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.

Monday, March 30, 2015

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'm sensing an inward movement -- the work of God (meditation) and my places of work -- closing in on each other, becoming more continuous.

2 comments:

valMarch 31, 2015 at 3:31 AM
The monastery to which I belong has no walls. I carry this monastery with me wherever I go. The door of the monastery is my heart and the key is the mantra. The porter is Christ who welcomes me. The cellarer is Christ who provides for my every need and the Abbot is Christ who sees to it that I do everything at the proper time "with humility, seriousness and reverence."(Rule, chapter 47)
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Wally SaundersApril 1, 2015 at 6:30 AM
“Kneel where you are”, says Benedict. The Muslims respond to the call to prayer five times per day by kneeling where they are, Abba. Can I, your child, adopted little brother of your Son, your Anointed One, do less?
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