Pope Francis

Benedictine Oblates, including our own Dionne Larson, gathered in Rome recently for their Fifth World Congress. We include excerpts from the address given to them by Pope Francis, who sums up three critical aspects of Benedictine life: search for God, enthusiasm, and hospitality.

“How beautiful is that phrase: a heart expanded by the unspeakable sweetness of love! This expanded heart characterizes the Benedictine spirit… I believe that this expanded heart is the secret of the great work of evangelization that Benedictine monasticism carries out, and to which you promise yourselves as Oblates, ‘offered up’ in the footsteps of the great Holy Abbot.

Search. “The Benedictine life is marked first of all by a continual search for God, for his will and for the wonders he works. This search takes place principally through his word, with which you are nourished each day by lectio divina. Yet you also do this by contemplating creation, by letting yourselves be challenged by daily events, by experiencing work as prayer, to the point of transforming the very means of your work into instruments of blessing, and finally through people, in those brothers and sisters whom divine Providence leads you to encounter. In all this, you are called to be seekers of God.

Enthusiasm. A second important characteristic is that of enthusiasm for the Gospel. Following the example of the monks, the lives of those who take their inspiration from Saint Benedict are given as a gift, whole and rich. Like the monks, who make the places where they live fruitful and mark their days with industriousness, you also are called in this way to transform your everyday settings, wherever you live, by acting as a leaven in the dough, with skill and responsibility, and at the same time with gentleness and compassion... All this zeal was born out of enthusiasm for the Gospel, and this, too, is a very timely matter for you. Indeed, nowadays, in a globalized but fragmented and fast-paced world devoted to consumerism, in settings where family and social roots sometimes almost seem to disappear, there is no need for Christians who point fingers, but for enthusiastic witnesses who radiate the Gospel “in life through life”…

Hospitality. “The third characteristic of the Benedictine tradition that I want to reflect on is that of hospitality. In his Rule Saint Benedict devoted an entire chapter to this (cf. Ch. LIII). The chapter begins with these words: “Let all guests who arrive at the monastery be received as Christ, for he will one day say: ‘I was a stranger and you took me in’ (Mt 25:35)” Venit hospes, venit Christus. And he continued by indicating some concrete attitudes to be taken by the whole community with regard to guests: “let them go forth to meet him, showing him their love in every way;… let them pray together and then let them associate with one another and exchange the kiss of peace,” that is, they should share with the guest what they hold most dear. Benedict then spoke of those who are “special” guests, saying: “Let the greatest care be taken, especially in the reception of the poor and pilgrims, because Christ is received more specially in them.” As Oblates, your wider monastery is the world, the city and the workplace, for it is there that you are called to be models of welcome with regard to whoever knocks at your door, and models in preferential love for the poor… Please, as Benedictines, let your tongue be reserved for praising God, and not for gossiping about others. If you are able to change your lives in such a way that you do not speak ill of others, you will have opened the door for your causes of canonization!”