In his Prologue he exhorts the beginner in the monastic life to take to heart the instructions that he will receive in the course of his formation. He cites the words of the Apocalypse: Let him who has ears listen to what the Spirit has to say to the Churches (2: 7). In effect, then, the instruction found in the Rule is presented as a message from the Spirit of God that is to be listened to with the spiritual ears, the ears of the heart. St. Bernard for one took this teaching very much to heart, as had the founders of our Order before him. They were persuaded that the Rule was a compendium of the Gospel, written by a man who was led by the Spirit to reveal to those called to follow Christ in the monastic way of life the proper way for them to apply Christ's teaching to their vocation. Bernard was persuaded that the same Spirit who had assisted Benedict continued to speak through the abbot to the community.

Accordingly, he referred to the Chapter room as the Aula Spiritus Sancti, that is to say, the auditorium of the Holy Spirit, the place where the Spirit addresses himself to the monk who has the ears of his heart open. This does not mean that everything the abbot says is inspired, as St. Bernard would be the first to acknowledge. However, it does mean that the Spirit continues to lead those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus and who believe that he guides and inspires his Church from the place of glory he occupies at the right hand of the Father. He does so through his Holy Spirit in ways that are subtle and hidden to the wise and prudent but revealed to children.

That these ways are determined by the transcendent wisdom of God means that they surpass our limited insight ultimately. But he has given to all the faithful certain guidelines that permit us to recognize his will for us in proportion as we seek to know it with a pure heart. Only in proportion as we desire to know God's will so as to conform our life and our very self to His plan for us can we discern His action and guidance for what it is.

St. Benedict associates the desire for God with the work of the Holy Spirit within us.In the Chapter treating of the Instruments of Good Works he states his view in language that has led to some consternation. To desire eternal life with all spiritual craving (RB 4:46). The word translated by craving is concupiscentia which is used of fleshly longing as a rule in the ascetic tradition. That Benedict was well aware of this is clear in several of the sentences in this very chapter. The sixth instrument in his list is one; it reads Non concupiscere, meaning: you shall not lust (or crave). That his use of this word in connection with the spiritual desire is quite deliberate is clear also from the fact that Benedict adds this word to the text as found in the Rule of the Master. What he implies here is that our longing for eternal life should include our whole being, body and soul. He realizes that this requires that under the influence of the Spirit we are to elevate and transform our cravings not repress them. The energies deriving from our instinctive urges are detachable; they can be redirected by our reason and imagination to assume new forms that are shaped under the influence of values that we choose and interiorize by acting in keeping with their nature. But this labor cannot be accomplished without the grace of the Spirit of the Lord. [Cf. the comments on this passage by Terrence Kardong, Benedict's Rule, 89.]

The longest chapter in Benedict's Rule is that dealing with humility. It summarizes the spiritual way as an ascent upward, modeling it upon the ladder worked out by John Cassian in his Institutes. The Master had made use of this same model, modifying Cassian's text, and Benedict follows this monastic legislator closely in the early chapters of his work. But at the end he departs from his predecessor, replacing his description of heaven with a reference to the Holy Spirit.

And so having ascended all these steps of humility the monk will arrive soon at that love of God which is perfect and casts out fear. By means of it all those things that he performed before not without fear, he will begin to keep without labor and quite naturally, from habit. He acts no longer from fear of hell but from love of Christ and good habit, with pleasure in virtue. The Lord will deign to show this now in his worker cleansed from vices and sins by the Holy Spirit.

Just how Benedict conceived the role of the Spirit does not emerge from this or any passage in his Rule. Fr. Kardong believes he does not provide enough detail for us to be sure that he means to suggest that the Spirit is operative throughout the stages of spiritual growth. He could intend to affirm that only after the monk has advanced to this final stage does this Spirit make his virtue evident. It is evident, nonetheless, that he was aware of the action of the Spirit and was sufficiently impressed with its importance to alter appreciably the teaching of his Master with these concluding comments on the work of the Spirit. Interestingly, these lines are the only place in his Rule where Benedict mentions all three persons of the Trinity [cf. Kardong, op. cit., 160].

From the words of our Savior to his apostles just before he ascended to heaven, we know that the Spirit is given as the fulfillment of a promise. So true is this that Jesus refers to him here as The Promise: And eating with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to await The Promise of the Father that you heard of from my mouth (Acts 1:4). Our Lord's last word to his chosen disciples was an assurance that they were to receive the Holy Spirit who would enable them to carry out their mission and to bear witness to him. The apostles spent this time of waiting apart from society, praying together with one soul, along with Mary and some relatives of Jesus. Their example teaches us that we can prepare our hearts for receiving God's Spirit and the graces He imparts to us. Not that we can earn such a gift in justice. However, by a more intense prayer and meditation on God's words and promises we can be better able to welcome and respond to His gifts. As Jesus had explicitly stated, this period of preparation was characterized by sadness at his absence. His disciples were exposed to danger and felt alone once their Master had departed from them. They were empty of worldly hopes and ambitions and yet not properly equipped for carrying out their assigned task of preaching the Gospel. Saint Bernard saw with his customary penetration that this situation is precisely the condition for a fuller reception of the Spirit of Jesus, and exhorts his monks to establish the same sentiments in their own hearts.

