WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Chapter 18: The order for reciting the psalms (paragraph 3)

These same psalms are repeated daily until Sunday and the identical arrangement of hymns, lessons and verses is retained everyday.

(From para. 3 of Ch. 18 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I believe that what I do every day has the power to change me, especially something as rigorous as the practice of selfless attention. Routine becomes discipline at these depths, and thereby becomes transformative.

1 comment:

val latonaOctober 25, 2012 at 5:22 AM
In Chapter 18 the first sections refer to Psalm 119, one of the longest of Psalms. Sometimes I will catch the daytime hours when it is said but more often not. The beginning verse is one of comfort, strength and a call to perserverance in my meditation practice as it says, "Happy those who...seek the Lord with all their heart." So I seek having been reassured by Christ Himself that I will find the goal of my seeking.
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