St. Benedict and the Wall of Faith.
In the Book of Job in the Bible, Job says,
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the last day I shall rise out of the
earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh, I shall see
my God.” We still await that great day of the General Resurrection that Job
spoke of so long ago.
But meanwhile, God gives us signs.
One day St. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c.
547), the great founder of Western monasticism, was walking back to the
monastery after working in the fields. A local farmer ran up to him in great
distress crying, “Give me back my son! Give me back my son!”
“But I have not taken your son from you,
have I?” St. Benedict replied.
“He is dead! Come! Bring him back to
life!”
“Oh! Such a miracle is beyond our power.
The holy Apostles are the only ones who can raise the dead.” Well, Benedict was
mistaken here, but his humility didn’t allow him to imagine he could pray for
such a grace. He said, “Why are you so eager to accept what is impossible for
us?”
Of course, the man wouldn’t be silenced
and kept pleading, even swearing an oath he wouldn’t leave until Benedict
restored his son’s life. Well, that was upsetting to Benedict. He asked where the
boy was. The father had left his son’s lifeless body at the monastery gate when
the brothers there told him that Benedict was working in the fields. So then
Benedict, the distraught father, and the brothers coming with them in from the
fields all walked to the monastery gates. There was the poor dead son’s
lifeless body.
St. Benedict knelt down beside the body,
and bent over it. Then he stood and lifted his hands to pray. “O Lord, do not
consider my sins but the faith of this man who is asking to see his son alive
again, and restore to this body the soul You have taken from it.” And scarcely
had the words come from his mouth when the boy was restored to life again. His father
danced in jubilation.
He prayed. And prayed. And within the
hour, he sent the young man, fully restored – solid bones, not even a bruise –
back to work. Amazed at the restoration of the young monk, the brothers all
finished building that wall – a very solid wall of faith indeed!
The story of these miracles, and many more by St. Benedict, come to us from a contemporary of his, Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), and their truth cannot be doubted.
Dibby Allan Green