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.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

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

As a special provision during these days of Lent each member of the community is to be given a book from the library to read thoroughly each day in a regular and conscientious way. (From para. 4 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I'm interested in Benedict's Lenten directions to have only one book, and to read it daily in a regular and conscientious way. For me, this would be a form of fasting, accustomed as I am to dipping freely into books and the internet. It would also be a form of lectio that would bring my disciplined and selfless attention to the book. Meditation teaches me that I can bring these qualities, even beyond Lent, to every single aspect of my life.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersNovember 27, 2016 at 5:13 AM
This reminds me of the words of another Benedictine Oblate, Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement and canonization candidate: “The gospel is hard,” she continued. “Loving your enemies, and the worst are of your own household, is hard.” (Patrick Jordan, Commonweal, 1/25/2013). Abba, open my heart to embrace your presence here, in the midst of family turmoil. Lead me into the mystery of your love revealed in the midst of family discomfort.
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