All Christians, by virtue of their baptism
and participation in the Eucharist, are called to share in the mission of
the church. The integrating principle for this mission is union with Christ
Jesus in a life of Thanksgiving and loving service to the world. Ministerial
activities and manual labor are an outgrowth of a life of prayer. They are
an extension of worship, the offering of creation back to the Creator. Because
of this essential relationship in Christ with the God who is their Creator
and Redeemer, Christians faithful to their baptismal gifts offer service
to others.
Christian ministry is service which grows from the basic determination to
lay down one's life for one's friends. Ministry gives expression to the
charisms received in baptism and strengthened through Eucharistic celebration.
All Christians have a responsibility to offer their gifts in service for
others, helping to establish the new creation.
The manner in which monastic communities share in the mission of the church
is dependent upon their historical tradition and their contemporary discernment.
Acts of hospitality, of receiving all guests as Christ (RB 53:1), daily
prayer on behalf of the whole church and world (RB 20:1-2) and manual labor
(RB: 35, 36, 48, 53, 57) continue to be fundamental manifestations of monastic
ministry. Through manual labor monastics share in the age-old human effort
to sustain and enhance life. When they perform routine manual work with
contemplative insight, they also enter into the redemptive work of Christ,
who continues to offer the created world back to the Creator healed and
transformed.
Benedictine communities affirm that acting justly is also a constitutive
element of Christian life flowing from the Gospel (RB 4:10-20). Benedictines
respond to the Gospel call for peace through justice by integrating contemplative
living and active ministry. Acts in behalf of justice, undertaken with and
for others, grow out of a life of listening together attentively to the
voice of God in the Scripture, in the call of the church, and in the cry
of the poor. Presence to human suffering and active ministry to relieve
that suffering deepen the life of prayer in the Benedictine community.
Response to the demands of a Christian vocation to peace through justice
is sustained and enriched by life in cenobitic community. The basic Benedictine
commitment to community impels Benedictine women to develop communities
of justice and love wherever they are. It is within the context of cenobitic
living that monastic communities and their individual members are invited
to develop the forms of their ministerial response in dialogue with one
another. Sometimes they will take up works of charity to alleviate sudden
or unexpected suffering; at other times, situations will prompt them to
identify, confront, and resolutely overcome the root causes of injustice.
Because attentive listening to the living Word often calls for decisive
response to events and structures, the monastic community welcomes and encourages
prophetic leadership within the Federation.
The commitment to communities of justice and love will express itself in
forms of service which promote the dignity of all persons against the power
of unjust social, political and ecclesial structures. At this time, two
areas demand special concern. In collaboration with others, Benedictines
are called to promote the reverent use of the world's resources against
the drive to exhaust these for the sake of power, profit, or pleasure. Also,
as Benedictines who are women, community members invest themselves in those
works which will ultimately assure women everywhere of their rightful roles
in church and society.
In discerning her personal service, the Benedictine woman continues to seek
God through a life of prayer. Her ministry, whether within the religious
community or in the larger society, must be consistent with Benedictine
belief in the value of daily communal prayer and the experience of community
life (RB 57:1-3). Further, the Benedictine woman reflects on the prophetic
dimension of the monastic tradition as she seeks to determine her place
in the mission of the church. Although she needs appropriate competence
for whatever she does, she is urged by the love of Christ to move beyond
professionalism to become a witness to the good news of God's dawning reign.
In dialogue with the prioress and her sisters, she seeks to achieve a way
of life which gives priority to monastic prayer, even while maintaining
a balance with work and leisure. If there is an excessive task orientation
in her service, the Benedictine woman does not communicate to the larger
society the redemptive sign of community itself. Yet this sign of Christian
community is an essential ministry in a world torn by division and conflict.
Whatever the cultural situation, the Benedictine woman is faithful to her
communal tradition.
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© Federation of St. Scholatica, 1997