Chapter 48: Daily manual labor (paragraphs 3-5)

From the first of October to the beginning of Lent they should devote themselves to lectio divina until the end of the second hour, at which time they gather for Terce and then they work at the tasks assigned to them until the ninth hour.

(From para. 3 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB,1997.)

My translation of the Rule has a very interesting note on the concept of hours in Roman times: Each day, from dawn to dusk, and each night, from dusk to dawn, was divided into twelve equal hours that varied according to the season. The translator adds, "Timekeeping, therefore, called for a special expertise and flexibility." This expertise and flexibility seems to me to have been based on the experience of natural rhythms. It implies discipline and adaptability that spring from a simple awareness of being -- a more holy approach to time than obsessively checking a watch.