Tag: Rule
Oblate Breviary
We have now had a chance to fully review the Oblate Breviary published by St. Meinrads. It has many good features. It follows the Rule but keeps in mind the time constraints of Oblates. It has a four week Psalter cycle and introduces chant into the Breviary. It has a simplified format that is easy… Read More ›
Christ, the Way
Benedict immediately goes on, Christo omnino nihil praeponant. Absolutely nothing is to be placed before Christ. This is the crown of it. Christ is first, center, power, and the meaning of our life—the total center. The abbot has this meaning because he is the sacrament of Christ, and we need sacraments. He is there to… Read More ›
God must be loved as a Father
26. It is of first and primary importance that the supreme Deity be reverenced and His holy laws obeyed in private and in public life; otherwise, there is no human power capable of checking and keeping under due control the unleashed passions of peoples. Religion alone provides the support for what is right and honorable…. Read More ›
Love for the Abbot
What Benedict says next is interesting; it is unexpected. You think now that after he has talked about the fear of God, he will immediately talk about the love of God. Instead, he drops in, abbatem suum sincera et humili caritate diligant. Love his abbot with a sincere and humble charity. This tells us how… Read More ›
Pennington on Chapter 72 of the rule (cont.)
Obedience. Benedict goes on, oboedientiam sibi certatim impendant. We obey one another. We obey one another but certatim. Certatim expresses the idea of a certain jostling. If everybody is trying to obey each other, obviously there is going to be a certain competition there. That is what Benedict is saying. You struggle to be the… Read More ›
Patience
First of all, we honor one another. Then, he goes on (and he is very realistic): infirmitates suas sive corporum sive morum patientissime tolerent. We tolerate, with the greatest possible patience, the infirmities of body and of the way of morum—the way of acting, functioning, the way we present ourselves, the way we live. We… Read More ›
A Burning Love
Benedict goes on to describe this. It is really a description of what he sees as a way of spirituality, a way of growth into the fullness, a way of going into God. Hunc ergo zelum ferventissimo amore exerceant monachi. The monk is to make this zeal his own with a most fervent, burning love…. Read More ›
Zeal of Monks
In this crowning chapter, chapter seventy-two, Benedict speaks of the good zeal of monks. He liked that word zeal. It is a powerful word that is used in the scriptures [3]. There is something about Benedict that is zealous. There is a certain energy to him, a certain vibrancy and vitality. He uses hasten (curritur,… Read More ›
Oblate Meeting, January 17, 2010
Due to scheduling conflicts the newsletter did not go out this month. There will be a meeting of all Oblates Sunday, January 17th at 3:30 in the Gallagher Room. The meeting will close with Vespers at 5:30. Novices are asked to read the chapter on “Silence” in Finding Sanctuary. Oblates are asked to read chapter… Read More ›
St. Benedict’s Mission
St. Benedict has a distinct mission for the sanctification of monks [and Oblates]. He intervenes personally and directly in the lives of all his sons [and daughters]. He teaches them not only through the written word of the Rule, but also through a charismatic intervention in the lives of his monks, which continues and will… Read More ›