Daily Meditation for March 21, 2023

Today is the Feast of St. Benedict, a special day for sisters and monks who follow a monastic ordinary way of life founded by this extra ordinary man. St. Benedict, having fled Rome because of its corrupt manner of life, chose to live as a hermit. This choice was short-lived; he was soon surrounded by those attracted to his manner of life. As a result, St. Benedict established a monastic way of life which he adapted from the more rigorous and austere manner commonly lived by women and men in previous times. Moderation was the norm in his monasteries, setting a way of life allowing sufficient time for common and personal prayer in the context of a committed communal life of prayer and work. As it was then, so it is now; responding to God’s call to live the monastic communal way of life requires one to give all in the daily effort to follow St. Benedict’s lead in his words, “That in all things God may be glorified.”

By Philip Zimmer, OSB