The Transitus of St Benedict (shared on 3/21/17)
“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.” From: http://www.ibenedictines.org/2013/03/21/the-transitus-of-st-benedict/
Sending prayers and hopes that today, March 21st, the Feast of the Transitus of St. Benedict was rich and meaningful for you.
I love the notion, from Latin, “transitus”—to pass from one state to another—a word that is not a “stand-in” or synonym for “death,” but an acknowledgment that with death comes, not an ending, but a new point of departure—an embarking on a new journey! …. It’s one we are moving toward as we approach the Triduum!
Offering warmest wishes for a sacred Lenten Season,
Pax,
Br. Nicholas, Ob OSB
Painting: The Funeral of St Benedict, by Spinello Aretino, 1388, in the sacristy of San Miniato in Florence.
The Oblates of Mount Saviour Monastery 