Credit: Dorothea Lange

Grateful simplicity sounds so nice in theory. I can envision myself living with only a few necessary possessions, frequently walking rather than driving, living an uncluttered life while offering prayers of thankfulness.

That’s the theory. The practice on the other hand….. I’m sure I’m not the only one who owns too much stuff (which I’m going to clean out any day now, honest!), who can enter deeply and easily into an attitude of entitlement whenever I can’t quickly or easily get what I think I need.

And, I have to say that Benedict doesn’t seem to be much help in this regard. In his chapter on “Private Ownership” he says: “Above all, the vice of personal ownership in the monastery must be cut out by the very root. Without the superior’s permission, no one may presume to give, receive, or keep anything as one’s own… since monastics are not allowed to have even their bodies or their wills at their own disposal.” RB 33:1-4

My first reaction is to think “Whoa, harsh dude!!” But, as usual, Benedict knew what he was talking about and also knew that being subtle does not work with most of us.

Benedict is trying to make his monks (and us) see that everything we have is a gift. We don’t easily understand or fully appreciate that everything we have and own is ultimately a gift from God. We’re not entitled to anything. Very few of us even grow, make or in any way produce what we own or use. We have to remind ourselves over and over and over again that everything is gift and ultimately a gift from God.

To help his monks understand this basic concept Benedict’s monastery was set up so that the monks would have to ask for what they needed. How quickly would your attitude change if you needed to ask someone for a new blouse or a tool to replace the one you broke? Even if the answer will certainly be “yes,” it will require some humility to go and ask for what you need rather than just going out and getting it yourself.

Benedict is asking his monks to reflect on whether they really need something versus whether they just want it, and then to be grateful to receive something they are simultaneously not entitled to and probably did nothing to earn or produce. Benedict made his monks ask permission as a way to cultivate an attitude of profound gratitude and to clear our soul of the weeds of entitlement that grow so easily and prolifically. The concept is simple but most of us probably belong in the remedial class as we try over and over again to learn it.

So, what’s next? I would like to say that writing this compelled me to immediately minimize my accumulation of “stuff” and to be more grateful for the too much that I already have. I also know that for myself, and most of us, the journey of conversion is long and slow. I will probably try to begin (again!) by pausing the next time I think I “need” something, and to give thanks that I already have all that I need, remembering that everything, even my life, is truly a gift. I will, however, have to keep working on the idea that Benedict might think I don’t really need so many books!

Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that the two disciples need more than the subtle approach. Personally, I think it took incredible discipline on the part of Jesus not to shake them and say “guys, it’s me, hello!” Understandably Jesus does lose his cool a little bit: “”Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!” He realizes that these disciples are not the sharpest knives in the drawer and so he gives them some special tutoring so that they can understand how the Scriptures foretold the coming of the Messiah. That’s the key, he helps them understand what happened, to get it through their head.

You’d think that would be the end of the story, wouldn’t you? Now they understand the Scriptures, that Jesus’ death and resurrection was foretold, it’s clear. But the story doesn’t end. When they come to their destination it looks like Jesus is going to keep on going, the passage says: “But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.” It still hasn’t clicked who’ve they’ve been talking to? He’s an interesting guy, he understands the Scriptures, but they don’t know who he is.

He’s stays with them “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.” Up until that moment they didn’t know that Jesus was the Christ. They had an idea that the coming of the messiah was foretold in the Scripture, but they did not experience the risen Christ. It was only in the breaking of the bread that they experienced the lived reality of the resurrection.

The more I reflected I realized this passage isn’t just about the clueless disciples finally recognizing that Jesus is the Christ. The key is the breaking of the bread.

I think this is the important part. They recognize Jesus in an incredibly ordinary way. They didn’t recognize him because he stood in front of the Temple preaching, it wasn’t because he performed a huge miracle, he wasn’t at a Passover seder. He shared a very ordinary meal. He did what they all did at every meal, gave a blessing and shared bread. In an ordinary moment, with an ordinary piece of bread, and an ordinary blessing, that was the moment the disciples realized that reality had changed. The Jesus they saw die is the Christ and death has been defeated.

