Right after St. Benedict talks about how possessions can take on the power to possess their owner—me!—he turns to the question of how the community distributes necessities, depending upon need. It’s a stretch for me to listen to this passage and let it shape my thoughts about my life, partly because my daily life is so far removed from concerns about necessities, what I really need to live. I don’t ever find myself wondering whether I will have food to eat, clean water to drink, shelter from the weather, protection from war and violence, and good health.

All of my needs are satisfied, so I live in the realm of satisfying the wants in my life. My wants, as compared to my needs, can become boundless, and exercise their power over me by remaining unsatisfied. The basic word that wants plant in me is More! Then when my “need” for my wants goes unmet, I turn grouchy and ungrateful, focusing solely on what I have not yet acquired, while all around me abundance goes unacknowledged. This leads me to the practice, not of gratitude, but the “evil of murmuring” (RB 34:6).

In this section, St. Benedict addresses the question of how the commonly held goods of the monastery ought to be shared, taking into account some monks have greater needs than others. He rejects the approach of giving each monk an equal share, in favor of matching portions with needs. Thus the monk “who needs less should thank God and not be sad” (RB 34:3) In the same way, the one who “needs more should be humble about his weaknesses and not gloat over the mercy shown him” (RB 34:4) This leads to peace and the opportunity to avoid the “evil of murmuring” (RB 34:5-6).

The word murmur is one of those words that sounds like what it means, an example of onomatopoeia similar to our words for animal sounds like bow-wow or meow. If I say the word repeatedly, it begins to sound like a grumble, the voice of dissatisfaction, dissent, ingratitude. The word spoken begins to change how I feel, bringing those feelings to life in me. That might be what St. Benedict means by referring to the evil inherent in the action of murmuring. When I murmur, not only am I dividing myself from the people around me, but also I am separating myself from God who gives me the people in my life and the sustenance that meets my needs. And when I’m divided from God and neighbor, I cannot love him and them.

Maybe that’s why a commentary notes, “So murmuring signifies a basic lack of gratitude for one’s own status as a forgiven and graced sinner. In this sense, it is not a human foible but a serious spiritual fault” (Terrence G. Kardong, Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minn., 1996, p. 288).

Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus. (That in all things God may be glorified.)