Chapter 16: The hours of the work of God during the day
And so at these times let us offer praise to our 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.)
Keeping time holy is, for me, one of the most wonderful of monastic disciplines. In my life, I have the stability of my twice-daily practice of meditation, a stability which spreads itself out into more continuous prayer -- of my breathing the mantra on a path of redemption, redeeming me, my conditions, and redeeming time.
I find that even if I do not have time for formal prayer outside the times for my twice daily meditation, on any given day, there is always room for the mantra to surface and draw me into presence and prayer. What a wonderful gift we have received.
ReplyDeleteAny believer can admire the Muslims’ practice of acknowledging the one God by responding to calls for prayer during the day, pausing to kneel and bow to Mecca. As a Christian and budding Benedictine I, too, want to be mindful of you, Abba, throughout my day, and “bow” to you here within me and in those about me. As Joan Chittister puts it, you are the principal “Agenda” of my life. The hours of the “Work of God” are there to remind me of you, of you loving your Incarnate Word here within me, and to jump repeatedly into that stream of Love, your Spirit.
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