A Benedictine presence in Africa

A life spent “seeking God” and singing his mystery in silence, in personal and liturgical prayer, in work, in assiduous listening to the Word, in deep communion with all humanity: these summarize some basic elements of monastic life. A life without any specific purpose or utility, almost “wasted,” to indicate what Christian life itself is or should be: an existence where love of God and love for God occupies the central place, giving meaning and substance to every aspect of life. Monks and nuns, “separated from the world,” remain bound to their brothers and sisters by a deep communion in Christ, sharing in the joys, travails and hopes of humanity, taking them up in their unceasing prayer to the Father. “Put nothing before the love of Christ“: this is the guiding principle that animates the life of the Benedictine nun; a life that is a journey, an itinerary where there is no shortage of difficulties, because one chooses to walk the “narrow way” of which the Gospel speaks, but where – as St. Benedict promises and as we are given to experience – the heart gradually expands in the joy and freedom of love received and given back. What St. Benedict proposes to monks of all times and latitudes is nothing less than the Gospel lived: a life modeled on Christ who died and rose again, in a journey of obedience, up to the total gift of self, to the cross and…further. A life illuminated by the light of Easter and regulated by the law of charity. Here is the secret of the Benedictine “pax”.