Today is the Feast of Benedict who is perhaps best known for founding monasteries in Italy, particularly the well known one called Monte Casino which was devastated during the War as the Germans made it an HQ. Many lives were lost in the famous battle of Monte Casino. Benedict is also known the world over for his Rule of life which all his brothers followed as Religious do today, including my own monastery at Mirfield. I am showing a photograph below of the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield to which I belong. The Rule is perhaps modified somewhat for today's world but remains essentially the same as when it was first written. One could not say that the Rules are there to be broken, but modified to suit today's world. Breaking Rules brings forth consequences in any form of life, including family life, marriage rules, politics and business protocols. Then there are unwritten rules in life as say between friends and relatives. Friends and relatives actually help us curb our excesses and outbursts, for fear of offending or distressing them. Having a rant is different as it requires a sympathetic ear. Facebook writers often rant and their Friends all read the rant, sometimes clicking 'like' and sometimes commenting empathetically - hopefully. Always in Benedict's Rule is the need to show respect and to be obedient to ones in authority over you. This does not mean in my book, remaining silent when injustices are happening to people. I am afraid I often have a rant and can get carried away when I see injustices happening. My present rant is of course the UK government's continuous barrage of negativity and threats towards Scotland if we vote to separate from the UK. I believe that their continuous attacks on everything we suggest will have the opposite result to what they want. Their punishment after the referendum is obvious. God knows what will happen to us if we vote to stay part of the UK as of course they are spending a great deal of money in opposing everything our own government are planning. Will they continue to punish us afterwards? I hate to think. Then there is the question of human trafficking throughout the uk from abroad with little or no border control to stop this happening. We now have beggars on our streets, some of whom are well dressed foreigners who go down on their knees in front of you pleading for money for food. I am very angry that the uk government allow this to happen and then refuse them State Benefits. They should either impose strict border controls to stop them enervating such an overcrowded island or allow emergency relief, but Cameron's government say that the Big Society will deal with it all. It took me a while to conclude that he meant us! As a Christian he has put us all in a dilemma of conscience. Should we not challenge the uk government about that? The Church always did feed the poor etc but then we all developed the Welfare State as the politicians took responsibility on behalf of us all, allowing everyone equal opportunities to resources. Hereby ends my rant for St Benedict's Day.
Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
No comments:
Post a Comment