The gift of community

«Monastics have learned what Saint Benedict knew, and have in turn taught me, that real community is a gift, not something you construct. there is nearly everywhere today an intense, even desperate, longing to experience “I am because you are,” and people are devising all sorts of schemes for “building community.” The monastery is a living witness to the truth that community is something that happens when the environment is right, when hospitality is grounded in discipline and discernment, when prayer and work are rightly ordered. The Rule does not construct community: it hints at the conditions.”

Patrick Henry, The Ironic Christian’s Companion: Finding the Marks of God’s Grace in the World.

(via)