Feast of the Passing of Our Holy Father Benedict

Death of St. Benedict Mural from Conception Abbey

Today we honor the passing of St. Benedict. The feast, like yesterday, was moved due to Easter.

The story of Saint Benedict's death is as follows.

Taken from The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great

In the year that was to be his last, the man of God foretold the day of his holy death to a number of his disciples. In mentioning it to some who were with him in the monastery, he bound them to strict secrecy. Some others, however, who were stationed elsewhere he only informed of the special sign they would receive at the time of his death.

Six days before he died, he gave orders for his tomb to be opened. Almost immediately he was seized with a violent fever that rapidly wasted his remaining energy. Each day his condition grew worse until finally, on the sixth day, he had his disciples carry him into the chapel where he received the Body and Blood of our Lord to gain strength for his approaching end. Then, supporting his weakened body on the arms of his brethren, he stood with his hands raised to heaven and, as he prayed, breathed his last.

That day, two monks, one of them at the monastery, the other some distance away, received the very same revelation. They both saw a magnificent road covered with rich carpeting and glittering with thousands of lights. From his monastery it stretched eastward in a straight line until it reached up into heaven. And there in the brightness stood a man of majestic appearance, who asked them, "Do you know who passed this way?" "No," they replied. "This, he told them, is the road taken by blessed Benedict, the Lord's beloved, when he went to heaven."

Thus, while the brethren who were with Benedict witnessed his death, those who were absent knew about it through the sign he had promised them. His body was laid to rest in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, which he had built to replace the altar of Apollo.

In honor of this day, I thought I would share with you a reflection written by Abbot John Klasssen,OSB

A Story is told in the "Life and Miracles of Saint Benedict," that Saint Benedict, close to the time of his death, went to the tower cell late at night to pray. As he gazed out into the darkness, he saw an amazing light break through the black of night. "It was as if the whole world, contracted as if it were together, was represented by a single ray of light."

For me this vision also speaks of the wonderful synthesis that the Rule is for us and has been through the centuries. After centuries of work, from the vision of the Acts of the Apostles, Benedict has made his way back to community life as a fundamental sacrament of transformation. For Benedict community life is not a preparation for something else, it is not a means to another end. It is the dough, the enriched broth where the yeast of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel make us into something new.

It is in community life where we learn how to love each other into a new life, where we come to a more true and accurate self-understanding, knowing ourselves as flawed sinners, and yet sons and daughters of God.

It is in community where the gifts of the Spirit given to us are nurtured and developed. It is in community where we learn to recieve and give back, where we learn to trust in the durability of relationships, that misunderstandings and harm to each other do nt have to be the last word.

Ultimately, we live the life together because we want to go somewhere together, to heaven, to be with Christ who has been with us for the whole journey. We do it together because we like and love each other, as we grow in our love for Christ. We know that the transformation in this doughy ferment will not be complete in this life, that Christ, with the Holy Spirit, will bring it to completion.

Have a Happy Feast Day!