Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: labor

Everyone is in labor (quote from a woman in a dream)

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not… Read More ›

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Labor Day: a spirituality of work

“Work,” the Persian poet Gibran writes, “is love made visible.” A spirituality of work is based on a heightened sense of sacramentality, of the idea that everything that is, is holy and that our hands consecrate it to the service of God. When we grow radishes in a small container in a city apartment, we… Read More ›

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What is humility?

An old man was asked, “What is humility?” and he said in reply, “Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labor and believe yourself a sinner and make yourself subject to all.” Then a brother said, “What does it mean, to be subject to… Read More ›

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There is no Greater Labor than Prayer

The brethren also asked him [Agathon], “Amongst all good works, which is the virtue which requires the greatest effort?” He answered, “Forgive me, but I think there is no labor greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they… Read More ›

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On Daily Manual Work

There has been some discussion among the Oblates as to what is our calling when is comes to RB 48, On the Daily Manual Labor. It has been suggested by several that this should translate into volunteer service to the Monastery, doing some of the physical labor that is needed to be done. This might… Read More ›

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What Mighty Opponents Oppose Us

Once, when about to eat, having risen up to pray about the ninth hour, Antony perceived that he was caught up in the spirit, and, he stood and saw himself, as it were, from outside himself, and that he was led in the air by certain ones. Next certain bitter and terrible beings stood in… Read More ›

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Seek the Nobility of the Soul

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America’s Poor Are Its Most Generous Givers

WASHINGTON — When Jody Richards saw a homeless man begging outside a downtown McDonald’s recently, he bought the man a cheeseburger. There’s nothing unusual about that, except that Richards is homeless, too, and the 99-cent cheeseburger was an outsized chunk of the $9.50 he’d earned that day from panhandling. The generosity of poor people isn’t… Read More ›

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Two Entrepreneurs Help a Monastery Thrive

SPARTA, Wis. – At the ringing of a bowl-shaped bell, five monks at a remote monastery congregated in the chapel here for the fourth of their seven daily rounds of prayer, their voices murmuring a Gregorian chant in Latin. At the same time, in a nearby house on the monastery’s property, the phone was ringing… Read More ›

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Loving Your Neighbor

Our holy father Abba John went again to the harvest and was with the brothers as leader. With great mercy he allowed all of them to rest whenever necessary, and when he labored he would not straighten his back at all until he first clapped his hands and allowed the brothers to rest. Afterwards he… Read More ›

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