So this is not only a resurrection story, basically it’s the first Eucharist, isn’t it? For the first time Jesus, the Christ, shares his very presence in bread, wine and blessing. The key is that the presence of the holy is in the ordinary. For the disciples it was ordinary bread, an ordinary blessing. It was a meal like thousands of other meals they’d had but it was different, because the living God is present in ordinary things. The ordinary becomes holy, becomes Eucharist, when the disciples realized that Jesus is the Christ who has defeated power of death. God is alive and we experience the living God in ordinary life.

The story tells us that Jesus is saying—I’m with you in your daily life, when you’re walking down the road, sharing a meal. Jesus is saying—in your journey, in the strangers you meet, in everyday meals, I am present. Daily life is where you encounter me. The reality that I have conquered death means that ultimately the world is holy and daily life is where you see me.

Perhaps this passage is telling us that the Eucharist, when ordinary bread and wine become the presence of Christ, doesn’t just happen on special occasions. Maybe this story means that we live in a Eucharistic world. The risen Christ is present everywhere, in all that we experience. Like the slightly clueless disciples, we only need to open our eyes and recognize the risen Christ in our midst. Here, today, He is risen. Christ has conquered death and invites to experience a eucharistic world in which we experience his presence on our journey, in our conversations, in everyday meals.

To be clear, we are extremely blessed to be celebrating Mass this morning, what a gift, but I’d invite to you to also be blessed throughout the day by realizing we live in a eucharistic world where Christ is present in all our ordinary moments.

He is risen, alleluia!

Earlier, I was reflecting on this night, the readings, the fire, the waiting, how we start in the dark. What we do is such a contrast to how Easter has been domesticated in the wider culture. If you think about the images of Easter that we are likely to see—the chocolate bunnies, colored hard-boiled eggs, rabbits carrying little baskets. In popular culture Easter is cute, it’s nice, it involves chocolate (I have to say I like that part).

But we gather at night, in the dark. The Easter vigil is a reminder that this night is not safe, it’s not nice. We do not worship a domesticated God, a God of chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. Instead, we hold vigil, waiting together at night, not during the day when everything is bright and clear. We come in the dark, we have to light a fire and candles to see. And we do it in order remind ourselves that every day we are walking around in darkness. We live in the darkness of wars, divisions, suffering, injustice. The darkness in our world is real, it’s deep, and it’s terrifying.

And so, we do what people have done throughout time. We tell our stories of hope. We tell our stories of God’s faithfulness to us, His stiff-necked people. When we tell our stories again, this year, we bring into being a new reality that breaks through darkness and once again declares that the light has conquered the darkness.

The stories we tell today aren’t simple, they aren’t easy. The stories remind us of God’s incredible faithful love, and of humanity’s continuing, never-ending inability to be faithful to God. Our stories start at the creation and go all through the Hebrew Bible. We hear how our ancestors just couldn’t keep God’s covenant, they sinned, they fell short and God kept taking them back.

And then finally comes the climax, the story we’ve been waiting for, the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, our redeemer. Finally, we get to the story that is the climax of all the stories. The Gospel is our alleluia moment. The moment we’ve been waiting for.

But, did you notice anything strange about the Gospel passage? Shouldn’t it be full alleluia’s, excited people rejoicing that Christ is risen, planning their Easter brunch, buying chocolate bunnies. But instead, this short Gospel passage says: don’t be afraid. Isn’t that odd? The angel told the women don’t be afraid, go tell his disciples. Jesus told the women don’t be afraid, go tell my brothers. What’s going on? Why are the women afraid?

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary didn’t know how the story ended, they’d never heard it before. All they knew was that they saw Jesus, their Rabboni, their teacher, tortured to death on a cross. And they knew that neither dead people nor angels come and talk to you and tell you to do things. That is not how the world works. That is not how reality works. They couldn’t skip ahead to find out how this story ended.

