Upon reading the rule of St. Benedict, I have come to realize that Benedictine monks lived an extremely disciplined life past the point of necessity to a Christian life. This can potentially have some applications to modern-day Christians and perhaps we should even create modern, Christian monasteries.
Early monks, by escaping society, were able to make much advancement in agriculture, literature, technology, etc. and were able to effectively preserve this knowledge through-out the ages by way of their out-of-the-way-ed-ness.
The only major area that Benedictine monks are in error is in their escaping from the world and society. Christians are to not be of the world; yet we are to be in the world actively evangelizing to the nations. The monks did NOT do this, for, they rarely ever left the monastery and if did so, were STRICTLY forbidden to speak of their travels (chap. 67, line 5 B.R.).
However, creating modern monasteries that equip Christians to enter the world and not be corrupted IS a necessity; though, this task is effectually to be accomplished by Christian parents. Therefore, modern monasteries should be geared toward those who do not have parents, are new Christians, have not been properly educated, etc.
Also, becoming a monk should not be permanent but temporary for the educational purposes previously mentioned.
