These writings arise from my experience as a volunteer at Bonnevaux.
Two or three times a week, all volunteers and the residential community get together and read a chapter from the Rule of St Benedict. If anyone in the group wants to, they choose a word that stood out to them the most. Then, throughout the day, we keep that word in mind, in everything we do. It’s a wonderful moment of community.
Silence, meditation, prayer, and the Rule of Saint Benedict inspired me, after many years, to create these compositions.
They do not aspire to be masterpieces — I am certainly not capable of that — but they come from the depths of my heart, and I am happy to share them with you.
Thank you,
Patrizia, Volunteer at Bonnevaux – May 2026
From the Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 42
Cultivating Silence
In a world overwhelmed by complexity,
in a society permeated by confusion,
in daily life besieged by demands,
there you are, silence,
unexpected,
mysterious.
So fragile
that a mere breath of wind
can carry you away.
And so,
day after day,
I cultivate this precious time
with gentleness,
with love,
with simplicity,
with presence.
And little by little,
complexity becomes inclusion,
confusion becomes listening,
demands become attentiveness.
And in the silence
of my deepest self,
sprouts
a hidden,
tiny seed.
Coltivo Silenzio
Nel mondo invaso dalla complessita`
nella societa` permeata dalla confusione
nel contesto quotidiano assillato dalle richieste
arrivi tu, silenzio,
del tutto inaspettato
e misterioso
talmente fragile
che basta un soffio di vento
per portarti via.
E così,
giorno dopo giorno
coltivo questo tempo prezioso
con delicatezza
con amore
con essenzialità
con presenza.
E poco alla volta
la complessità` diventa inclusione
la confusione diventa ascolto
le richieste diventano attenzione.
E nel silenzio
della mia profondità
germoglia,
nascosto,
un piccolo seme.
The soul of Bonnevaux is its small residential community. This is a group of people living together in the spirit of the 1500-year-old Rule of St Benedict. It is an ‘open cloister’ inspired by the essential elements of monastic wisdom.
