Click on the video below to view the Symposium talk, recorded on Saturday, October 22, 2022
Description: "Saint Benedict prescribes a balanced life of work and prayer, and it can seem deceptively dull and routine. On the contrary, life in the spirit demands that we set out on Christ's way and run while we have the light of life within us."
Fr. Eric Hollas, Prior of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota whose monastic life began fifty years ago, most recently served as deputy to the President for Advancement at Saint John's University. Trained in medieval studies at Yale, Fr. Eric has had a distinguished career as an educator, administrator, and chaplain, spearheading the commissioning of calligrapher Donald Jackson to create the breathtaking St. John's Bible, an illuminated Bible for the 21st century that has been exhibited at the Library of Congress and around the country.
A traveler through time and territory, Fr. Eric is an astute and reverent observer of life, seeing human aspirations and foibles through the lens of the 1500-year-old Benedictine Rule. His weekly blog, A Monk's Chronicle (https://monkschronicle.wordpress.com), offers a mix of scholarly, spiritual and practical insights - - appropriate to any disciple of Benedict, the saintly humanist who understood so deeply the pitfalls and possibilities of human communities. Here are a few Fr. Eric gems:
"What if by choosing to book passage on the ship of the self-absorbed, we actually miss the better boat - - the boat that sails to a full and loving life?"
"Opportunism looks for the encounter with God at every turn."
"It might be helpful to think of our gifts and talents as a challenge grant from God."
"We approach the altar of the Lord to confess our sins. So, if by chance this afternoon you are coming to confess someone else's sins, please don't."
Please join us! To reserve a place, email [email protected] or contact Erica Aungst at 202-460-2877. You may register and pay the $25 registration fee by filling out the form below, or pay at the door on October 22, 2022.
The Friends of Saint Benedict is an ecumenical, non-profit organization that organizes pilgrimages, lectures and study groups to make the wisdom and practice of St. Benedict accessible and useful to modern men and women. The Annual Symposium on Benedictine Spirituality offers insights from monastics and scholars, in an atmosphere of discourse, hospitality and community.