Chapter 50: Those whose work takes them away from the monastery
Those whose work takes them some distance from the monastery so that they cannot manage to get to the oratory at the right times for prayer must kneel with profound reverence for the Lord and perform the work of God at their place of work.
(From para. 1 of Ch. 50 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
I wonder what it would be like to gather in an oratory to say the hours in community, and especially to experience that as part of my commitment to that community. What would my experience be? Mutual encouragement, support, tedium, irritation? Though I'm not in community, the principle that I do the right thing at the right time, regardless of mood, is a principle I learn from the practice of meditation.
I wonder what it would be like to gather in an oratory to say the hours in community, and especially to experience that as part of my commitment to that community. What would my experience be? Mutual encouragement, support, tedium, irritation? Though I'm not in community, the principle that I do the right thing at the right time, regardless of mood, is a principle I learn from the practice of meditation.
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