The Rule of Benedict (RB) constitutes a basic guide for living the Christian life and continues to be followed

by every Benedictine monastery and convent in the world today. The Rule offers people a plan for living a balanced, simple, and prayerful life. In it Benedict tells his monks and nuns that ora et labor is their way (work and prayer), that the Divine Office is their work (opus dei) and the vows of stability, conversion, and obedience are their commitments. THE RULE REVOLVES AROUND FIVE PRACTICES: Prayer can include community prayer as part of a faith community, praying the hours, meditation, extemporaneous prayer on a regular basis, or a regular reminder of God's presence in our lives through disciplined mindfulness. Work can include the way we approach our places of employment, our conduct in these settings, our work in our faith communities, our work in our community organizations, and the work we do to contribute to our family life. Maintaining a right sense of work, and seeing the purpose behind our work as well as its right balance in our lives, can contribute much to our spiritual journey.

Study can include using scripture, reading the Rule, reading wisdom writings, contemplating the wisdom of others, or taking classes in order to seek guidance on how God is moving in our intellectual lives.

Hospitality can include inviting the stranger into our lives as well as being hospitable to those who are already in our lives. Having a right approach to how we treat one another, and treating others as Christ, is key to creating a healthy sense of hospitality.

Renewal can include the discipline of keeping a sabbath, cultivating a hobby that reminds you of the presence of God, or taking time to notice beauty, love, and renewal in your daily life. Renewal is the time to remember that our lives are still centered on the Divine, and that God is the ultimate center of our Rule of Life.

MONASTIC HOSPITALITY The monastic way of hospitality holds the key to the future of monastic life, at least here in the United States. Monasteries and monastics need to realize this and then realize that hospitality may require changes of attitude, and even lifestyles, so that a monastery can be a vital place ministering to others in the late twentieth century. While guests are spoken about in various places in the Rule, RB 53 on the reception of guests and RB 66 on the porter are the primary chapters, for they are the chapters that show how the monastery and the world intersect. Benedict seems too have ambivalent feelings about guests. While guests "are to be welcomed as Christ," Benedict places ritual and practical restrictions on the reception of guests, such as prayer to avoid the devil, a special kitchen, and a prohibition about conversing with guests. But the positive and the negative prescriptions of the Rule are trying to lay down some principles to maintain the balanced, rhythmed life of the monastery. For Benedict, the monastery is in the world, but not of the world. World for Benedict did not mean creation because, as we know, all creation was sacred for Benedict (see RB 31.10). Rather, the world meant that which did not center on God. Benedict, like St. Paul, believed in evil and its power, and Benedict, like St. Paul, saw the values and ways of society as often contrary to the Christian way of life. Thus Benedict wanted the monastery to be a place in creation where God's creative love continually was felt and was transforming all who came there. In this context, then, Benedict saw every person as a unique, created gift of God. The greatest gift was the person of Jesus, now the Christ of the world, and each person, like Jesus, was a gift who resembled the greatest gift. Jesus was received as gift in each person because Jesus himself said: "I was a stranger, and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35 and RB 53.1). Every person in the monastery is a guest, even the monks themselves, since each has somehow come into this house of God, this dwelling place of God. The rituals of the monastery reflect this concept of all as guests, as Christ to whom love and respect are to be shown (e.g. washing of feet of the brothers, of guests, respect in greeting one another, care of the sick). When a monastic loses this overall sense of guest, of Christ in self and in all other persons, the monastic's view of the monastery becomes distorted. The monastery is no longer a dwelling place of God, but my place. Rules and schedules no longer exist "to amend faults and to safeguard love" (RB

