If there are skilled craftsmen in
the monastery, let them work humbly at their art, provided that the abbot has
given permission. But if the artist should grow proud because he is so good at
what he does (as though he were doing the monastery a favor) he should be
removed from that work and not return to it until he has humbled himself. If
any of his work is to be sold, let a third party negotiate the sale, provided
that they do not try to take advantage of the monastery. On the other hand,
when it comes to setting a price for these items, they should be careful not to
be greedy, but should set the prices a little cheaper than the competition, so
that God may be glorified in all things.
Here in Chapter 57, Saint Benedict
puts his money where his mouth is. Every
man comes to the monastery with a set of skills[1]
and sometimes these skills can be very lucrative. At my monastery, we’ve got monks from all
kinds of backgrounds: professors, artists, musicians, soldiers, programmers,
economists, physicists, mathematicians, writers…we even have a monk who worked
in the movies! And any one of these guys
could be making a load of money at what they do. But they gave it up to be contemplatives, so
no matter how much wealth they might generate for the community, the abbot
cannot allow their talent to get in the way of their holiness. In the words of Saint Therese of Liseux,
“without love, even the most brilliant deeds count as nothing” (The Story of a Soul).
 |
| Monks with skills! |
But, the monastery isn’t a hangout
for freeloaders either. If the community
can’t support itself, it has to shut down, so every abbey takes on a “work” of
some sort. Some monasteries brew beer,
some bake cakes, some run farms, others run schools. The work varies, but the purpose remains the
same: to support and nourish the community’s prayer. Thus, everything the monks do—working,
sleeping, praying, playing—is done with that one goal in mind, which is why Benedict
ends this chapter with a quote from Saint Peter’s second letter: “that in all
things, God may be glorified”—ut in omnia
glorificatur Dei.
I have a friend who works in
international business, and he made a resolution to put this philosophy into
practice. After a near-fatal car
accident, he swore he would never close a deal that he wouldn’t take if he were
on the other side of the negotiations.
At first, his partners were skeptical.
Was it a scam? Was he nuts? But then word started to get around the
business community that if you wanted a fair deal, you could go to Jim, and
pretty soon he was getting paid tons of money just to sit in on other peoples’
transactions and tell them whether or not they were fair. As a business stratagem, honesty, simplicity
and integrity are sound principles, which is why Saint Benedict’s monks could often
afford to sell their goods for slightly less than market value.
But beware. Holiness isn’t always profitable. In fact, it could cost you everything.
[1] You know, like nunchuk
skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills...
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