\nRome the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum<\/a> (CIB) for a congress, their
\n6th, on “Hope in Benedictine Spirituality.”<\/span><\/p>\n
Benedictine<\/a> nuns and sisters Zenit ran an Two questions of the interview ZENIT: Can we then speak of Sister Bracamontes: The This integration enables us to love in a unified way and it is the If we persevere, trying to live in the ZENIT: At present the Church is Sister Bracamontes: Obviously. Those In face of a clearer awareness of the common dignity From a perspective of faith, we are conscious and are convinced <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week in Rome the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB) for a congress, their 6th, on “Hope in Benedictine Spirituality.” Benedictine nuns and sisters from Europe, Africa and America are attending the meeting. The CIB is meeting on the Aventine Hill at the Primatial Abbey of Saint Anselm (known in Italian as Sant’Anselmo), home to the … Continue reading Benedictine sisters meet to discuss the virtue of hope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[32089,2522,1892,1724,1819],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n
\nfrom Europe, Africa and America are attending the meeting. The CIB is meeting
\non the Aventine Hill at the Primatial Abbey of Saint Anselm (known in Italian
\nas Sant’Anselmo), home to the Abbot Primate , Notker Wolf (pictured left) who heads the confederation of
\nBenedictine monks and nuns<\/a>, the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, the Mabillion
\nInstitute and the college for theological studies for those preparing for
\nordination, earning degrees in theology and monastic studies (the general link for all these institutes for higher learning is here<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n
\ninterview today with Sister Maricarmen Bracamontes de Torreon, a Benedictine
\nsister from Mexico who talked to aspects of hope and how understanding this
\nvirtue is key in Benedictine spirituality, and thus for all Christians. Sacred
\nScripture instructs us to look at how God works with us, that is, He gazes on
\nus with faithfulness, compassion and mercifully. Looking to the holy Rule,
\nSaint Benedict tells us “not to despair of God’s mercy” (4.74).
\nSister Maricarmen said the participants are keenly aware that there is “only
\none Benedictine heart beats at the bottom of our universal diversity, and on
\nthe other, there is no doubt that we are going through a historical moment of
\ndarkness and we need a light, precisely like St. Benedict, which shines on high
\nand gives us clarity in the midst of darkness.” <\/span><\/p>\n
\nare worth thinking about here on the Communio blog:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\na reflection from a holistic-rational perspective?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBenedictine way leads to a process of integration that embraces the different
\ndimensions of the human conscience: cognitive (the mind), affective (the
\nheart), ethics and morals (the will and all its capacities), religious (the
\nsoul).<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncondition to advance on the path of conversion. “However, the workshop
\nwhere we must practice all these things diligently is the enclosure of the
\nmonastery and stability in the community” (Rule of Benedict<\/i>, 4.78). The
\nmonastic dynamic animates the processes of integration in those who live in the
\n“monastery,” which is the place where we ask God with the most
\ninsistent prayers to bring to completion the divine work of our lives: that
\nthey all may be one.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n“conversatio,” the experience of God’s unconditional love gradually
\nintegrates all the dimensions of our being, and thus we become unified in
\nourselves and in the diversity and plurality that characterizes us. The result
\nof all this is that we live with transparency and consistency, that we do not
\nseparate our judgments from our feelings, or our conduct from our belief. In
\nthis way, our integrity and social and personal responsibility will not allow
\nus “to say one thing and do another,” or to establish ourselves in a
\nlife of contradictions and inconsistencies.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nfacing difficult moments. Does it call for hope?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI think that some sectors of the Church have slipped up in the dialogue with
\nthe signs of the times that was so encouraged by the Second Vatican Council.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsigns have revealed that for centuries, both in the society as well as the
\nChurch, efforts were dedicated to contain diversity and plurality, so
\ncharacteristic of humanity. There are many human groups, with different views
\nof reality; they are arriving on the first plane and ask that they be
\nrecognized, respected and integrated. The new methods of understanding and of
\ndiscovery of humanity leave antiquated the old systems of relationship based on
\ndominion, submission and marginalization. These systems of the past considered
\nsome human beings superior to others, based on race, gender, social class,
\nideology, religion, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nof all human beings, the absence of dialogue between those who are open to the
\nsigns of the times and those who continue to adhere to visions of the past and
\nclose their mind and heart to the historic change that we are experiencing,
\ncalls for hope.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthat the whole of humanity, with its differences, has been created with equal
\ndignity in the divine image and likeness. We are children of God and sisters
\nand brothers among ourselves in Christ, who is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), and
\nin him all discrimination and marginalization is overcome (Galatians 3:26-28).
\nFrom this awareness we hear the call and we open ourselves with wisdom and
\nmaturity to our world with its urgent need to recognize diversity, to promote
\nintegration and to encourage dialogue and participation. Hence, many challenges
\narise.