Chapter 58: The reception of candidates for the community (paragraphs 4-5)
When the decision is made that novices are to be accepted, then they come before the whole community in the oratory to make solemn promise of stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience. (From para. 4 of Ch. 58 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
St. Benedict teaches me that his monks are not just solitary, but part of a community committed through love to the work of seeking God. Through the practice of meditation, I begin to understand how the solemn promises Benedict names apply to both my journey inward, and to my journey outward.
What a gift, Abba, to meet and join with others, as John of the Cross so poetically puts it, “starving for love and in flame” and on this same pilgrimage of meditation and in this community meditation is creating .
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