THE TRANSITUS OF OHF S BENEDICT

Today we celebrate the feast of St Benedict’s Transitus, his passing from this world to the next, with the sober joy characteristic of all Benedictine festivities, especially during Lent. The account Gregory the Great gives of his death in Book II of The Dialogues is strangely moving, despite all the typology he manages to cram into it. Benedict becomes the new Moses, not only law-giver but intercessor, the friend of God and, like him, ‘the humblest man alive’.

The analogy with Moses was one medieval writers loved to play with, and one can see why. What, perhaps, we modern Benedictines tend to forget is that what is true of Benedict ought, in some sense, to be true of us, too. There should be in every Benedictine a friend of God, one who intercedes for others, a truly humble person.

( With thanks to iBenedictines for this post! )

THE LITURGY

1830     Vespers
1900     MASS

The link for the livestream can be found in the sidebar.