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In the Benedictine Order
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As Benedictine
Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament we belong to the world-wide Benedictine
Confederation ,
in which all Benedictine communities have joined together. They are represented
by the Abbot Primate
in Rome. The monasteries of nuns and sisters are additionally organised
in the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum
, making it possible to have intensive exchanges about questions of
spirituality and how to lead a monastic life. What links all the independent
monasteries and communities is the Rule of Benedict. This rule was already
widespread in the Latin church as far back as the early Middle Ages and
has lost none of its guiding force today.
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Benedict
of Nursia was
born near Nursia in Umbria in Italy in around 480. The year of his death
is reckoned to be about 547. As a young man Benedict went to Rome to study,
however he did not complete his studies, but instead withdrew into isolation
to seek God in the same way as the Desert Fathers. He was called from his
life as a hermit to be the abbot of a community of monks. However he failed
at this task. After a few years, in which he gathered monks around him in
the region of Subiaco, he founded the Monastery of Montecassino. |
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There
he wrote the so-called Regula Benedicti,
based on the ancient monks' rules. Benedict gives practical guidance in
his rule to show how to succeed in following Christ. Obedience, which the
monks practise out of the love of Christ, is of key importance. The double
command to love God and love thy neighbour is reflected in the call to put
nothing before the work of God (RB 43,3) and to anticipate one another in
honour (RB 72,4). Benedict expresses his high regard for work when he says:
"for then are they truly monks when they live by the labour of their
hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles." (RB 48,8). |
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