Year of Saint Joseph
Other saints: Maur and Placid, Disciples of Saint Benedict
Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 2:33-40
Mass: Heb 4:1-5, 11; Resp Ps 78; Mk 2:1-12
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the abbot but also to one another as brothers, since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God.
(RB 71:1)
If you do not know anything about Maur and Placid, disciples of Saint Benedict, you can learn about them from Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) in Life and Miracles of Saint Benedict (Book Two of the Dialogues). The most famous story of the boys is found in Ch 7. The short version (aware that I tend to get carried away with the current 😊) is that while Abbot Benedict was in his room, the young monk Placid went to the lake to fetch water. Placid let the bucket fill too rapidly, lost his balance and fell into the water, where the current took him away from the shore. Although not with Placid, "the man of God" Benedict knew what happened. So holy Benedict called on Brother Maurus to go help the boy. With the "unhesitating obedience" of the first step of humility (RB 5:1), Maurus received a blessing from Benedict then ran to the water to help Placid. Unknowingly, Maurus ran across the surface of the water and pulled struggling Placid out of the water by his hair and took him to shore. Dear Maurus thought he was running on the ground the whole time! "Overcome with fear and amazement at a deed he would never have thought possible," Maurus "returned to his abbot and told him what had taken place." Abbot Benedict wouldn't take any credit for the deed but "attributed it to the obedience of his disciple. Maurus on the contrary claimed that it was due entirely to the abbot's command." After all, how could Maurus be responsible. He didn't even know he was doing it. So the boy Placid settled the matter: "When I was being drawn out of the water, I saw the abbot's cloak over my head; he is the one I thought was bringing me to shore."
The response to this account by the deacon Peter in the Dialogues: "What marvelous deeds these are! They are sure to prove inspiring to all who hear them." One response for us is to join those in today's Gospel: "They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this'" (Mk 2:12). At the same time, we remember the teaching of Saint Benedict from the Prologue of the Holy Rule, where Benedict quotes the psalmist and Saint Paul: "Not to us, Lord, not to us give the glory, but to your name alone ... By God's grace I am what I am ... He who boasts should make his boast in the Lord (RB Prologue 30-32).
MAUR AND PLACID,
PRAY FOR US.
SAINT BENEDICT,
PRAY FOR US.
JOSEPH MOST OBEDIENT,
PRAY FOR US.
Today's photo: With plenty of rain these days, the Mattole River rushes.
© Gertrude Feick 2021
