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Biblical commentaries
“Behold, we have left everything to follow you. » These words of Peter, with the response of Jesus promising “a hundredfold” and “eternal life”, are given to us to hear on this day of the feast of Saint Benedict, considered the father of monks and nuns of the West. It reflects well, in fact, the fundamental purpose of monasticism, translated in the Benedictine rule by a famous formula: “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ”.
To learn to practice this in truth, a lifetime is necessary. What skill, indeed, does our left hand not demonstrate, in order to furtively recover what the right hand had publicly renounced? And we thus see the most virtuous of religious people becoming, almost in spite of himself, the jealous holder of a pen, of his time, or of the affection of others. Saint Peter himself, who today naively declares having left everything, will soon hear himself deny his Savior three times rather than risk his reputation and his life.
Difficult learning then! For this reason, Benedict presents monastic life as a school of service to the Lord. The best students? Those who never tire of starting out; and above all, those who, keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, care less about detaching themselves from everything than about attaching themselves to him with their whole being.
Other readings: Pr 2, 1-9; Psa 33
