Benedict was a moderate man – he wanted the ‘strong to have something to strive after but didn’t want to frighten the weak.’ He avoided prescribing anything ‘harsh or burdensome.’

His comment on drinking is telling, ‘We know that monks shouldn’t drink, but since monks cannot be persuaded of this nowadays, let us at least agree that they drink in moderation and not get drunk.’

In his Rule a monk is allowed a hemina of wine a day. No one knows how much that is…

Where moderation ends

In chapter 34 of his Rule, all moderation ends, his language tightens; ‘…if anyone is caught at (this behaviour), let him be placed under very severe discipline. He repeats this injunction nine times!

And it is evil…

“Let not the evil of murmuring appear…in the least word or sign.”

‘Murmuring’ – back biting, gossiping, complaining (but never to the person who can do something about it) – the resistant, whiny voice that spawns negativity and saps energy.

Benedict will have none of it. It is the biggest threat to monastic life.

Why is he so set against it?

Benedict knew the destructive power of murmuring; knew how it hardens hearts, steals energy and deadens community life.

Nothing so undermines hope and smothers possibility as murmuring.

Be vigilant

Descent into murmuring in any shared life, family or community, happens and quickly. Living with others generates plenty of material for murmuring and it can slip into our exchanges with speed and stealth and before we know it, it is the currency we exchange when we meet.

If a group lacks energy it is likely to have allowed the virus of murmuring to take hold. The weather dealt with, we move to people.

“Have you heard what X or Y has done now…and you set up for a major crime and what you get is something petty, some idiosyncrasy detected and ridiculed. Challenged, we minimise it, use humour to disguise it… it was just a bit of fun and was perfectly justified because of the latest outrageous thing X or Y has done.”

Inevitable

Benedict, the realist, knows that no matter how he legislates, murmuring will appear. He wants to minimise it.

Positive

Murmuring, that seductive, lazy exchange is always tempting – and it becomes a quagmire and hard to escape.

When we speak, Benedict wants us to use words that give life, that build up, that enlarge the heart of the other.

This for Benedict, is the heart of the moral life.

‘Be kind, for everyone is carrying a heavy burden’ — Ian McKeown

Simon Sleeman is a Benedictine Monk of Glenstal Abbey in Ireland. He holds degrees in Psychology, Theology and Organisational Development. He has worked in administration as headmaster and bursar. He taught biology for many years. He tends the monastery’s bees and is passionate about learning to live wisely in our turbulent world.