Introduction: The Beacon

A beacon is about providing light, serving as a warning, as a
signal, as a guide. Spiritually it might be connected with the
idea of illumination leading towards understanding and
wisdom.

As for the "Benedictine Beacon," well it provided a light that
lasted nearly a thousand years--from 500 c.e. to 1500 c.e.,
working through the Dark Ages unto the Middle Ages up to
the Renaissance.

Chaos reigned following the demise of the Roman Empire.
Cities crumbled, schools and libraries disappeared, vandals
roamed through the countryside, and the darkness of
ignorance fell upon Europe.

In due course Benedictine monasteries began to light-up
this sad landscape. First there was the call for monks, most
illiterate but hoping for a more stable existence, hoping
somehow to serve God. A smaller group of monks were
among the very few to be educated. In time they developed
the monastic school, employing not only the infrastructure
provided in the Rule of St. Benedict, but eventually
copying Bibles in their scriptoriums. Over time, too, they
had secured the great pagan books of the Greco-Roman
Classical Period. And by copying these books, Benedictine
monks saved these works that ranged from philosophy to
medicine to natural studies for future generations.

The Benedictines also re-taught agricultural techniques
to the evolving peasantry. They introduced fisheries so
that people might learn better to provide for themselves.

Moving more into the Middle Ages, towns started to develop
near the monasteries. And the Benedictines started "outer"
schools for the local aristocracies. Above all, Benedictine
monks--through the installation of their monasteries--
christianized much of Europe. With this came the slow
return of Civilization.

But time moves on. The world in which we live today is far
more complex, highly technological, now mostly secular in
its orientation.

And where are the Benedictines in this modern milieu? They
are still around, only diminishing in numbers, growing older
on average. For a world of some six billion in population, it
has been said that today there probably are only some 10,000
Benedictine monks strung around the planet. And Benedictine
Sisters, as well, are disappearing and aging rapidly. The "call"
for vocations no longer seems to ring loudly in our ears.

Still, there does seem an interest in monastic spirituality.
Hence remaining monasteries now oft serve as retreat centers.
More than often their hospitality reflects a full house of visitors.
There seems a desire to take monastic spirituality home, back
to the personal life of individuals and families. Monasticism
is leaping over the walls, square into the streets of this world.

There seems a strange "transformation" going on. More and
more Benedictine monastics are publishing books that carry
forth their spiritual experience and their wisdom. And aboard
the Internet there's a keen interest in the monastic life--hence,
Benedictine communities have developed websites, even blogs!

So, aboard this blog site I've decided to share Benedictine
wisdom that might illuminate and provide commentaries on
such, trying to relate how this ancient monastic order and its
tenets might serve as a guiding beacon to our modern world.