Day Seventeen – A Different Three-Legged Stool

Question: Br. Jonathan, you entered the Society at a time when it was clear that the previous Rule of Life was no longer a lively or living tradition. As part of the corps of men who were here throughout the rewriting process, what would you say are some of the most significant changes in the new Rule?

Br. Jonathan Maury: There are so many! But for me personally, I would name the chapters on Maintaining our Health and Creativity (44), the Graces of Friendship (42), and the Witness of Life in Community (4).  I’d especially mention the chapter on Mission and Service (31), which makes clear that our various ministries arise from the authority conferred on us by Christ at our Baptism and that only a few are the specific responsibility of the ordained. For me, as a lay Brother, this has been especially important.

The other change that I think is so important is the way in which we incorporated the theology of the Gospel according to John, as mediated in the teaching of our founder, Richard Meux Benson, along with the ancient monastic tradition, with implicit references to the Desert Fathers and the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as our lived experience—our own three-legged stool.