From a ZENIT interview with Father Clemente Serna González, abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Dominic of Silos:
Q: What is the most beautiful thing about Benedictine life?
Abbot Serna: For me, the whole of it is exciting. However, if you want me to indicate one thing only, I will say that the most beautiful thing is to be able to live the time of each day to the rhythm of divine praise and the service of brothers.
Q: You have become famous worldwide for Gregorian chant. What would you say to those who hold that it is singing of the past?
Abbot Serna: If I am to be sincere with you, it is not fame that interests us, as it belongs to the world of the ephemeral, the spent and the futile.
As regards Gregorian chant, we continue to use it in Silos for the simple reason that it has an incredibly rich, beautiful and eloquent content.
Let's not forget that it is the official song of the Latin Church. It is a prayerful song, which is not only alive and timely, but also richly charged with the hopes and supplications, joys and sufferings of hundreds of believing generations which have made use of this prayerful song to address God, full of faith, God the Father and Mother of the whole of humanity.
It is also the song that gives the peace the world cannot give. The peace that no one can take away from us, which has its origin in the very heart of God, and in God we live it for the praise of his glory and the good of the whole of humanity.
