St. Benedict of Nursia
A.D. 480-543
July 11
Today is the feast day of the founder of the great monastery at Monte Cassino Italy and the author of the Rule of St. Benedict, a guide to monastic living and community that served as the basis of the largest stream of community monasticism in the European Middle Ages.
Benedict was from a noble family, and as a university student made the decision to leave his life behind to live in the faithful poverty, prayer, self-supporting work, and loving service he saw the Jesus of the Four Gospels calling us all to. His twin sister Scholastica became a nun.
The spirit and gist of Benedict's Rule is summed up thus by John McQuiston in his book, Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living:
Live this life and do whatever is done in a spirit of thanksgiving. Abandon attempts to achieve security, they are futile. Give up the search for wealth, it is demeaning. Quit the search for salvation, it is selfish. And come to comfortable rest in the certainty that those who participate in this life with an attitude of thanksgiving will receive its full promise. (pp. 17-18)
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