Echoes from the Bell Tower

“In the monastery no one is to follow his own heart’s desire.”
Rule of Saint Benedict 3.8

Sometimes I just don’t feel like it! When I was a teenager and my mom would get on me to “pick up my room” (i.e., hang up my clothes, make up my bed, maybe empty the waste basket, etc.) I would inevitably groan and say, “I’ll do it later!” Then I’d hear back from her, “No, young man, you’ll do it right now!”

Now that I’m 60 and a monk living in a large community of men, I very much appreciate how strict she had to be with her five boys. She taught me to appreciate and to learn the value of keeping a clean and orderly home. My personal spaces – my monastery room and my office – are kept tidy (even if not entirely dust free), “a place for everything and everything in its place,” and I am certain my mother had a lot to do with that!

St. Benedict values order, though not for its own sake, but for the sake of harmony. Everyone has different standards for cleanliness and neatness – I get that – but to live together in peace we need a common rule that establishes and protects the harmony we all need to feel comfortable and secure.

When I was a kid, I could be lazy. Looking back on it many decades later, it’s funny how much energy I had to do the things that I wanted to do – watch TV, practice my trombone, hang out with friends, tease my younger brothers – but not for things someone else (my mom, usually!) wanted me to do. Laziness (sloth) is not about a lack of energy or motivation; it’s about refusing to bend one’s own will to the will of another for the sake of harmony and peace – sloth is an assault on obedience and leads to the disruption of harmony.

Sometimes I still don’t want to do what I should to contribute to the harmony and peace of our household. Sometimes I don’t want to get up early in the morning (especially in the winter when the sun isn’t up yet) and go to the church to pray and praise God with my brothers. Sometimes I don’t want to help serve dinner for the community – I’d rather sit in my usual place and be served! Sometimes I don’t want to take the time to clean up a little mess in the recreation room, mop up a spill, replenish the paper towel dispenser in the public restroom, take out the trash, or clean up water dripping down (again!) from the ceiling in the stairwell during a storm – I’d rather someone else do it! The disposition to bend my will to the needs of the community is what we monks call holy obedience – the disposition to not do so is what we call the vice of sloth: preferring my own will to the needs of the community.

Whether one lives with a community of men, or in a family; whether your workplace is shared with others, or you primarily work alone, we must do things we sometimes would rather someone else do. Harmony and peace demand that we live for others, not for ourselves alone. Be generous, whenever you can!