In the Gospel, we watch the Marys trying to grasp what has happened. Just imagine having the rug of reality pulled out from under you. Imagine, all of a sudden here’s an angel, whose appearance is like lightning. And then, there is someone who you saw die, standing in front of you. And both of them say “don’t be afraid and go tell the others.” Don’t be afraid? Tell the others? I’d be afraid to tell my psychiatrist. Of course they were afraid, it looks like the fundamental nature of reality has just changed.

The two Marys are being asked to believe something impossible. And even if Jesus had told them earlier he would, that’s totally different than actually seeing someone who must be a ghost, because they saw him die. Their understanding of reality just changed. They are walking from the darkest night of death into a breaking dawn of life. When we see them there at the tomb the light is dawning in their minds, in their souls. They are trying to grasp that the power and love of God is greater than death. They are trying to grasp that God can conquer all darkness, all death. It is dawning, literally and figuratively on the Marys that darkness and death no longer reign supreme.

That is what we re-enact tonight, isn’t it? We start in darkness. Yesterday we told the story of what seemed to be the finality of suffering and death. And tonight we entered in darkness, we kept vigil, in order to truly understand, truly experience that light and life have conquered sin and death. Tonight we experience again the reality that nothing will ever be the same. We are reminded again that we should never take this night for granted.

The angel and Jesus told the women to go and tell the disciples. Tell them death has been conquered. And that’s what we also are called to witness, to tell the world. We go out and tell the world by living the new reality starting in our own lives. If Christ lives then we are not limited by the power of death. There is hope, the darkness will not triumph. Let us live the profound new reality of Easter. Don’t be afraid, Christ has conquered sin and death. Don’t be afraid, live in the light. Don’t be afraid, tell the good news. Don’t be afraid, love has triumphed. Don’t be afraid, proclaim the resurrection with how you live your lives. Amen, Alleluia.

Nora, who cleaned the building at night, came in to get his trash. He looked up. “Hello Nora, how are you?” he said, as he always did.

“Very well, thanks be to God,” she said, as she always did, and pulled a fresh trash can liner from her bucket. As she took out the old liner he passed his hands over his eyes.

“Nora, how can you give thanks to a God who allows such suffering?”

She stood up and looked at him. “Professor, if God came through that door right now, how many of us would there be in the room?”

“Three, I guess?”

“In that case, the answer to your question is that God’s ways are not our ways.” She smiled, and patted his desk, as if she would rather have patted his arm, and left.

The professor thought about what she had said. Working late some time later, he saw Nora again. How are you. Well, thanks be to God.

“Nora, maybe if God appeared, there would still be just two of us in the room. God being of a different order.”

“Ah,” she said with a twinkle. “In that case, the answer to your question is that the only hands God has to relieve suffering are yours and mine.” She took his trash, and left.

It was the night before he would leave for the conference to present his paper. He needed a success in his bid for tenure, and he was doing some last minute work. Nora opened the door, carrying the new trash can liner.

The lights in the hall were warm, and the wall behind her glowed gold. She looked like an icon.

“Nora, what would you say if I said that if God came through the door right now, there would be only one in the room?”

“Bless you, professor, I would say--what was the question again?” She folded her hands around the bag and looked at him.

The professor looked back, then shut his eyes, and breathed deeply. “No questions, Nora. Not one.”

Credit: Sonia Gechtoff

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Many, many years ago I remember someone writing about the Annunciation and wondering whether Mary wasn’t the first girl to be visited by the angel. Maybe Mary was just the first one to say “yes.” Or, in my collection of memes I have a picture of a famous renaissance painting of Gabriel kneeling before Mary who has her hand out and she says “I’m sorry, not without a pre-nuptial agreement.”

Do you notice, in the Gospel how the story plays out? Gabriel says: Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

Gabriel is declaring, behold, this is how it will be!

