GIFT OF BENEDICT
How can you make so much of a document written the sixth century? A document, to make it worse, that wears the name of Rule?
How can a book of legislation come walking down centuries of time and varieties of culture, introduce itself, and ask to be taken seriously?
Because, miraculously, it fits. It fits us, right now, right here.
Because, interpreted by current Cistercian experience, it reaches the roots of human life, and deals with strengths and vulnerabilities that in spite of cultural differences, remain as constant as human nature.
Because it is far more than a compilation of regulations. It is a conversation with the depths of the human heart. It calls the monastery a workshop, a school of the Lord’s service. It invites us to enter the joy of the Holy Spirit, to incline the ear of our hearts to a loving teacher. Practical, prudent, and balanced, it has survived and more than survived the years and the cultures to which it has adapted its wisdom.
