monastery; we become part of the life and work of Benedictine women. Together we unpack the message and meaning of Benedictine life. We pray together, we listen to wisdom, we learn sacred truths, and we speak of our own journeys as a community of seekers. As candidates, we also open the Rule of Benedict by reading and discussing Sr. Joan Chittister’s book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. There we uncover an ancient yet ever new spiritual guide. We grow to recognize the gifts of Benedictine spirituality and our own holy longing for these gifts. We open the gifts of simplicity, balance, humility, and the rhythm of holy leisure, prayer, and work, examining each as they appear and apply to our daily lives.

The Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman is believed to have said, “How sad it is to have had the experience, but to have missed its meaning.” As Oblate candidates, we are offered a community, a safe and sacred place, perhaps even a kind of nest–where we can open our experiences and together discover in them a Holy Presence. Unlike the nesting dolls whose opening eventually stops with the last and smallest baby doll inside, our emerging gifts go on and on as we continue, in the spirit of Benedict, to “weave prayer, hospitality, justice and care of the earth into a shared way of life.”

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