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.
Being formed through listening
… It has been said that our Father Saint Bernard knew the Bible by heart. I do not know how true that is, but he was certainly filled with the Bible. Benedict is that way, too. And you will be, too, if you keep going to the Office, pray the psalms, listen to readings, and… Read More ›
To Seek God Perfectly
This then is what it means to seek God perfectly: to withdraw from illusion and pleasure, from worldly anxieties and desires, from the works that God does not want, from a glory that is only human display; to keep my mind free from confusion in order that my liberty may be always at the disposal… Read More ›
Bonding to God
The heart will linger in the place where its most cherished possessions are to be found. Fundamentally, this is a spiritual connection that is not reducible to any particular experience, devotion, exercise, or activity—although it may subsist and express itself in any of them. What Saint John calls the inner anointing (1 Jn 2:27) trains… Read More ›
When We Follow Our Vocation
We know when we are following our vocation when our soul is set free from preoccupation with itself and is able to seek God and even to find Him, even though it may not appear to find Him. Gratitude and confidence and freedom from ourselves: these are signs that we have found our vocation and… Read More ›
Why are there Wars?
People seem to think that it is in some way a proof that no merciful God exists, if we have so many wars. On the contrary consider how in spite of centuries of sin and greed and lust and cruelty and hatred and avarice and oppression and injustice, spawned and bred by the free wills… Read More ›
Live with Christ
Let this be for you the form of life, brothers, this is the true discipline of a holy way of life: to live with Christ by having your thought and desire [fixed] on the eternal homeland, and in this troublesome journey to refuse no task of charity for Christ. Follow the Lord Christ upwards towards… Read More ›
Radical Truth and Honesty in Self and Society
In a spiritual crisis of the individual, the truth and authenticity of the person’s spiritual identity are called into question. He is placed in confrontation with reality and judged by his ability to bring himself into a valid and living relationship with the demands of his new situation. In the spiritual, social, historic crises of… Read More ›
The Safest and Soundest Foundations of Society
25. Furthermore, all the classes of society, if they studiously and seriously examine the life, teaching and glorious achievements of St. Benedict, cannot but fall under the influence of his gentle but powerful inspiration; indeed they will spontaneously recognize that even our age troubled and anxious for the vast material and moral ruins, perils and… Read More ›
We have to Work, Sacrifice, and Cooperate
An ethic of barely disguised selfishness is no longer a Christian ethic. Nor can we afford to raise this to the national level and assume that the world will adjust itself if every nation seeks its own advantage before everything else. On the contrary, we are obliged to widen our horizons and to recognize our… Read More ›
Live in Mindfulness
Although not much cultivated or esteemed today, the memory can be useful in our search for prayer. If, as Solzhenitsyn suggests, forgetfulness of God is the principal cause of all human woes, then remembering God becomes a significant step on the path to recovery.’ And if evil thoughts are the beginning of moral decline, thoughts… Read More ›