I remember telling my high school
students in the Delta the story of when I was mugged on the streets of Ecuador
when I was a missionary there back in 1997. I had just been discharged from a
two-week stay at the hospital where I was treated for pneumonia and malaria, and was still a bit “out of it.” After a 10 hour bus ride, I was walking
several blocks to check the bus to take me back to the mission site in the
jungle when several gang members surrounded me and mugged me with one of them
holding a knife to my throat. It was a very terrifying experience;
I thought at the time that I was going to be killed. They stole my backpack, the money I had, even the sandals off my feet! And they were Birkenstock sandals on top of it! I got out of there as fast as I
could. Some of students said that I should have chased after them or gotten revenge, that I should not have let them get
away with it. To be honest, I knew that the things
that they robbed from me could be replaced, but I knew that if they had harmed
me or injured me, it would be far worse. Jesus tells us in the Gospel that
they will come after us in sheep’s clothing. When I was mugged, I wore a
missionary’s cross around my neck; they certainly did not care that I was a man
of God or a missionary trying to help people in their country. Yet, we are to respond with dignity
and respect and with the values of the Gospel that we are proclaiming, not with
violence or revenge on our minds. God will help lead us in our words
and our actions – that is what Jesus tells us today. I am thankful that I do not hold a grudge today or anger in my hurt to those who robbed me.
Today, we celebrate St Benedict, the
Father of monasticism in the West. Most members of monastic communities
in the West today follow the Rule of St Benedict, leading them in prayer and
work to glorify God in a very specific way of life. Throughout history, members of
monastic communities have been targets of violence and derision. There was a book written a few years
back called The Monks of Tibhirine about a group of Trappist monks who
were kidnapped and murdered in Algeria in 1996 by Islamist extremists, monks
who followed the Rule of St Benedict. Those monks in Algeria knew that they were in danger, but they felt called to witness to the community there and to make sacrifices for the faith. Even in the 6th century when Benedict lived, he felt the pressure from the world around him to seek a different way of
living out his faith – this was in the midst of war, a Church torn by schism,
and a sense of hopelessness on the part of many people of his day. The rule he wrote was centered
around prayer, manual labor, and study.
There was a role given to seeking God in prayer and in silence, but also
to living out one's faith in a faith community. No matter what life God calls us to –
lay person or priest, living out in the world or living in a monastic community
– God will given us the strength to endure no matter what challenges and trials
we face.
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