Rule 
Articles and posts specifically teaching the Rule of St. Benedict. Articles divided into two categories: Benedictine Wisdom, the teaching of the Benedictine Fathers; and Instruction, teaching by more modern day Benedictine scholars.
Each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality
Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and… Read More ›
You are called to be a worker
Saint Benedict is saying “. . ., you are engaging in the spiritual art, not to receive something, but to give whatever you have. This endeavor will provide you with the opportunity to use your highest gifts in the service of something larger than yourself. You are called to be a worker, to give of… Read More ›
Wisdom is more powerful than anything
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 ›
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 ›
The Observance of Lent: Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 49
Although the life of a monk ought to have about it at all times the character of a Lenten observance, yet since few have the virtue for that, we therefore urge that during the actual days of Lent the brethren keep their lives most pure and at the same time wash away during these holy… Read More ›
We are the ones wounded
With what oil abounding was Christ anointed! From his bounty he poured oil into all our wounds! Yes, we are the wounded man who went down to Jericho, fell among brigands, was robbed, and wounded and left half dead. Too many passed by and there was not one to save his life. That great patriarch… Read More ›
Do not be quick to assume…
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving… Read More ›
Wisdom and Society
Our technological society has no longer any place in it for wisdom that seeks truth for its own sake, that seeks the fullness of being, that seeks to rest in an intuition of the very ground of all being. Without wisdom, the apparent opposition of action and contemplation, of work and rest, of involvement and… Read More ›
Know how to meditate
Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding… Read More ›
Faith
We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You have to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after you have begun to believe, your faith itself must be tested and purified. Christianity is not merely… Read More ›