Benedictine Wisdom 
Instruction on the Rule by the great early thinkers of the Benedictine order.
What is God?
(Read this as Lectio — it cannot be read quickly without reflection.) What is God? That without which nothing exists. Just as nothing can exist without him, so he cannot exist without himself: he exists for himself, he exists for all, and consequently in some way he alone exists who is his own existence and… Read More ›
Wash, make yourselves clean
You urge me to lay down for you some rule for contemplating the Beloved and to give you a method for this discovery and vision. What does this mean? Would you have me confine within a rule the bounty of God’s gift? This vision results not from human effort but from grace. It is the… Read More ›
One heart and one soul
Since they have but one heart and one soul and all things in common, there is concord and unanimity throughout, and they always put the general profit and the common good before their own individual convenience. They so far renounce themselves and what is theirs that none of them, if indeed he is truly one… Read More ›
Love in Deed and Truth
If a brother or sister has nothing and cannot even find enough to eat, we ought to give them the basic necessities of life. Likewise if we notice that they are deficient in spiritual things, we ought to guide them in whatever way we can. Of course we must be sincere in doing this, not… Read More ›
I have found him whom my soul loves
‘I found him,’ the soul says, ‘I found him’, though previously he sought and found me like a stray sheep, like a lost coin, and in his mercy anticipated me. He forestalled me, I say, in finding me when I was lost. He anticipated me, though I deserved nothing. He found me astray, he anticipated… Read More ›
He lives only for others
Someone who takes pity and lends, who is disposed to be compassionate, quick to render assistance, who believes that there is more happiness in giving than in receiving, who easily forgives but is not easily angered, who will never seek to be avenged, and will in all things take thought for his neighbor’s needs as… Read More ›
Disobedience separates the soul from God
By the sin of disobedience man began to be at odds both with God and with himself, and by the just judgement of God, he who did not want peace with God did not find peace in himself. As it is written, ‘You have set me against you, and I am become a burden to… Read More ›
The Actions of the Trinity in Us
Let us consider ourselves, and the actions of the Trinity in us, from the beginning of the world until the end. Let us see how that Majesty upon whom lie both the administration and the governance of the ages has been concerned not to lose us forever. Indeed he had made all things mightily, and… Read More ›
My soul find what you were seeking
My soul, say to God: ‘Who are you, Lord, that I may know you?’ You alone are what you are and who you are, that is, that than which nothing greater can be thought, nor anything better, nor more joyful. You are life, wisdom, light, truth, goodness, eternity, the one whom all need that they… Read More ›
Where is God?
Do you ask: if all things are in him, where is [God]? I can answer nothing more inadequately than this: what place can contain him? Do you ask where he is not? I cannot even answer that. What place is without God? God is incomprehensible, but you have learned a great deal if you discovered… Read More ›