Daily Meditation for March 18, 2024

Simplicity, beauty and endurance. St. Benedict ingeniously weaves these qualities throughout his Rule. Benedict recognizes them as essential means to living a life in God—a rich, full, human life. They are aids to living life with meaning and focus. Their presence in our lives helps bring us to the hidden places of our hearts. Much in our world today threatens to highjack simplicity, beauty and endurance. In place of these, our lives get filled with superficial complexities, knick-knack-art, and dizzying rates of change. St. Benedict teaches that a Benedictine house should always be an oasis where people come and drink water that refreshes, renews and restores life. It is ours now, to bring living water to our sad and broken world. Oh, how much it needs hope and healing. What is it we bring? It is Christ, whose love is simple, beautiful and endures for all time.

By Christian Morris, OSB