It was a restless age, an era of mass migration, with groups of people–some might even say hoards–coming by land and sea to settle in different places, creating upheaval, fear, and resentment in their new lands.

It was an age of corruption, declining social cohesion, political instability, and decadence. The wealthy were inordinately wealthy and others lived in abject poverty. 

It was an age of violence, with the ever-present threat of disaster from war, plague, or the collapse of government lurking just around the corner. 

Am I describing our contemporary world? No. This is the fourth and fifth century Roman Empire. It was an age of rapid social change and upheaval, an age of invasions by barbarian tribes, and an age of fear and unease in a world searching for meaning, stability, and lasting values.

In about 480 CE, Benedict was born in the hill town of Nursia, about 100 miles northeast of Rome. Benedict was a child of privilege from a noble Roman family. As a teenager, he was sent to Rome to study, like all young Roman men of good breeding. Soon, however, he became disillusioned by what he saw as the indulgent and hedonistic lifestyle of his contemporaries—banqueting, drinking, vandalizing, and pursuing all kinds of other pleasures. He feared that if he stayed, he would fall prey to the same lures. 

He headed to a village called Subiaco, and lived alone in a cave on the edge of a cliff below a monastery. Benedict spent the next year in solitude, searching the scriptures and his heart, praying and trying to discern a new way of life. When he emerged, he was convinced that the way of life God was calling him to was not the life of a hermit but a life in community with others who were seeking God with all their hearts.

Thus began his lifelong work of forming small monastic communities of men (although eventually communities of women also came into being). In these monasteries, men worked to support themselves, prayed and studied together, and sought to follow the way of Jesus.  

Benedictine monasticism changed the face of Christianity and the Western world. It preserved Christian tradition and the biblical writings, and provided havens of civility and hospitality during the time known as the “Dark Ages.” 

Benedict’s most lasting legacy is “The Rule of St. Benedict,” written towards the end of his life. Despite its name, the Rule of St. Benedict is not actually a collection of rules. It is the constitutional document for Benedictine monasteries. It is a kind of “how to” manual for communities, organizing their life and work and prayer together. It not only addresses how to live in harmony and follow Christ, it also speaks of diverse subjects such as leadership, travel, sleeping arrangements, clothing, humility, prayer, forgiveness, and how to take care of the physical objects of the monastery. For centuries, Benedictines have read, studied, and meditated on the Rule as they adapt their lives to fit the times and places in which they find themselves.

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For 22 years, I have been associated with a community of Benedictine women at the Our Lady of Grace Monastery near Indianapolis. At first, I was one of 30 Protestant women pastors at the monastery in a three-year spiritual renewal program funded by the Lilly Endowment. Since then, I have become an oblate (a lay associate) at Our Lady of Grace, committed to living out Benedictine spirituality in my life and vocation. 

Allow me to share what I find attractive and helpful about the Benedictine way of life.

Prayer.  The linchpin of the Rule of St. Benedict is prayer. More than saying we value prayer, Benedictines gather and pray three or four or more times a day. The Rule actually calls for prayer seven times a day and the recitation of the Psalter in one week, laying out which psalms to pray at which times of the day. This rigor has been modified somewhat in some contemporary communities to accommodate modern work schedules, but in cloistered communities that rigor is still kept. 

Both corporate and private prayer are the bedrock of this way of life. Time in a monastery is shaped by the “interruption” of the monastery bell, calling the community to the oratory to pray together several times a day. 

For Protestants, the word “prayer” can conjure up images of solitary, private prayer. Many feel guilt over not being able to sustain this kind of prayer for any length of time, and guilt for not being “prayer warriors.” But praying alone is difficult—distractions abound and a lack of creativity can cause a certain weariness. For most Protestants, there are only two options: praying on one’s own during “quiet time,” or hearing a corporate prayer in worship, often dubbed “the long prayer.” 

The Benedictine community gathers multiple times a day to chant Psalms, listen to scripture, sit in silence, or pray written prayers, which then informs how each member of the community prays in the privacy of their rooms.

Work. The Benedictine motto is Ora et Labora, prayer and work. Benedict expected his brothers to support themselves through work. Monks gardened and tended orchards, built furniture, hand copied the Bible, cooked, baked, cleaned, and cared for the sick. Everyone was expected to contribute to the community and everyone’s contributions were valued. 

Today, Benedictines are teachers, parish workers, nurses and doctors, massage therapists, musicians, administrators, lawyers, social workers, and many other things. And though they support the monastery by their work, they still see prayer as their primary vocation.  

This emphasis on both prayer and work may give the impression that a monastery is a very somber and serious place. That has not been my experience. As women who both work and pray, I have found that Benedictine sisters also love to play. They value celebration. They welcome guests lavishly. And they are intentional about making time and space to lighten their lives with beauty, levity, and leisure.

Despite Ora et Labora, the spirit of St. Benedict is not one of austerity.  In fact, the Rule was noted for its moderation in comparison to other Rules that existed in its time. 

One quote from the Rule that I particularly appreciate is this: “Therefore we intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service.  In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love.”

