Sister Jacqueline-Small's final essay for her class "The Rule of Benedict" at St. John's University appears in the new issue of Tjurunga, the Australian Benedictine Review. It will also be translated into Spanish where it will appear in Tjurunga's Spanish equivalent. Titled "'Not as this World gives': Peace in the Rule of Benedict," it was Sister Jacqueline's response to the assignment to to choose a word or theme from the Rule and trace it throughout the entire text, in order to better understand what Benedict really meant about it. "I chose 'pax,' which appears only a few times in the Rule despite being a classic Benedictine quality," Sister Jacqueline said. She analyzed what the Rule suggests about inner peace and the political dimensions of peace. A brief introduction to her essay is available online here.
The professor who assigned the work was Sister Carmel Posa, Sister of the Good Samaritan in Australia who is on the faculty of Saint John’s and taught the class, which was essentially learning about a very close reading of the Rule and its source text, The Rule of the Master. Sister Carmel is also the editor of Tjurunga.
Sister Jacqueline is working on a master's degree in Monastic Studies which she will complete in 2027. Currently she is on the staff at Benetvision and Monasteries of the Heart and she serves on the Board of Directors of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.
