Dear Benedict,
As I plod through another day of COVID19 Lockdown, I am thinking about chapter 49 of your Rule, which is about Lent. You begin by saying that monastic life should be ‘a continuous Lent’. It has been suggested that this Pandemic year has been, more for some than others, a continuous Lent. And it’s true that is something few have the strength for, if indeed it is strength we need.
After I post this I’ll go for a walk in Longdendale, the valley where I live. It’s a very blustery day, and so I turn to my remembered Winnie the Pooh and the story of Pooh and Piglet going to visit Owl. It was while they were at Owl’s house, having tea and sharing stories, that a particularly strong gust of wind blew Owl’s house down. It was Piglet who saved the day by doing a very brave thing, climbing through the letter box and running for help (thanks to AA Milne).
Going to Owl’s house is not an option today unless Owl is in your bubble. Pooh and Piglet would need to take a socially distanced walk. These limitations to social interaction make Lockdown hard, and they’re not really anything to do with Lent. Although prayer and abstinence are mentioned in your Rule (the traditional ‘giving it up for Lent’) there’s nothing about giving people up for Lent specifically (although joking is frowned on, I’m afraid).
I’ve not been giving people up for Lent, or given up being human for Lent. It seems to me that Lent is all about being human and our need for different things during different times and seasons. Last night I took part in the launch of a book to celebrate 75 years of Christian Aid. The whole zoom of 180+ people began with the question of whether or not we should celebrate this 75th anniversary at all. Was it a good thing that we’d needed this for 75 years and still do?
Most agreed that it was the shared humanity that lies at the heart of Christian Aid that made it so memorable and vital to our life of faith today. The book is called Rage and Hope and will be published by SPCK next week. It seems to me that is what Lent is really for; to connect with our global family, to Rage against injustice and Hope for the living promise of Christ’s kindom. Don’t give that up.
From my remembered bible: Forty Days and Forty Nights, phew!
Acknowledge my rage, infuse me with hope!
From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.