Community. The ideas of work and prayer in monastic life were not especially original to Benedict. What was new was his vision that God was to be sought and found in community, not on a mountaintop by yourself. God was present not only during your quiet time in your bedroom, but in life with other people, like that brother who munches his food too loud or that sister who talks too much and doesn’t know how to keep a confidence. 

The early Benedictine communities in the Roman Empire became places where people from very different walks of life lived in peace, harmony, and equality.  Some were the sons of wealthy nobility, others the children of peasants. Some were of Roman blood, others belonged to a Barbarian tribe. It didn’t matter. They dressed the same, ate the same food, were taught to read in the same way, were expected to do the same work, and call each other brothers (or sisters) in Christ. Real barriers were broken down in the name of Christ and seeking God together.  Our current world could learn a thing or two from them.  

Imagine a rock polisher—gems and other stones are polished when they rub against each other as they are repeatedly turned over and over. They go into the polisher rough and colorless and come out shiny and polished.  Community can do that if you are willing to undergo its challenges. 

Hospitality.  The Rule teaches that “Everyone is to be welcomed as Christ.” How would your life be transformed if you looked at everyone you encountered—the rude clerk at the store, the child in your classroom, the busybody neighbor, the sick person in the hospital—as though they were Jesus himself? 

People often claim monks entered monasteries to escape the world, but the reality is that the world came to them for help and inspiration. Monasteries became places that welcomed travelers, cared for the sick, and fed the hungry.

This story is said to have originated in a monastery: one older monk told a younger monk, “I have finally learned to accept people as they are. Whatever they are in this world, a prostitute, a prime minister, it is all the same to me. Still sometimes I see a stranger coming up the road and I say, “Oh, Jesus Christ, is it you again?”

Benedictine Vows.  The typical vows in religious communities are Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience.  In contrast, the three Benedictines vows are Stability, Obedience, and Continual Conversion. 

Stability means that Benedictines make a life-long commitment to a particular community in a particular place. In many ways it is like the marriage vow “till death do us part.” Did I stay and serve the same congregation for 24 years because of Benedict’s vow of stability? Probably not entirely, but I don’t doubt it was part of it. In a world where we are often attracted to the latest and greatest, the biggest and newest, the vow of stability–staying in the place that God placed us–is a helpful counterbalance.

Obedience, in its simplest form, means obeying the leader of the monastery–the prior or abbot or abbess. Yet it means much more than this. The Latin word for obedience is obedeir, “to listen.”  (This is also the first word of the preface to the Rule: “Listen carefully, my child, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”)

Thus, to obey means to listen; to listen to the words of scripture, to listen to the Spirit, to listen to your leaders, to listen to your conscience, to listen to the community. It is not about simple and blind obedience but rather listening with the ear of your heart as you discern the right way to live. This is counter to our individualistic notion that each of us gets to decide what is right and what is best.  Being part of a Benedictine community means listening to each other, to the leader, and to God. 

Continual Conversion means always being open to changing your mind and your heart. In many ways, it balances the vow of Stability. Where stability could easily become stuckness or complacency, continual conversion seeks Christ’s way in every moment. Rather than conversion being a one-and-done “Are you saved?” kind of thing, continual conversion asks for flexibility, curiosity, and a softening of tradition.

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Benedict had a sister named Scholastica. Early in her life, she joined a convent and spent her life in prayer, community, and service. As they grew older, sister and brother did not see each other very often since they were so involved in their communities. Once a year, Scholastica would travel to visit Benedict and meet him at a house a little bit outside of the monastery gates. They would spend the day catching up and in the evening Benedict would return to his monastery. 

On her last visit, they were so engrossed in conversation that they did not eat their meal until it was almost dark. Noticing how late it was, Scholastica asked her brother to stay the night so they could have a little bit more time together. He, of course, did not want to break the rule of the monastery and insisted that despite the darkness, he should head home. 

Scholastica folded her hands on the table and rested her head upon them in prayer. When she finally looked up, there was a great clap of thunder and a torrential downpour of rain. It became impossible for Benedict to set foot outside. 

In consternation, Benedict cried out, “Sister, what have you done?” She replied, “I appealed to you but you would not listen to me. So I turned to God and God heard my prayer.” 

Humbled, Benedict realized that Scholastica’s faith was greater than his, since she had the greater love. He realized that their connection was a better reflection of the Rule than rigid rule-keeping. Shortly after that event, Scholastica died. 

This story expresses well the superiority of love over rules, even over a Rule of life. No matter how disciplined, how faithful, or how hard working we are, love is still the greatest gift of all and what God calls us to. 

Love, however, needs guidelines and structure, so we know best how to treat one another and organize our life together. As Benedict wrote in the prologue to his Rule, “As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.” 

St. Benedict responded to the crisis of his age by proposing a new way of life. He created communities of sanity in the midst of insanity; communities of faithfulness in the midst of anxiety and doubt. These communities became signs, a foretaste, of God’s coming reign in the midst of the world’s chaos.