“Peace and love” sounds like a hippy phrase from the 70s!
However, you could say that St. Benedict had already called dibs on the concept
in the 6th century when he wrote his Rule, the small book which Benedictine monastics use to guide their
daily life in community.
One of my favorite quotes from the Rule occurs in Chapter 4, “The Tools for Good Works”: “Never give a
hollow greeting of peace or turn away when someone needs your love.” It
encapsulates what I want to say in my blogs this week and next. Peace and love
matter to every human being, but when you live in community, they take on a
particular significance.
This week, I’m going to concentrate on peace. When people
visit monasteries, they often comment on the sense of peace and calm. They’re
right. I know that because I’ve experienced it myself when a guest in
monasteries.
Never be fooled in believing that the sense of peace simply
happens. It doesn’t. Somewhere in the background, there will be a band of nuns
or monks working like crazy to create and maintain the peaceful atmosphere.
Peace is hard work. What makes it even harder is that it can only be authentic
when it’s not an illusion, but an expression of something deeper. This is where
I have found it gets really challenging.
Living in a monastic community means that I live with a group
of women who are all committed to seeking God through the Benedictine way. We
have this in common, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have differences. Some of
those are minor, like preferring red to green. Yet, even something like that
can be a challenge when you live with someone who always wants things to be not
quite the way you would choose. In order to be at peace, you have learn to let
go sometimes, but to let go graciously, in a way that doesn’t make the other
person feel diminished by your sacrifice. At the same time, you can’t just let
go of everything on principle because sometimes your opinion is a valuable and
necessary part of the total community wisdom. It a tricky balancing act and you
have to work on it every day in order to do your part to make peace a reality.
Maintaining peace is an art and a commitment which lies at the
heart of monastic life. Without peace, you can’t truly love.
Karen
Rose, OSB
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