Hospitality

From earliest times monasteries have always practiced hospitality. St.Benedict makes it clear that all guests who come to the monastery "are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35) Great reverence and respect are to be shown to all especially poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received. The monastic Guest House is a place of prayer and retreat. The quiet, peaceful surroundings of the monastery and its fields and forests are ideal for calming troubled minds and spirits.