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.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Chapter 18: The order for reciting the psalms (paragraphs 1-2)

Each hour begins with following verse: O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me. (From para. 1 of Ch. 18 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

How wonderful that Benedict directed his monks to begin each hour of the Divine Office, with the same verse that Cassian had recommended as a formula for continuous prayer. And, for Fr John, Cassian's recommendation of a formula became the key to his recovering the Christian tradition of the mantra. The psalmist, Cassian, St. Benedict and John Main all point me continuously towards God.

1 comment:

Travis Wade ZINNFebruary 22, 2019 at 4:19 AM
It seems to me that the most basic of prayers is "Lord have Mercy, God have Mercy." When I experience intense suffering this what fervently comes forth. I may pray this hundreds of times a day.
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