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 time in lectio divina. (From para. 1 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
For me, to be idle is a recognizable but unsatisfying state, characterized by distractibility and fantasy, and it is not true rest. I find that the difficult but true remedy for idleness is a discipline of giving one-pointed attention, and the openness of spirit that comes from that, through hands-on work, through an inner listening to the Word. I know I am not idle if my soul is resting in God.
For me, to be idle is a recognizable but unsatisfying state, characterized by distractibility and fantasy, and it is not true rest. I find that the difficult but true remedy for idleness is a discipline of giving one-pointed attention, and the openness of spirit that comes from that, through hands-on work, through an inner listening to the Word. I know I am not idle if my soul is resting in God.
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