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Copyright © 2020 by John Edward Crean Jr.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Quotations of Benedict’s Rule are taken from A Reader’s Version of the Rule of Saint Benedict in Inclusive Language, edited and adapted by Sister Marilyn Schauble, OSB, and Barbara Wojciak, used by permission of the Community of Mount Saint Benedict in Erie, Pennsylvania; and from the translation by Leonard J. Doyle, OSB, St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1948).
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Cover design by Paul Soupiset
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A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-326-9 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-327-6 (ebook)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Recovering Benedict consciously tries to connect the dots between the twelve steps first published in The Big Book—Alcoholics Anonymous with the seventy-three chapters of the Rule of Benedict. The format of each daily reading is in two parts: first, the appointed daily reading from the Rule and then my reflection on it.
Both the text and my reflections rely on English translations of Benedict’s Rule. With the kind permission of the Community of Mount Saint Benedict in Erie, Pennsylvania, I quote from A Reader’s Version of the Rule of Saint Benedict in Inclusive Language, edited and adapted by Sister Marilyn Schauble, OSB, and Barbara Wojciak. During many of my reflections, I often quote from the Rule as translated by Leonard J. Doyle, OSB, St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1948). I am grateful to both publishers for permission to quote from their texts, but I owe my greatest debt to Professor Julian G. Plante, late curator of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Microfilm Library at St. John’s, Collegeville, Minnesota, who first whetted my appetite for the Rule of Benedict.
Julian and I both happened to be giving papers at one of the first annual meetings of the International Medieval Congress at Western Michigan University in 1968. I was talking on Meister Eckhart, and he was doing something or other on Classics. He stood in front of me in an incredibly long lunch line. To pass the time, we started up a conversation. At some point during that conversation, Julian said, “John, I have just the thing for you to work on.”
My scholarly publications from that day forward centered on the Rule of Benedict. I never looked back at Eckhart again. And my interest in the Rule and Benedictine life went well beyond the confines of academe. I became an oblate in the Benedictine Order—all stemming from that one chance lunch-line encounter. That never-ending line drove my life in a new direction—not just my scholarly life but, more importantly, my spiritual life as well.
May God rest the immortal soul of my friend and colleague, Professor Julian G. Plante, PhD. And may each of you who use this little book be inspired by the spirit of Benedict and the serenity of recovery.
INTRODUCTION
Recovering Benedict was first inspired by the down-to-earth wisdom of the Rule of Benedict (RB). Addicts sometimes suffer from more than one addiction at a time. Numerous anonymous twelve-step programs have come into existence to address addictions to alcohol (AA), narcotics (NA), overeating (OA), gambling (GA), sex (SA), and debt (DA) to name but a few. Support groups such as Al-Anon, Alateen, Nar-Anon, S-Anon, and others were created to assist those who are in a relationship with addicts.
In my view, the most effective recovery programs are those based upon the twelve steps first outlined in a work referred to as The Big Book or simply Alcoholics Anonymous (April 1939). This pioneering methodology suggests addressing addiction “one day at a time.” Because of AA, a generous number of daily recovery readers already exist. Recovering Benedict also approaches recovery from twelve-step methodology, but from an additional perspective as well. The meditations after each daily reading from the Rule of Benedict were written for persons in recovery and those who support their efforts.
Benedict of Nursia (480–547) was an Italian layperson who sought a more authentic spiritual life than was currently available to him in the religious culture of his day. Benedict, often referred to as the “father of Western monasticism,” collated various strands of monastic culture and practice into a single coherent document. He created his short handbook to guide others seeking a holier life. For over fifteen centuries now, the Rule of Benedict has been translated, adapted, and adopted in far more ways than Benedict could ever have imagined. It is a true classic of Western spirituality.
An equally novel, indeed revolutionary way to deal with the age-old problem of alcoholism appeared with the publication of Alcoholics Anonymous. The first edition of 1939 ushered in a fresh way to approach the disease of alcoholism. Based on twelve simple yet practical steps and minus moral judgmentalism, this pioneering venture—like the Rule—inspired others to translate, adapt, and adopt it to address not only alcoholism but countless other addictions as well.
Basic to all twelve-step programs are values such as rigorous honesty, interdependence with others (through attending meetings and working with a sponsor), accountability, systematic step work, confidentiality, anonymity, persistence, simplicity, self-evaluation, openness to transformation, humility, consideration, and a reliance on one’s Higher Power—however one might understand that. In my view, the twelve-step method has met with such enormous success because deeply within its methodology it has both spiritual as well as therapeutic roots.
While most of the basic values espoused by AA certainly existed well before 1939, it took one motivated individual, in consultation with fellow travelers, to pull the various strands together into a new format. And here is where the dots connect for me: it took a sixth-century Italian drawing on earlier experience to create a handbook for Western monasticism; it likewise took a twentieth-century American to pull together a program for people who just wanted wellness, who wanted to recover.
Recovering Benedict came into being because I, too, found healing by relating monastic practice with recovery values. Monastics and non-monastics alike share the same twenty-four hours. Monastics live twenty-four hours of work balanced with prayer; addicts likewise try to live out their lives one day at a time. How we spend our hours are how we spend our days.
A Recovery Prayer
May your reading and reflection
bring you the peace
that passes all understanding.
May you experience all the serenity
that sober living can bring about.
May you come to quiet
and find wholeness.
May you be restored and revived.
And in our moments of reflection,
in our heartfelt