Year: 2008

The ancient monastic practice of rising sometime between midnight and two in the morning to pray sanctifies the night hours. To me the idea of nuns and monks rising from their beds in the middle of the night and shuffling down a darkened hall in pairs by candlelight, half asleep, to sing and pray in a cold chapel is both appalling and comforting.

Hospitality is a particular Benedictine virtue, “Let all who come be received as Christ” is perhaps one of the most familiar aphorisms of the Rule. And yet the final paragraph is quite clear: “No one is to speak or associate with guests unless he is bidden; however, if a brother meets or sees a guest he is to greet him humbly as we have said. He asks for a blessing and continues on his way explaining that he is not allowed to speak with a guest” (53.23, 24).