How can we create a community with gospel values at its heart? Fr Dean reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for St Benedict can be found here
Perhaps there is a time in the life of every generation, when they look at the world around them, and think that life has got worse not better. Yes, there will be advances in technology and medicine and the standard of living, but there will something in our own past that is better than that experienced by young people today. How many times have we said or heard said, “When I was a kid…?”
Benedict was born around 480, the son of a Roman noble of Nursia in Umbria. He was sent to Rome to study but was disappointed by the academic studies and life he encountered there. Seeking to escape the great and bustling life of the city, he settled in the mountainous regions, about forty miles away where, for three years, he carved out a life for himself as a hermit living in a cave. Eventually, he established twelve communities of monks in the region, finally establishing the monastery at Monte Casino and writing the rule of St Benedict which has earned him the title, the father of western monasticism.
In his own search for fulfilment and oneness with God, he had taken the teaching of Jesus in a literal and profound fashion—leaving behind all worldly attachments. Not all are called to live the religious life in such a way. But we are called to create a community, like St Benedict, where the gospel values are central, and our lives are centred on God.
Mass today is in St Mary’s at 1130am
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