Take Care of the Sick

Maybe I am writing this one in self-defense.  I am not sick yet, at least discernably, but I am getting older.  Of course, everyone is getting older.  But most of us know when we have lived many more days than we can possibly yet live.  I am ok with that.  I realize how fortunate I have been and I give thanks for that.  I don’t feel like life has ripped me off.  I know others who have circumstances that could well feel like they have been ripped off.  

I am thinking about the sick because of the Rule of St. Benedict.  Benedict is the founder of the Benedictine monastic way of life.  He gathered a few disciples around him in sixth century Italy and they committed to trying to live a life as Jesus had lived his life.  Fairly soon, these guys realized they needed some guidelines to help them in their life together.  And so Benedict wrote a few rules (regula in Latin, i.e. regulations).  I am sure he would be surprised to know that his “rules” are still governing the life of Benedictine monks and nuns almost fifteen hundred years later.  And it extends beyond the monastic community.  Many people like myself also try to live a life helped by these little rules or guidelines.  

The Rule is divided into small chapters---often less than a page and, perhaps, only a paragraph or two.  They tend to be simple and not very restrictive.  They are common sense and meant to encourage us to put community first.  Check your ego and think about others.  This kind of encouragement makes a great deal of sense.  The world sorely needs it.  

The monastic community has divided the Rule up, so that monks daily read a section of the Rule.  They make it through the entire Rule three times a year.  I also try to follow these daily readings as one way to keep me disciplined and on my spiritual track.  It is helpful.  And so it was that today’s reading brought up the topic of the sick---Chapter 36.  Benedict admonishes us “Before all things and above all things, care must be taken of the sick.”  I began to think more about this.  

In my case I realize I have tried to do it.  It is fairly natural to do it for one’s family.  Your spouse, kids and even grandkids take priority.  When one of them is sick, you are willing to make arrangements at work to be helpful at home.  You hope the boss and others at work understand and support.  The sick can’t function normally and they need help.  Their need becomes your responsibility.  This is fair, because at some point you, too, will get sick.  You hope they understand their responsibility!  

But then Benedict adds a little phrase that turns taking care of the sick into an issue of theology.  He gives us the rationale for the Benedictine monk---or any of us---a spiritual reason to be helpers.  He says to take care of the sick, “so that they will be served as if they were Christ in person.”  I have always liked this bit of theology from the Benedictines.  I know when I visit a Benedictine monastery, they are going to be hospitable.  It is not because I am special.  They would do it for anyone.  

The ability to see Christ in the other person is a powerful motivator and rationale for compassion, serving the other and being non-judgmental.  If I am willing to see---or at least try to see---Christ in the other, then I free myself from making judgments.  Left to our own devices, we typically are judgmental, even if we think we are not.  Sometimes our judgments are actually pre-judgments---or prejudices is the word used on the street.  We know the visible, unacceptable prejudices---race, gender issues the like.  But there are usually other, subtler and more personal prejudices.  Sometimes it is ageism, body image and so forth.  If I am honest, I cannot claim that I am totally free of all prejudices.  

When I am not free of prejudices, then I am not yet able to see Christ in the other---all others.  That is why care for the sick is such a good practice.  They often combine a number of challenges.  They can be old, not as pretty as once, grumpy, uninteresting, etc.  I can use any one of these perspectives to take myself off the hook and not take care of the sick.    

I think choosing to serve is usually just that: a choice.  And I know choices often have levels.  If I am willing to take care of the sick, that does not mean a 24-hour sentence.  I might do it for an hour or occasionally.  Doing a little is better than nothing.  I also know that learning to choose---to say I want to do it, rather than I have to do it---is empowering.  Perhaps most of us don’t like doing things because we are made to do it.  Choose to do it and take away the negativity.  

Taking care of the sick is compassionate.  Compassion is one of the challenging aspects of love.  But it also has benefits.  We can be compassionate about something or someone, but not have to like it.  Most of us have done dumb things, gotten in trouble and then hoped for compassion.  The sick usually wind up in their predicament not through their choosing.  If you live long enough, you probably will get sick.  It is not their fault.  Be compassionate.  Compassion is a great spiritual work.   

Thanks St. Benedict.  You have been dead for a long time, but you are still a good teacher.