In May, the Church celebrates the Ascension. Ascension Day often has seemed to me to be an afterthought, coming after the wild celebration of Easter with its Sunday morning finery, decorated eggs, rousing celebratory anthems, and the return of loud “Alleluias.” However, Michael Casey, in his book Grace: On the Journey to God, states that “the mysteryContinue reading “Jesus is Now!”
Tag Archives: rule-of-st-benedict
Ora et Labora
In Chapter 48 of his Rule for Monasteries, Benedict wrote: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers and sisters should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in sacred reading….” Ora et labora—prayer and labor—was Benedict’s motto. In the Rule, Benedict extols the virtues of physical labor asContinue reading “Ora et Labora”
Celebrating Benedict
Benedict of Nursia was a sixth-century abbot who founded twelve monasteries and gave Christian monasticism its lasting foundation in Western Europe. In the early ninth century, Louis the Pious, son of the emperor Charlemagne, declared that Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries would be the standard of organization for all monastic institutions. It is hard to overestimate Benedict’s role in western civilization. BenedictineContinue reading “Celebrating Benedict”
The Rewards of Hospitality
From the Rule of St. Benedict (Excerpt from Chap. 61) If a pilgrim monk coming from a distant region wants to live as a guest of the monastery, let him be received for as long a time as he desires, provided he is content with the customs of the place as he finds them andContinue reading “The Rewards of Hospitality”
Improbable Benedictine 