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.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Chapter 48: Daily manual labor (paragraphs 1-2)

Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore all the community must be occupied at definite times in manual labour and at other times in lectio divina. (From para. 1 of Chap. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Don't waste my time on trivial things. Make time holy, and let in a holy rhythm to my life. Choose where to place my attention.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersNovember 28, 2013 at 4:14 AM
“To be fit for the great task of life, we must learn to be faithful in humble tasks” (John Main, quoted by Peter Ng, “John Main: The Expanding Vision” p17.) It has taken time, but gradually my twice-daily meditation has become one of those simple, humble tasks, that I am learning to be faithful to. And this simple, humble task prepares me for the “great task of life”, of living—embracing whatever each moment brings. This includes those humble tasks of manual labor (including typing this comment) which, when I do them with love, in turn, prepare me for and enhance my task of meditation.
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