Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Emma Grace Geckle

God is speaking to you. Prayer is for everyone. Monks are like spiritual jedi. These are just a few things I learned on my weekend spent at St. Meinrad Archabbey with the sophomore Chaminade Scholars cohort. Chaminade Scholars is a group of 15 honors students that are chosen from each graduating class. We spend time in intentional community discussing discernment of vocation, prayer, and even taking classes together. On this particular weekend, however, we lived like monks.

Monastic life has some incredible lessons for all of us as students, teachers, and just as human beings. The monks at St. Meinrad live by the Rule of St. Benedict which guides them as they live life in community. Although the Rule was written between 530 and 540 A.D., it provides a vision that transcends history and applies to Christian living even today. The Rule is based in scripture and tradition, focused on listening, balance, stability, and constant conversion. The lives of these Benedictine monks are driven by the motto “ora et labora” meaning “prayer and work”. We joined the monks in trying to live out this motto as we accompanied them for the Liturgy of the Hours, beginning at 5:30 a.m., the celebration of the Mass, and engaging in other forms of prayer such as Lectio Divina and Taize. In between these times of prayer, while the monks went about their work and studies, we grew in community with our cohort through an Emmaus walk, rosary pilgrimage, and learning more about living a life that serves God and others.

As a teacher education student, I have gotten into the habit of taking certain experiences and seeing how they fit into my vocation as a future educator. St. Benedict is the patron saint of students and in a lot of ways the Rule shows how education and spirituality are interconnected. Benedict writes that in life there should be a love of learning integrated with a seeking of God. The power of prayer intertwined with the power of education can change the world, and the brothers at St. Meinrad were a tangible example of this reality. When the young monks are not praying, they are learning. Learning is their work and through that learning they grow in desire to fulfill God’s plan for them and for those around them. We can be like these monks as lay people. We can take each day, learn something from it, and bring it to Christ in prayer.

“Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.” - St. Benedict