Chapter 16: The hours of the work of God during the day
And so at these times let us offer praise to out Creator because of his justice revealed in his judgements -- that is at Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline and in the night let us arise to praise him.
(From Ch. 16 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
I love to know the small, daily details of someone's life -- what time do they get up? what is their morning routine? their spiritual practice? what is their physical and mental attitude while doing routine chores? where do they place their attention? I think this interest arises from my own deep longing for direction in the practice of making time holy. Meditation has taught me the most important method of discipline, and also of receptivity to grace permeating every aspect of now.
This reading tells me “Pray always.” For me, meditation is one way to do this. There are many moments during the day when I can just be present and say my mantra: at a red light, waiting on line at the store, washing dishes. The hard part is remembering.
ReplyDelete"Seven times a day have I praised you", Benedict quotes the psalm to instruct monks to pray the Divine Office at set times. I am not living in a monastery but I read this to mean to turn my mind and heart to God as many times as I can during the day and at night even beyond those fixed times of meditation. The constant repetition of the mantra helps me to pray frequently and simply and to turn my attention to God. As St. Augustine put it, "frequent prayers" which "are very short" are "hurled like swift javelins". Throwing a javelin takes energy and a strong, short thrust, and focus as one takes aim. That to me is the mantra.
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