Finally, yesterday we left Rome and saw something other than the city.  Subiaco is where St. Benedict began his life as a monk and it is where he first began the order of Benedictines.  The monastery sits high on a hill outside the small town of Subiaco.  This place felt holy.  The quiet and the beauty.  St. Benedict went there, leaving his education in Rome, because he found the city to be too busy and corrupt.  He could not seek God in all the chaos of the city.  I knew there was a reason I liked him!

From Subiaco we traveled to Monti Casino where Benedict wrote his Rule.  Again, the monastery is high on a hill.  The buildings are newer becuase the original monastery was destroyed in bombing during WWII when the Nazis took over the building.

After my day of feeling very Protestant, yesterday at Subicao I felt I could have been a Benedictine.  The important concepts for them are silence, hospitality, and stability.  Life is simple but not austere.  There is community but there is also silence.  That sounds like a good combination after a day on a bus with thirty three women!

Some of you are sending notes and I really appreciate knowing you are reading.  Just know that I can read your email and your comments, I can send the blog, but for some reason I cannot send email at all, so I cannot make any personal replies.  Sorry.

Know you are all in my prayers.