Holy Cross Monastery

Abstract

Abstract The monks at Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia, follow an ethical system that is based on the Rule of Saint Benedict. By exercising the situated reasoning demanded by Benedict’s complex “rule,” the monks can apply what they have learned through listening and singing together in the practice of everyday life. Their experience of music as ethics guides the monks to understand their singing as a collective offering to God and as diagnostic of the health of their relationships. Through a continual feedback loop, the virtues of listening and interdependence honed within their sonic practices help shape the ethical life of their community. In this context, singing is a form of collective prayer that can make the individual monk receptive to the gift of grace. When they can overcome musical and social challenges, they may discover that, as a group, they can reach a depth of prayer that they are unable to realize as individuals.