Today's reading from the Rule contains a rare reference to saints and the way in which we are to celebrate the Divine Office on feast days. If you look through the whole RB, you'll see that most references to saints are to the relics in the altar stone; and of the greatest of all saints, Our Lady, there is no mention at all. That does not mean that Benedict was indifferent to the saints. On the contrary. He had a very lively sense that everything we do is done in the presence of the angels and saints. Our vows are pronounced in the sight of God and his saints, and we must take care lest we be found wanting: God is not mocked. But of saints' days we hear next to nothing. For Benedict, as indeed for all Christians, there is really only feast, the feast of the Resurrection. Everything in the Rule is organized around Easter, even down to the times of meals and how much we are allowed to eat. That is a powerful reminder that monastic life is marked through and through by the paschal mystery, the Mystery that each of us must live in her own life. [Note for Colophon: the laptop is now bespoken but the monitor and scanner are still available.]