Prol 47) but to protect my personal comfortable way of life. The monastic becomes the master rather than remaining the disciple (see RB 6.6). Guiding Principles RB 53 and 66 can still provide some principles to help guide the monastic way of receiving guests today. First, guests should be received at and into the monastery rather than holding them at a distance because of a canonical cloister. Guests should be invited to come within the monastic confines to eat, live and pray. If there is a separation, it should be based on the need to preserve the rhythmed life of the monks and guests. The requirements of a separate kitchen and separate sleeping quarters in the Rule were practical. Since guests could arrive at any hour, constant provision had to be made for food and lodging. There were no fast-food restaurants or motels on the sixth-century roads. Not to have separate facilities for guests would subject the guests to either delay in eating and sleeping or disrupt the rhythmed life of the monks. Second, all guests are to be welcomed and received as Christ. Distinctions based on wealth, creed, race and gender, for instance, are not to be made among guests. The values of the monastery are based on creative love of God in each person rather than on worldly status of the person. Care for the guests cannot be based on status or attraction, nor can lack of care be a result of hate or envy. Third, guests come to a monastery for a variety of reasons: as relatives and friends of a monastic, as travelers, as persons in search of the basics of life, as pilgrims. Each must be respected for who she/he is and for the reason the person has come. They have not come for the use and pleasure of the monastics, but to experience the monastics and the monastery as special, since in this place God conspicuously dwells in creation. Fourth, guests are to be respected with Christian love. This is done not only in service but in prayer since for Benedict the first action in receiving guests is prayer. Prayer must be part of the experience of the guest at the monastery. This can be done by inviting them to be part of the community prayer, not merely to observe it. Fifth, guests should be allowed to experience the rhythmed life of the monastery, not only in prayer and eating, but in conversation, work, and silence. The monastic way of experiencing God is not done so much in verbal teaching as it is in living the life. The major part, the heart, can only be learned by living and experiencing the monastic way. Finally, the method of receiving guests must be adapted to each place and time so that the balanced life of the monastery can ebb and flow for the monks and the guests. Each monastery, with its own life, offers something unique to guests, so its style of receiving them must be such that the uniqueness of the monastery is able to be experienced by the guests. In light of the above, a monastic community should ask itself a few questions about its ministry to guests.

In the Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 53 deals with hospitality. Guests are to be met with due courtesy by the abbot or his deputy; during their stay they are to be under the special protection of an appointed monk; they are not to associate with the rest of the community except by special permission. Chapter 53: On the Reception of Guests Apr. 4 - Aug. 4 - Dec. 4 Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, "I came as a guest, and you received Me" (Matt. 25:35). And to all let due honor be shown, especially to the domestics of the faith and to pilgrims. As soon as a guest is announced, therefore, let the Superior or the brethren meet him with all charitable service. And first of all let them pray together, and then exchange the kiss of peace. For the kiss of peace should not be offered until after the prayers have been said, on account of the devil's deceptions. In the salutation of all guests, whether arriving or departing, let all humility be shown. Let the head be bowed or the whole body prostrated on the ground in adoration of Christ, who indeed is received in their persons. After the guests have been received and taken to prayer, let the Superior or someone appointed by him sit with them. Let the divine law be read before the guest for his edification, and then let all kindness be shown him. The Superior shall break his fast for the sake of a guest, unless it happens to be a principal fast day which may not be violated. The brethren, however, shall observe the customary fasts. Let the Abbot give the guests water for their hands; and let both Abbot and community wash the feet of all guests. After the washing of the feet let them say this verse: "We have received Your mercy, O God, in the midst of Your temple" (Ps.47[48]:10). In the reception of the poor and of pilgrims the greatest care and solicitude should be shown,

because it is especially in them that Christ is received; for as far as the rich are concerned, the very fear which they inspire wins respect for them. Apr. 5 - Aug. 5 - Dec. 5 Let there be a separate kitchen for the Abbot and guests, that the brethren may not be disturbed when guests, who are never lacking in a monastery, arrive at irregular hours. Let two brethren capable of filling the office well be appointed for a year to have charge of this kitchen. Let them be given such help as they need, that they may serve without murmuring. And on the other hand, when they have less to occupy them, let them go out to whatever work is assigned them. And not only in their case but in all the offices of the monastery let this arrangement be observed, that when help is needed it be supplied, and again when the workers are unoccupied they do whatever they are bidden. The guest house also shall be assigned to a brother whose soul is possessed by the fear of God. Let there be a sufficient number of beds made up in it; and let the house of God be managed by prudent men and in a prudent manner. On no account shall anyone who is not so ordered associate or converse with guests. But if he should meet them or see them, let him greet them humbly, as we have said, ask their blessing and pass on, saying that he is not allowed to converse with a guest.