Abbot's Chapter Talk

Abbot Raymond's Sunday talk to the community this morning focused on
"SERVICE" as a key word in St. Benedict. 'We are, therefore, about to found a school of the Lord's service,
a school of the Lord's service, (Prologue)

ONLY ONE MASTER

It is God, of course, whom we serve as our one and only True Master. It is true that we also serve each other, but that service is ultimately rendered to the God who made us to love and serve, not only himself, but also each other. All honest service then is rendered ultimately to God. Jesus has this idea very much in mind when he says that we can have only one ultimate master: “Call no one on earth your master” he says. You have only one Master, the Christ.
This saying: “You have only one Master, the Christ.” is so typical of Jesus’ teaching. He uses absolute uncompromising statements which seem to be so rigid and uncompromising. “Call no one on earth your Master; your Father, your Teacher”. But to stick to the title we are considering at the moment – Master; surely we do indeed have many other Masters in life. From the day we are born we have those in authority over us till the day we die; from our parents to our teachers to our Civil Authorities, all of whom Scripture obliges us to obey, again the puzzle is resolved if we realize that all legitimate authority comes ultimately from God and when it steps out of the line of his justice and truth, then it is no longer legitimate, no matter how powerful it may be.
So it is not the legitimate service of any master that Jesus is warning us against when he says “Call no one on earth your Master”, but the yielding to the illegitimate use of authority. What could the practical implications of this prohibition be? When do we come up against Masters who lead us away from God by their commands? Certainly the Civil Authorities do at times enact legislation that is against the law of God and so lead souls astray. But there are also other sources of influence in our lives, sources which demand our obedience in their own way; influences which try to master us in their own way. And these forces are very powerful indeed and we can allow ourselves to be mastered by them. We have to be in a constant state of rebellion against them. There are, for instance, all the forces of the world in general and of society around us demanding that we conform to them. “You must do this”, they say or “You must do that, if you are to really get a life.” “You must get a hold of this; you must get a hold of that if you are to find satisfaction in life. You must go here, you must go there, or you are missing out on life”.
Then, lastly, there is a force much more powerful to master us than all these things; a force all the more powerful because much more insidious; a force that disguises itself as not being our master at all, but as being our very best and most intimate friend; a force that even claims to be at our service rather than to be our master although, in reality, it is the greatest of all tyrants. This most dangerous and powerful of all masters is nothing else than our own self –will. The man who can master that is a free man indeed.