Instruction 
Instruction on the Rule by noteworthy modern day monastics or oblates
The devil is no fool
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity… Read More ›
Beyond all and in all is God
Either you look at the universe as a very poor creation out of which no one can make anything or you look at your own life and your own part in the universe as infinitely rich, full of inexhaustible interest, opening out into infinite further possibilities for study and contemplation and interest and praise. Beyond… Read More ›
St. Benedict: Human labor is not without dignity
29.. . . the author and lawgiver of the Benedictine Order has another lesson for us, which is, indeed, freely and widely proclaimed today but far too often not properly reduced to practice as it should be. It is that human labor is not without dignity; is not a distasteful and burdensome thing, but rather… Read More ›
Let us Rise above Contradictions
Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values… Read More ›
Awakening One’s Spiritual Self
There is and can be no special planned technique for discovering and awakening one’s inner self, because the inner self is first of spontaneity that is nothing if not free. Therefore there is no use in trying to start with a definition of the inner self, and then deducing from its essential properties some appropriate… Read More ›
Ancient Christian monastery site in Persian Gulf opened to public
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Dec 16, 2010 / 01:47 am (CNA).- The remains of an ancient Nestorian Christian monastery and church on Sri Bani Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates have been opened for public viewing, providing an important glimpse into the pre-Islamic history of the region. The site was unearthed in the… Read More ›
How do we judge success?
Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the… Read More ›
Seven Reasons You’re Still Hungry
St. Benedict regulated the intake of food and spirits for his monks (see chapters 39-41 of the Rule). It is something for us all to live up to but for most of us dealing with everyday temptation we often fall short of the ideal. The principle reason is we were “craving” a particular food. Perhaps… Read More ›
Being Beloved Children of God (Part 5)
The wonder of our sonship. I tell you, my brothers, that there is absolutely nothing in this world—nothing that I can possibly conceive of—that is more wonderful than this: to know that you are God’s beloved son. It is total liberation. It is wondrous and great. It is a fulfillment of all the desires for… Read More ›
Being Beloved Children of God (Part 4)
Dropping our plan. What that Prodigal Son had to accept at that moment was to drop his own plan completely and accept the father’s embrace of love. Accept the father’s way. Let the father clothe him in the new garment—the garment we receive when we receive the habit. Put on his finger a ring, a… Read More ›