Instruction 
Instruction on the Rule by noteworthy modern day monastics or oblates
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 ›
Commentaries on the Rule Of St. Benedict
Several Oblates have asked for suggestions on commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict (RB). The list is too exhaustive to list. Commentaries can be broken into three primary groups; devotional, line by line (exegesis), and a combination of the two. But before listing various commentaries, please remember that there are also quite a number… Read More ›
“Religion” Cannot be a Substitute for Humanity or Community
We may often find that the text of the Bible comes alive in an atmosphere of love, community, and service. Conversely, its meaning is obscured when we allow ourselves to become isolated and concerned only with ourselves. “Religion” cannot, in God’s plan, become a substitute for humanity or community. Our familiarity with the Bible can… Read More ›
The Ten Commandments For Would-Be Desert Mystics
Like You and Me: Thou shalt have no other God than God, and shall not make a God of thine own holiness or thy desert search for it. Thou shalt recognize that thou art a sinner and that thou shalt take the heat for it thyself. Thou shalt know that silence is golden. Thou shalt… Read More ›
You must have Saints, Mystics and Prophets
If the salvation of society depends, in the long run, on the moral and spiritual health of individuals, the subject of contemplation becomes a vastly important one, since contemplation is one of the indications of spiritual maturity. It is closely allied to sanctity. You cannot save the world merely with a system. You cannot have… Read More ›
Simple Gratitude
My own personal task is not simply that of poet and writer (still less commentator, pseudo-prophet); it is basically to praise God out of an inner center of silence, gratitude, and ‘awareness.’ This can be realized in a life that apparently accomplishes nothing. Without centering on accomplishment or non-accomplishment, my task is simply the breathing… Read More ›
Community is Built by God Alone
…community is not built by man, it is built by God. It is God’s work and the basis of community is not just sociability but faith. This is what we need to see very clearly, because it is very important. … what really starts fighting is possessions. And people get into fights by preferring things… Read More ›
Father of a Family
16. The monastic community is so constituted and arranged that it resembles the Christian home over which the Abbot or Superior presides like the father of a family; and all should depend completely on his paternal authority. “We see that it is expedient” says St. Benedict, “for the preservation of peace and charity, that the… Read More ›
Create Your Own Lives
All Christian life is meant to be at the same time profoundly contemplative and rich in active work… It is true that we are called to create a better world. But we are first of all called to a more immediate and exalted task: that of creating our own lives. In doing this, we act… Read More ›