How does Mary respond? Does she say: “Oh well, OK, I guess, if you say so…”

No. She says, wait a minute. “How can this be?” She’s thinking: “I’ve never taken a biology class, but I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck either, and no, that isn’t how having children works.” Who would blame Mary if she said: “Sorry but, no offense, I know you’re an angel, but just leave me alone, OK?”

No, she didn’t do that. She listened, she pondered, she decided. “May it be done to me according to your word.”

But that brings us back to the original question, doesn’t it? What if this wasn’t just an historical event. What if Gabriel is still whispering to us every day? Do not be afraid! You have found favor with God, and you will bear the presence of God in the world. Each of us, today, has the choice of listening and becoming the presence of God in the world, through our presence, our prayer, our compassion, our love, our service. Because isn’t that how God is made present?

Listen! What is Gabriel saying to you today? How are you responding?

This being human is a guest house

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

After hiking for an hour my spirit softened and I began to see the forest with a deep sense of presence and awareness. As we hiked, soaking in the rain and the beauty of the place, plants, critters, fog, (and of course the trees!) my vision shifted. I was completely gobsmacked by the abundance and variety of species living in, on, and because of those beautiful ancient living things. Redwoods are “not just trees — they are part of complex communities of living things interacting with their environment.”¹

The awesomeness of ginormous living redwoods is no small thing and as I slowed down enough to carefully observe the area around fallen redwoods, the magic of the earthy, fertile creation in which we were enveloped became reality. In the image below are fallen redwoods, each having completed their original mission: standing tall, shading and nurturing the surrounding environment.

After dying trees continue to support the environment around themselves, in addition to hosting an abundance of new life. From feeding the microscopic organisms underground, to ferns and other epiphytes, fungi, huckleberry, currant, elderberry, sorrel, alder, etc. Fully living and thriving new redwood trees grow around, in and on the fallen trees. It was a joy to immerse myself into the amazing energy of those trees. A parallel reality touched my mind and heart in the redwood forest that day and I have been ruminating on it since. These notes are a product of several sessions of personal lectio. So, what does this have to do with Benedictine Spirituality? Read on!

Benedict founded his monasteries as a radical alternative to a world of chaos in the 5th century. Since then, Benedictine monasticism has continually adapted to “respond to the needs of the times.” Point of fact or my opinion: creative adaption to change is a primary Benedictine charism! Benedictine monasticism has never stayed the same for long as large monasteries and magnificent contributions to our world gave way to smaller communities, which in later centuries grew again in large numbers. Right now our world is filled with chaos, uncertainty, natural and human caused disasters, violence, pain. At the same time many Benedictine monastic communities are declining or coming to completion. At St Gertrude’s a different plan is underway.

Much like that beautiful redwood environment that is constantly in transition, (and every other healthy forest for that matter) our St. Gertrude’s Community nurtures the world around it and extends its reach well beyond. And, like the redwoods, it is changing and actively adapting as are most monastic communities in north America. We cannot predict with certainty what the future will bring but we do know that healthy growth will continue to come if we look to the future with creativity and grace. There is no time for fear as we live into transformation of the world!

Benedictine spirituality is not just about me and my personal journey but that is the critical first step, yes? St. Benedict has set out a practical and do-able roadmap and Benedictine monasticism now has many forms as it has adapted to the times and needs of society. Will we look and feel the same in five years, or ten? Highly unlikely. Just as the amazing abundance of life growing in, around, on, and because of fallen redwoods and the symbiotic network beneath the ground, monasticism will continue in new wonderful ways. And so too, St. Gertrude’s as we continue to grow into the Center for Benedictine Life. As we nurture each other and in turn enrich our personal circles of influence, may we with grace continue to live into our Benedictine promises as appropriate. We are Sisters, Oblates, Employees, Koinonia and small Benedictine community members walking each other home. And may hospitality, simplicity and peacemaking remain our priorities.

