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January 24, 2004

A Monastic interlude

Today the entire Parochial Church Council and the ministry staff of the Abbey spent the day at Prinknash (pronounced PRINAGE!) Abbey, a benedictine monastery on the hills overlooking the city of Gloucester. The purpose of our visit was twofold, first to spend some time exploring where we are as a congregation and where we envisage being in five to twenty years, and secondly, to do some recharging of spiritual batteries, but not necessarily in that order.

Prinknash is a fairly modern establishment of working monks who follow the rule of St Benedict, their Abbey being established in the late 1880's following the passage of the Freedom of Religion Act which legalised the establishment of Roman Catholic congregations in England - outlawed since Cromwell's Commonwealth had ruled. We had the use of the St Peter's Grange buildings - all ironically dating to the Cromwellian period - and had a very useful day together, finishing it with worship in the old monastery chapel. (The monks have moved down the hill to a new Abbey built in the 1980's and their new chapel is actually quite beautiful.)

There are many things I will take with me from this day out, but I would like to share this one thing with you. It is a sentence taken from Chapter 53 of "The Rule of Benedict" -

"Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received; our very awe of the rich guarantees them special respect."

Think about that last phrase, and remember the Benedictines are famous for their hospitality to allcomers, rich and poor are treated equally. Perhaps it is something we could all learn from them.

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 24, 2004 11:05 PM