Chapter 49: How Lent should be observed in the monastery

Therefore we urge that all in the monastery during these holy days of Lent should look carefully at the integrity of their lives and get rid in this holy season of any thoughtless compromises which may have crept in at other times.

(From para. 1 of Ch. 49 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Where are the gaps?  At what points in my life is there a lack of connectivity between who I am and what I do?  What are the thoughtless compromises in which ego takes place over spirit, distraction takes place over attention, self takes place over others?

Chapter 48: Daily manual labor (paragraphs 6-7)

If there are any who are so feckless and lazy that they have become unwilling or unable any longer to study or read seriously then they must be given suitable work which is within their powers so that they may not sink into idleness.

(From para. 6 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

At the beginning of this chapter, Benedict said, "Idleness is the enemy of the soul."  That means to me that idleness is a disconnect between spirit and body -- a forgetting of the awe in which Benedict wants me to live always. That awe is a manifestation of divine energy that leads me appropriately into contemplation, into action.

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

From the first of October to the beginning of Lent they should devote themselves to lectio divina until the end of the second hour, at which time they gather for Terce and then they work at the tasks assigned to them until the ninth hour.

(From para. 3 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

My copy of the Rule carries a special note on "hours" in the Rule: "For the Romans, each day (from dawn to dusk) and each night (from dusk to dawn) was divided into twelve 'hours'. The actual length of these 'hours' varied according to the season.... Timekeeping, therefore, called for a special expertise and flexibility."

     I'm fascinated by the concept that something as, well, as chrono-logical as time could simultaneously have a very fluid and organic nature. This is a concept that I don't find in our culture. But it is an experience made available to me by a contemplative consciousness.

Chapter 48: Daily manual labor (paragraphs 1-2)

It may be, of course, that because of local conditions or the poverty of the monastery the community may themselves have to do the harvest work. If that happens it should not discourage anyone because they will really be in the best monastic tradition if the community is supported by the work of their own hands.

(From para. 2 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

This passage speaks to me of the Shaker motto: "Hands to work, and hearts to God." It seems to be that it's in that touchpoint, between hands and hearts, that my work can become energized by the Spirit.

Chapter 47: Signalling the times for the work of God

The superior is personally responsible for making sure that the time for the work of God, both at night at during the daytime, is clearly made known to all.

(From para. 1 of Ch. 47 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Today, St. Benedict exhorts me to a bravely counter-cultural stance. The "work of God", in the broadest sense of living in Christ-consciousness, is unwelcome and unfamiliar to the world at large. But, the Spirit moves to help me realize Christ in the world.

Chapter 46: Faults committed elsewhere

Any member of the community who in the course of some work in the kitchen, in the stores, while fulfilling a service to others or in the bakery, the garden or the workshops or anywhere else does something wrong or happens to break or lose something or to be guilty of some other wrongdoing, must as soon as possible appear before the superior and the community with a voluntary admission of the failure and willing reparation for it.

(From para. 1 of Ch. 46 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

For me, this passage poses an examination of conscience: is every task, every moment, every relationship an opportunity to work with love and gratitude?  Does my work mediate Christ's love for me, no matter how small the work seems?  Am I alert to the difference it makes to my consciousness, and to those around me?

Chapter 45: Mistakes in the Oratory

Anyone who makes a mistake in a psalm, responsory, antiphon or reading must have the humility to make immediate reparation there before all the community in the oratory. A failure to do that so clearly shows lack of the humility to put right a fault which was due to carelessness that it must incur a more severe punishment.

(From Ch. 45 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I think about how my distracted state of mind  -- a lack of presence -- interferes with meditation or other work I do.  But am I alert to how my distracted state of mind diminishes my community?