One of the things that appealed to me about Monastic Communities when I was first considering religious life was the multigenerational aspect of our life. The young and the old interact freely together and amazingly the young and the older learn from each other. This appealed to me because I grew up in a multi-generational family.
Growing up we were fortunate to always have at least one grandparent living with us and coming from a family with lots of aunts and uncles there was always someone young around. Those of us that were young learned to respect the wisdom of the elders. We learned traditions and culture from them and we loved to hear stories of how life used to be. The older folks made life interesting for us.
The older folks, on the other hand, were always interested in what the young had to say and in what our ideas were. They wanted to know what made life work for our generation and they always had time to play games with us.
In this interaction between the young and the old, we learned naturally to be flexible, to have a sense of humor and to honor differences. I think that St. Benedict knew about this dynamic and was striving to instill it into his communties. I value this aspect of my life.
May God continue to make me sensitive to the needs of the older and to the insights of the young.
Sr. Catherine, OSB
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