He lived as a hermit for three years in a cave near Enfide.
Others recognized his spiritual strength. After a while, a group of monks asked him to become their leader. Knowing that they were not yet truly committed to a life of work and prayer, Saint Benedict warned them that his leadership would be too much for them. Despite these warnings, they asked him to lead them. Reluctantly, he accepted.
As he had predicted, the monks grew to resent his stern command. First they attempted to kill him by giving him a poison-laced cup. But when he blessed the cup, it shattered.
Second, they attempted to kill him by poisoning his bread. A raven snatched it away.
From this, we have the adage today, "Fool me once, shame on you -- Fool me, twice, shame on me."
Or perhaps not. In either event, twice was enough and Saint Benedict fled from those monks. He went on to establish a number of monasteries that followed the Rule that he wrote down, the most important of which was the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. His influence on Europe is unsurpassed by any other figure after him. It all began with rejection of poison.
What does this have to do with America in 2021?
Poison, both physical and spiritual is all around us. It flows over the air in radio waves, through the ground in internet cables, and through our bloodstreams in the form of medically approved, if evil and destructive, formulas like Oxycotin® (aka heroin), Kyleena® (aka birth control), and Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone (aka "gender affirming hormones" which act to halt the biological processes of puberty).
Additionally, we are now poisoned by the fell fruit of our own sin in the form of chemical products ("vaccines") that are derived from the flesh of children cut down before they could be born. Three times in the Old Testament (Exodus 23:19, 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21), God told his people, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Does this fickle people need Him to tell us now that we should not inject into the veins of the mother the flesh of her murdered child? Can we not recognize this poison without further inquiry?
Surrounded by poison, let us reject it and pray with Saint Benedict,
Vade retro satana: Vade retro Satana! Numquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas!
'Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!'
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