Chapter 52: The oratory of the monastery
The oratory must be simply a place of prayer, as the name itself implies, and it must not be used for any other activities at all nor as a place for storage of any kind.
(From Ch. 52 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
In a culture of clutter -- material, electronic, psychological, and so on -- saying the mantra purifies my heart, so that it may become simply a place of prayer.
"Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer; and let nothing else be done there or kept there."
ReplyDeleteWe must carve out a special place for God.