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Jane Somerton has been an Oblate of the Monastery of St. Gertrude since 1988. She has held several leadership positions, and currently chairs the Board of the Center for Benedictine Life.

We live in a time and culture of instant action and reaction. We read the news (or Facebook) and know immediately what we think and begin to react accordingly. Our minds are made up and we’re planning our action. And, given the state of the world, lots of action is needed.

But Benedictines have been around for over 1500 years because they take the long view, not the reactive view. Through the centuries of the rise and fall of empires, wars, plagues, decline and reform, Benedictines are still around. We are around because we are rooted in prayer and humility. Every day, no matter what is going on, we pray. We pray because the fate of the world does not depend solely on us. We pray because we are people of faith who believe in the power of God. We pray because we know that the ultimate “systemic change” comes from each of us changing the actions and attitudes that become dysfunctional systems. Unless each one of us does the hard inner work of getting past our anger, judgment, arrogance, entitlement, etc. etc. then we have not really contributed to changing and healing the world.

Mary Lee Bendolph

I suspect that our deep focus on the value of humility as the embodiment of what it means to be Christlike is what the world needs now. Yes, we need to act, but perhaps even more we need to be agents of change through our willingness to see our world as a community in which we are all committed to being transformed. We start with ourselves first which gives us the credibility to call others to change. It seems appropriate that humility, which comes from the word humus or earth, is truly the grass roots change we are trying to demonstrate. It is up to us to model that change and to support one another in the process. A quote often attributed to Gandhi, that I suspect Benedict would like, is: “be the change you want to see in the world.” May this be our gift to the world.

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En una noche oscura,
con ansias en amores inflamada
¡oh dichosa ventura!
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.

One dark night,

Full of longing and a heart on fire

—Such good fortune!—

I left unnoticed

As the house was quiet.

A oscuras y segura,
por la secreta escala, disfrazada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!
a oscuras y en celada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.

In the safety of the dark,

By a secret, hidden ladder

—Such good fortune!—

In the dark, concealed,

As the house was quiet.

En la noche dichosa,
en secreto, que nadie me veía,
ni yo miraba cosa,
sin otra luz y guía
sino la que en el corazón ardía.

In the blessed night,

In secret, so none saw me,

Nor did I see anything.

Without any light or guide

But the burning in my heart.

Aquesta me guiaba
más cierto que la luz del mediodía
a donde me esperaba
quien yo bien me sabía,
en parte donde nadie parecía.

Such guided me

More surely than the noonday sun

To where I was awaited

By one I well knew,

There where no one could be seen.

¡Oh noche, que guiaste!
¡Oh noche amable más que la alborada!
¡Oh noche que juntaste
Amado con amada
amada en el Amado transformada!

Oh night, my guide!

Oh night, kinder even than the dawn!

Oh night that melded

Beloved with beloved

Beloved in the Beloved transformed!

En mi pecho florido,
que entero para él solo se guardaba,
allí quedó dormido,
y yo le regalaba,
y el ventalle de cedros aire daba.

In my blooming breast,

All saved only for the One and only,

All slept,

And I gave all to the Holy

And the cedars gave all their scent to the air.

El aire de la almena,
cuando yo sus cabellos esparcía,
con su mano serena
en mi cuello hería,
y todos mis sentidos suspendía.

The scent of your brow

When I pushed aside your locks,

With your steady hand

You slashed my neck,

And all my senses dissolved.

Quedé y olvidéme,
el rostro recliné sobre el Amado;
cesó todo, y dejéme,
dejando mi cuidado
entre las azucenas olvidado.

I forgot myself entirely

My face laid on my Love

Everything stopped

Leaving my troubles

Among the forgotten blooms.

Credit: Francisco Antonio Gijón

—I will climb up there, and she may be able to tell me how to get to Paradise.

It was a long climb. After the first day, the pavement gave out. After the second day, the road diminished to a trail. After the third day there was no more trail, so all she could do was to keep climbing up.

