Benedictine Wisdom 
Instruction on the Rule by the great early thinkers of the Benedictine order.
The Creator Exalts His Creation
Created as we were to the image and likeness of the Creator, we fell through our sin from God into ourselves, and fell from ourselves beneath ourselves into such an abyss of unlikeness that no hope was left. But there came the Son of God, eternal Wisdom; he bowed his heavens and came down. He… Read More ›
Consolations from God
There is many a consolation to relieve the torment of a guilty conscience. God is kind and does not let us be tempted beyond our strength. Especially at the beginning of our conversion, he anoints our wounds with the oil of mercy so that the acute nature of our sickness and the difficulty of the… Read More ›
God has the Words of Eternal Life
We who were made in the form of God but have been deformed by sin can ‘return and be converted to the Word to be reformed by him and conformed to him’. ‘Who would not be amazed at the love of God in recalling someone who has spurned him?’ —and yet God does just that,… Read More ›
Good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts
Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them from failing. In the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren’t to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant… Read More ›
None Better Suited that the Son of God
The image would have lain stained and deformed, had not the woman of the Gospel lit her lamp — had not Wisdom appeared in the flesh, in other words–, swept the house — of the vices — searched carefully for her lost coin — her image — which, its original luster gone, coated over with… Read More ›
The Greatness of God
Only by the power of the movement of my heart … did I perceive his presence; and I knew the power of his might because my faults were put to flight and my human yearnings brought into subjection. I have marveled at the depth of his wisdom when my secret faults have been revealed and… Read More ›
Scripture Mirrors our Soul
Holy Scripture is presented to the mind’s eye as a kind of mirror so that our inner appearance can be seen in it. In this mirror we recognize both the ugliness and the beauty of our soul. We can tell what progress we are making, or see our utter lack of progress. . . …. Read More ›
The Word is near you…
‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ Believing is having found. The faithful know that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith. What could be nearer? Therefore seek him confidently, seek him faithfully. ‘The Lord is good to the soul who seeks him.’ Seek him in your prayers, follow him… Read More ›
We must do all Our Actions in the Light of Discernment
In the sphere of action, a right thought is one ruled by the will of God, and intentions are holy when directed singlemindedly toward him. In a word, we could see clearly through any action of ours, or into our entire lives, if we had a simple eye. A simple eye is an eye, and… Read More ›
The Lord knows the Thoughts and Intentions of our Hearts
The Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Without a doubt, every one of them is known to him, while we know only those which he lets us read by the grace of discernment. The spirit of man does not know all that is in man, nor all of the thoughts which he… Read More ›