17 From the beginning the question of accepting or refusing candidates for the monastic life was intricate and difficult. To the holy monasteries flocked aspirants from every race and people and from all classes of citizens: Romans and non-Romans, freemen and slaves, conquered and the conquerors, from the patrician nobility not a few, and also from the lowly plebians. Such a situation Benedict mastered with breadth of vision and fraternal charity, "because" as he says "whether bondman or freeman, we are all one in Christ, and bear an equal burden of servitude under one Lord. . . Therefore let there be a love for all; let all be subject to the same discipline according to their desert". For those who have embraced his Institute he ordains "that all things are common to all" not under force or violence but spontaneously and unselfishly. Besides all within the precincts of the monastery are bound by the stability of religious life in such a way that they ought to devote themselves not only to prayer on heavenly things and reading, but also to labor in the fields, to the arts and crafts as well as to the sacred works of the apostolate. As "idleness is an enemy of the soul, therefore the brethren ought to be employed at fixed times in toiling with their hands". But it is of first importance for all, and must be aimed at with the utmost diligence and the greatest care, that "nothing be preferred to the work of God." Although "we believe that the divine presence is everywhere . . . we believe this especially and without any doubt, when we assist at the work of God. . . Therefore let us consider in what manner it behooveth us to be in the sight of God and of His angels, and so let us chant in choir that mind and voice may accord together".
Source: Fulgens Radiatur (Vatican.va)