Her legs burned, but on the fourth day, she got a second wind, and was very happy and proud of persevering. She had reached the Hermit’s cave!

The Seeker approached.

—Holy Hermit, can you tell me how to get to Paradise? The Hermit looked surprised.

—Certainly, she said. —Follow me.

Now they both climbed, to the very top of the mountain. There was a thick rope hanging down from the clouds.

Credit: Uliya Kurilova

—That is the way to Paradise, said the Hermit. She looked at the Seeker.

—Your legs are okay, but you will need more upper body strength. Come back when you can do 100 push-ups.

The Seeker’s face fell.

Now, this had happened often before, and a Seeker would go away disappointed, and that would be that. But let us imagine in this case that the Seeker goes home and sulks for a month. Then she thinks—Do I have anything better to do? No. I might as well do push-ups.

By the time she can do 50, her whole body feels different. Ordinary chores are now a pleasure because of the opportunity to move her muscles. Everything feels good.

The question is, will she keep at it until she gets to 100? And then, will she go back up the mountain?

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Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. (Heb 12:2)

When engaged in the Work of God, always press in the direction of mindfulness.

Of course, we want to press in the direction of mindfulness at all times, because we know we are always in the presence of God. But as beginners, we can put our greatest effort into being mindful during liturgical prayer as a starting point.

Chapter 20 Reverence at Prayer

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. (Ps. 86:3)

Keep your prayer short and pure.

Why? Because this is your heart reaching out to God with longing and devotion. We have all read or heard beautiful and inspiring prayers that are not short! Whatever good effect they may intend or inspire, they are meant to elevate the hearer rather than express the deepest, most humble cry of the author. St. Benedict reminds us that we are communicating with God in prayer, not with each other. Your prayers to God are best short and genuine--the title of a book by Anne Lamott suggests what this might be like-- Help Thanks Wow.

Chapter 31 Qualifications of the Cellarer

Now a bishop must be . . . temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money (1 Tim 3:2-3)

In our monasteries, we are all a part of leadership, as well as of those led. Even as beginners, we must aspire to the personal qualities listed here: wise, mature in conduct, temperate, not gluttonous, not proud, excitable, stingy, or wasteful, but God-fearing and like a parent to the whole community. . . . Above all let the cellarer be humble.”

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Chapter 32 The Tools and Goods of the Monastery

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (Jn 1:3)

We abjure the disposable, and honor the tools we are given. We reject “throwaway culture.” Also, when using goods, we take care of them as if they were God’s alone. While we are beginners. A little further along, we will take care of them because we can’t help loving them.

Chapter 33 Private Ownership

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. (Acts 4:32)

Consider the difference between needs and wants in your own life.

Private ownership, says St. Benedict, is ‘a detestable vice.’ Given that language, we should not rush past this one, even though it does not seem directly applicable to a community who have separate homes and incomes.

We have principles of spending based on our upbringing, and the values of our current community. One of these might be ‘affordability.’ We have all heard people say, ‘Well if you can afford it, it is a nice thing to have.’ But what counts as affordable depends on the size of your bank account, not on the value of the thing itself.

Teasing out the line between needs and wants is something each of us must do for our own situation, and it is a process that continues as long as we live! The action item for this pass through the Rule is to begin to consider the difference in your own life.

Chapter 35 Weekly Kitchen Servers

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. (Jn 13:13-14)

The message for us this time through the Rule may be that everyone must participate in the most menial of tasks, which should be organized so as not to be a burden on any one person, and also allow even those with disabilities to serve.

Chapter 39 The Quantity of Food

The one who observes a special day, observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God. (Rom 14:6)

Keep your food and drink simple and cheap.

There is a certain refinement about eating and drinking that accompanies a more expensive style of living. Having the taste to distinguish between good wine, and better wine. Being able to appreciate the superiority of fresh-squeezed orange juice over powdered drink mix. Many people find this kind of refinement to be morally neutral, or even desirable, as an expression of good taste.

