Our Patrimony

In September 2023, I attended the International Oblates Congress in Rome at Sant’ Anselmo. The week included a visit to the monastery at Subiaco and St Benedict’s cave, the ‘Sacro Speco’, which deeply affected me.

Before leaving Subiaco, I purchased a copy of St Gregory the Great’s short biography of St Benedict. He recounts an early miracle from the time when Benedict, then a young man, fled Rome with his old nurse (who is unnamed). They stopped at Affile on their way and while there, she borrowed a ceramic tray for cleaning wheat. It slipped off the table and broke in two. Benedict felt sorry for her and prayed that the tray would be mended. When he ended his prayer he noticed that the two pieces of the tray were joined together again. The miracle led to him becoming something of a local celebrity so he slipped away one night alone and fled to the lonely wilderness of Subiaco.

When I read this legend on the plane on my return from Rome, the broken tray reminded me of some words of the Abbot Primate Gregory Polan in his address to us at the Congress. He spoke of the broken world we live in, broken on every level, not only through wars and human conflicts but also the brokenness of the individual: a world in need of reconciliation, healing and wholeness. He reminded us that as followers of St Benedict, we are called to pray for peace and reconciliation (just as Benedict prayed for the broken tray).

Photo Credit: Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

Moreover we are called to participate in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. We are to be a healing presence to all who come to us, all who we encounter, through being a listening presence, by being attentive with a humble spirit. This is surely the profound depth of Benedictine hospitality and welcome. Abbot Gregory also pointed out that in order to be this healing presence, we of course have to be aware of our own brokenness. Each of us is a broken tray ourselves, after all.

His words about our broken world were so relevant at that time as the war in Ukraine had been raging for over a year and only a few weeks’ later, hostilities between Israel and Palestine began and sadly continue. A year later, after the Congress of Abbots, our new Primate, Abbot Jeremias Schroeder in his newsletter highlighted the conflicts in the world and urged all monastic communities to pray for peace at a regular time in the day.

Photo Credit: Samuel Martins on Unsplash

For all of us who have committed ourselves to following the Holy Rule, St Benedict has not so much left us a legacy as a patrimony as he is our spiritual father. That patrimony is peace, a way to peace. ‘Seek peace and pursue it,’ he urges us. The peace we are seeking is the peace the world cannot give but only Jesus can. This is the core of St Benedict’s legacy over the last sixty years and indeed over the fifteen centuries before it.

Often, sadly in the last six decades and in those centuries before them, conflict and turmoil have been prevalent. In the midst of this, St Benedict and his followers have created a sacred space of stillness, becoming ‘the still point in the turning world’ as described by T.S. Eliot in his poem ‘Burnt Norton’. They have been counter-cultural, an alternative, an answer even, in the midst of the turmoil.

And so must we in our own broken world. In our own turbulent times we too must follow and strive for that ‘still point’ in our monasteries, homes and our own hearts. To allow the stillness of the Holy Spirit to hover and settle within us in the silence and to share that stillness with others. That silence too is counter-cultural in our world of noise and clamour as is our search for peace in a world of aggression and conflict. This is the legacy, the patrimony we have been given by our holy father Benedict.

Photo Credit: Laura Ohlman on Unsplash

Recently Pope Leo XIV has commented, ‘Peace is not a utopian ideal. It is a humble path made up of daily actions, woven with patience, courage, listening, and action." He might have been summarising the Holy Rule. He added ‘Today more than ever, peace requires our vigilant and creative presence.’

This is the legacy, the patrimony we have been given by our holy father Benedict. This is our charism and our challenge. To seek peace and pursue it, vigilantly, in every situation and to give that peace to whoever we encounter.

Neil Zoladkiewicz

Oblate of Ealing Abbey

2025

Neil is Chair of the UK Oblates Team: www.benedictine-oblates.net.

Visit Neil’s blog: OBLATE: A Benedictine in the World at www. oblateblog.wordpress.com