Be a co-creator with us

Benedictine spirituality is a sacramental spirituality. It holds all things—the earth and all its goods—as sacred. We are co-creators with God of what creation has left unfinished. What has been left in embryo is left for us to develop. What can be developed God trusts us to bring to full potential.

But not for ourselves alone.

Co-creation, the human commitment to continue the world of God on earth, requires us to tend the land and conserve the waters, to till the garden and to protect the animals, to use the things of the earth in ways that enhance all life now—and preserve them for later generations, as well.

Benedictine spirituality seeks a balanced life, one in harmony with all its parts—earth, fire, air, and water, animals, plants, humans—all alive in the heart of God. 

To pursue the path of Benedictine spirituality means that we will leave whatever part of the world we inhabit—its neighborhoods and nations, its oceans and preserves, its forests and its soil—in better condition than they were before we came. Benedictines over the centuries, following the life the Rule prescribes, laid the foundation of the towns to which they brought order and organization, hospices, learning, scripture, and art, the tools of civilization, and the sustenance of the soul. They used every human form of education and skill to bring order out of chaos, equality to the masses, and healing to the globe.

It is on the altar of creation that we celebrate our Benedictine spirituality, as our ancestors have done before us for over 1,500 years.

—Joan Chittister in The Monastery of the Heart