Conversatio is another commitment that is closely allied with stability and unique to Benedictine monastics. This Latin word means a commitment to all practices oriented toward the search for God. By practices we do not mean a rote, rigid adherence to regimen. Conversatio includes disciplines such as commitment to a regular daily schedule of prayer and work, to silence, to lectio divina, community meals, and community of goods. Everything is oriented toward a faithful living of the Gospel.
From http://www.osb.org/acad/benval2.html
Of even more significance is the word conversatio, a term that is difficult to translate. Conversatio connotes a commitment to live faithfully in unsettled times and to keep one's life open. Such a paradox: remain settled; stay open to change! For the monks of the Middle Ages, living faithfully meant listening to an inner voice and responding to the call.
From http://www.eileenmcdargh.com/article_changemasters.html
Conversatio morum suorum is that strange, untranslatable vow so central to Benedictine life that we simply take it to mean, "living as a Benedictine." Above all, conversatio is about the paschal mystery of death and life as it is lived out daily for a lifetime. Conversatio is about being broken and renewed, being overwhelmed and being raised up. It is willingness to suffer and be utterly confused, because we have learned that is one way God leads us into the encounter with brand new life. Conversatio is about being in the hands of the living God, the God who always surprises us, always shatters our expectations, the God who surpasses our imaginations.
From http://www.osb.org/obl/nvest9907.html
A second dimension of conversatio evokes the process of conversion that calls monastics to deep personal and communal change. It is stability of the heart that nurtures such change by preventing us from avoiding difficult questions, strengthening us to walk through suffering and uncertainty, and drawing us toward a new integration. Here we confront our immaturity and lack of courage. Here we encounter our own weakness, insensitivity, and lack of vision. Here we discover hidden strengths and abilities which have been dormant, or that we have not trusted.29 Through inner work we integrate our inner and outer worlds; align our thoughts, words, and actions with our core values (that for Benedict were based on the Gospel); nurture the ongoing dialogue between the community of which we are a part and the larger world. At times we are nudged and at other times we are torn from the world of certainty. We can then begin to think in new ways and we may come to a new self-understanding. It is then possible to imagine a new future.
-John Klassen, OSB; Emmanuel Renner, OSB and Mary Reuter, OSB
