Abstract / DOI
Monastic Pointers for the Crisis in the Religious Life. In his Vita Benedicti, Pope Gregory the Great proposes monastic themes that can be an inspiration in the current struggles in the Church and in the religious life. From the perspective of the desert fathers we realize how an eschatological existence is a calling to utter dependence on God. This does not, however, deny the human aspect: on the contrary it is taken up and transformed by the monastic experience. Accordingly, in a post-Constantinian world religious life will certainly have a different shape, reduced maybe, but renewed. It will have to bring the younger generation to center stage and if it regains its mission by means of evangelization it will avoid any self-centeredness.