“Seek First the Kingdom of God” (Day 15 of the Holy Rule)

Published on 15 September 2026 at 10:13

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Here, St. Benedict quotes Matthew 6 or Luke 12 in emphasizing the subordination of temporal concerns to the supernatural mission of the monastery as an institution.  

Great Abbot Benedict is not saying "think not of the concerns of this life": given the social dimensions of the monastery (and by extension the Church as a whole) in addition to the embodiment of the human soul by its bodily needs of nourishment and warmth, to neglect the temporal would be imprudent and potentially sinful in relation to the gravity of that neglect.

In all things, we must keep this subordination in mind for it is the principle of order at work.  To risk the ururping of the lower over the higher is to abide a kind of rebellion-- either of serious or trivial effects-- that is ungodly.

How so?

It is ungodly because Transcendence requires at first a living observance of hierarchy in all visible things.  To reject the natural order of things-- with sons dictating to their fathers their inheritance or the weak en masse expropriating from the wealthy-- is incompatible with the will of God, through whom natural hierarchy is an invitation to Himself above and beyond all who would dare call themselves "great", "powerful", "virtuous", "intelligent", "wise", etc., etc.

Even the Lord Himself, co-equal to the other persons of the Trinity (see Philippians 2:6-8), spoke of His relation to the Father qua His Sacred Humanity:

"And when He was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? And Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? None is good but one, that is God" (Mark 10:17-18).

To know God's Sovereignty, we must subordinate ourselves to earthly powers.  

To know God's mercy, we must see the inequality of all things, the most glaring of which emmanate from the acquisitiveness of fallen men.

To know God's justice, we must endure man's injustices in this life.

This world is the classroom of virtue.  We will either pay attention and reap benefits of life's lessons or waste away in vain distractions.

So, let us not br laggards but diligent scholars in the Way of Life!

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