The Word of the Father had previously taught his disciples discipline and wisdom and had filled their heart with understanding, The divine fire came afterwards and found clean receptacles into which it poured out more abundant gifts of grace, and changed them altogether into spiritual love… Let us prepare ourselves for this grace as much as our weakness permits by emptying our selves of everything. Let us take care to free our hearts from miserable delights and passing consolations. Especially now that this feast is about to occur let us persevere more fervently and more faithfully be at one in prayer that the loving Spirit might deign to console us with His visitation and His consolation and strengthening ( In Ascensione Domini Sermo V.15 PL 183: 322-323).

The apostles during this period of expectant waiting were already strengthened by what they had heard and seen from Jesus after his resurrection. More, their faith had been given a new quality through their seeing the Lord as he was taken up into heaven. Bernard spoke of them as oculata fidei edocti, that is to say, taught by a faith with eyes (loc. cit.). What they saw required faith of them; only the eyes of faith were permitted to behold this ascension. He compares their experience with that of Elisha who, having been found worthy to see Elijah ascend into heaven in the fiery chariot, was given the grace of a double portion of his spirit.

Without the vision of faith the human spirit is depressed and lives in a confused world of moral darkness. While we do not possess this oculata fides, yet we have in our possession the witness of those who were given such eyes to their faith for our sake and for the many to whom they were sent. That we are not disadvantaged by not having been eye-witnesses, by having a belief founded on the witness of those who saw the risen Savior was made explicit by Jesus himself in his words to Thomas: Blessed are those who have not seen and believe (John 20: 29).

In order to believe the promise of God we must accept the witness of persons and put our trust in their message. We cannot learn about the ways that lead to God as revealed in his Son except through faith in the Church and that entails faith in persons who went before us. Our life, our salvation depends on our learning to listen to the right persons and to recognize those through whom God speaks to us. The words of the prophet Isaiah states this expressly. Bend your ear and come to me; listen and your soul shall live (55:3). God only spoke to a very few persons directly. Moses and the prophets had special revelations made to them that they were charged by the Lord himself to communicate to His chosen people. To fail to listen to Moses was to disobey the Lord; to refuse the message of the prophets was to sin against the Lord. Both were considered serious offences that led to punishments that were meant to be medicinal and exemplary. At times certain persons were not given a second chance so that their failure to listen resulted in their exclusion from the people and even death.

Learning to listen to one another is a duty of every Christian and imposes itself with a particular urgency on members of a community. The ability to listen with attentiveness and understanding represents a high achievement possible only to those who have learned to go out of themselves. We cannot hear what another communicates to us unless we open our heart as well as our mind.

Only the inexperienced and naïve will believe that such an openness of the inner ears of our heart is possible without risks. We may be criticized because we expose our true thoughts and values. Perhaps more frequently we discover weaknesses or faults in another that call for our carrying his burden with him by patience and humble service. The kind of exchanges that take place through working and living together are a form of dialogue. All true dialogue requires willingness for both parties to change. In the course of such collaboration and exchange we come to recognize the attitude and affects that had lain hidden within us and are presented with numerous occasions for reinforcing those that are good and correcting the ones that are selfish and objectionable. Rarely is it enough for us to work at correcting our faults simply through insight achieved by our solitary reflection and analysis. We so readily remain unaware of some of our most personal characteristics, both good and evil, that without contact with others we are unable to discover where to employ our efforts to best advantage.

There is a Jewish folk tale that illustrates this need strikingly. Eisek lived a hard-working and pious life in Cracow, Poland. In spite of his best efforts to support his family he was weighed down by debt and oppressed by worries for his future. He resorted to more fervent prayer, but matters remained unchanged. One night he had a dream that clearly arose from his anxiety. In the dream he found himself in a distant city at an impressive bridge situated near a great palace. A voice spoke up and said: Eizek you are in Prague, at the royal palace. Under this bridge there is a buried treasure that will be the solution to your problems. It is yours for the taking. Upon awaking Eizek dismissed this dream as arising from wish fulfillment, and so easily explained away. But when it recurred two more nights in a row and the voice rebuked him for not acting on the advice given, he decided to undertake the difficult journey, though not without lingering doubts.

Upon arriving at the Capital he was directed to the famous bridge and to his wonderment he saw it resembled in detail the image he had seen in his dreams and so did the palace opposite. As he explored under the bridge for the treasure site indicated by the voice his actions aroused the attention of the palace police who took him to their chief. Eisek, obviously frightened, told the captain the story of his dream, but without mentioning his name or native city. The captain, a man of experience and discernment quickly recognized that the suspect was harmless and laughing at his explanation spoke to him jestingly. "I too have been having a recurrent dream, but I have too much common sense to go to the trouble it would give me were I to heed it. I keep seeing the poor dwelling of a Jew in Cracow, named Eisek, son of Yekel, and a voice says: "go to this home and dig under the stove where you will find a large treasure buried." But do you think I am stupid enough to believe such a foolish dream! Eisek listened with rapt attention to these remarks and soon as he was released headed for home where he found the buried treasure.

This tale can be interpreted in more than one way. The lesson I would draw from it today is that we need to go out of our self, even at considerable inconvenience, and to listen attentively to others, with respect for their experience, if we are to be able to discover the treasure hidden in our own heart. Even those who do not understand or agree with us may have something to teach us that we could learn from no other source. When we learn this lesson well we shall be more capable of receiving the words that the Lord speaks to our heart by his Holy Spirit within us. What better preparation could we make for Pentecost than this humble and careful listening for his word to us as revealed through our neighbor. May His word in this way truly give us the life that our glorified Lord won for us by his death and resurrection.