Benedict’s Rule: Impossible Tasks

Chapter 68 of the Rule takes us to a very delicate, but important dimension of spiritual formation: dealing with “impossible” tasks.

The word “impossible” may throw us off a bit.  Benedict is using it as the early response a monk might give to a challenging task.  We’ve all known those times when we’ve said to ourselves, “I cannot do this!”

Benedict says that when this is the case, the monk should talk about it with his superior.  The implication is that if the task is truly impossible, the monk will be relieved of his duty and the task will be given to someone else.

But sometimes…..the monk will be ready to “move on up” to a new level of commitment and performance.  The wise superior will recognize this, and in such moments, the monk will not be relieved from the task.  Instead, the monk will (by hard labor, no doubt) learn something new about himself—something that will put him in a new relationship with God.

Looking back, we can all remember times we’ve been thankful that a wise friend or guide didn’t let us off the hook, but rather kept encouraging us—sometimes believing in us more than we believed in ourselves.  Who knows where we might be today, if we had not been asked to do “impossible” tasks?