This past weekend, at a conference for Benedictine women in
formation and their directors, I attended a presentation on “Love of Learning: The Overlooked Monastic Practice” by Edith Bogue,
OSB. Sr. Edith noted that few contemporary books on Benedictine monasticism highlight
love of learning, which is surprising, because the main qualification for those
who wish to become a monastic is to seek God, and seeking God and love of
learning go together.
Sr. Edith pointed out that those of us who wish to know God look
at (1) what God does, (2) who God keeps as company, and (3) how God built our dwelling
place, which can encompass study of history, Scripture, anthropology,
sociology, biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, and many other fields. However,
it’s not enough just to acquire knowledge; as Br. Dietrich Reinhart has noted, “At
the heart of Benedictine life there is a powerful drive to integrate what one
knows into life and to do so until our life simply bursts out of all that holds
it back.”
If we know one thing about God it is that God is always
doing something new, which means we need to approach learning as a verb—that
is, seeing, noticing, making connections, being curious, entering into the
space of not knowing, and imagining how things could be. Sr. Edith observed that approaching learning as
a verb requires persistence and the willingness to go to fresh, surprising, and
sometimes uncomfortable places, along with effort and expectation. Finally,
when our learning leads us to participate with God in making new things, then
we can really know God. Thus, may our love
of learning lead us to the heart of God, the Creator!
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