“Arriving at the end of my course, after more than fifty years of presence in the monastery, an instinct pushes me to share my great hope of eternal life, as I have shared recently my small experience of fasting.” In this meditation of the phrase “to desire eternal life” from the Rule of St. Benedict, Adalbert de Vogue shares what hope has been for him before entering the monastery and after. Then he surveys Holy Scripture as a simple hearer of the Word (lectio divina) and finally he listens once more to some beloved phrases of the ancient monks before and after St. Benedict. “To desire eternal life” should challenge each Christian today as it challenged Fr. Adalbert de Vogue. He who gives himself to Christ will not die but will live forever, because He is eternal life.
Adalbert de Vogue is a monk of la Pierre-qui-Vire in France.