St. Benedict stresses frugality. While he wants everyone to have enough, he doesn’t want anyone to develop or admire this kind of taste.

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Chapter 40 The Quantity of Drink

He causes grass to sprout for the animals and vegetation for the work of man, to bring forth bread from the earth. And wine, which cheers man’s heart, to make the face shine from oil, and bread, which sustains man’s heart. (Ps 104:13-14)

Whatever its level now, reduce your alcohol consumption.

Wine cheers our hearts, the Psalmist says, and St. Benedict does not deny it, but he warns against allowing drunkenness to creep in. He offers the model of the desert Mothers and Fathers, who drank no wine at all.

Chapter 41 The Times for Community Meals

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that (Tim 6:7-8)

Move toward eating less frequently.

In the Rule, there is one meal a day, or sometimes an additional collation. It is surprising how much of our food consumption is for fun, rather than for need. Taking into account your individual needs, do what you can to reduce eating for fun.

Chapter 42 Silence after Compline

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. (Ps 62:5)

Accept silence as a gift, and enjoy it as often as possible.

It is in the silence of our hearts that we are most able to experience the presence of God. External silence is a prerequisite for ‘heart silence,’ especially for beginners.

Chapter 43 Tardiness at the Work of God or at Table

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. (Col:3:23)

Make attending the meetings of your monastery the highest priority.

As we do not daily pray and eat together in our monastery, for us, this implies a sacred commitment to the time established for the group to be together, either in person, or virtually. While it is better to come in late than not to appear at all, it is best to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to attend. Either way, we are demonstrating where the community stands in our list of priorities.

Chapter 44 Satisfaction by the Excommunicated

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. (Heb 13:17)

Take responsibility for your own failures.

We have all experienced the requirement to be obedient to authorities we did not choose. Our parents, teachers, the police, etc. Benedictine obedience is chosen, not imposed. When we fail our community through lackluster attendance or practice, we need to make satisfaction. The nature of this satisfaction should be considered by the group, but most especially by the one who needs to make it.

Chapter 48 The Daily Manual Labor

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. (Prov 31:27)

The daily routine must include manual labor, as well as reading and the psalms.

Nowadays one can work hard for hours without ever getting out of a chair. Manual work is a reminder of the basic needs of life (chopping wood, hauling water) and is also a tonic because it requires interacting with Creation.

Spiritual reading (lectio divina) also must have its own time on the schedule. If you have spent time today musing over a psalm, and also mopping the floor, it was a day well spent!

Chapter 49 The Observance of Lent

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:3)

Step up your game.

Lent is a time to step up your game, whether you are giving something up, or taking something on. As Lent approaches, the community may ponder what it means to them as a group. Are we going to initiate a practice we mean to continue after Easter? Are we going to make a considerable sacrifice for the benefit of others? This will be fun, trust me. And after a few years, the meaning will change!

Chapter 50 Those Working at a Distance, or Traveling

Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. Great peace have they which love thy law: And nothing shall offend them. (Ps 119:164-165)

Do not neglect liturgy, even if it is inconvenient to you or to others. Even if you are in a meeting.

This takes consistency and perseverance. As you press in this direction, one intermediate step might be to recite the one psalm you have memorized from Sext, say, or Vespers, at the appropriate hour. Another adaptation would be to pray the hour a little early, if you know that you will be in a meeting at noon. But keep pushing toward praying the Office in its entirety.

Chapter 51 Those on a Short Journey

Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. (Proverbs 3:6)

Avoid occasions that may tempt you away from your community or your practice.

Nowadays, ‘eating out’ includes a quick trip to a fast food drive-through. In St. Benedict’s day, eating was almost always a social event, and an invitation to eat required reciprocity. As a member of a monastic community, your priority is to the values and practices of that group. Creating obligations outside of that group is perhaps an issue your monastery should discuss.

Chapter 52 The Oratory of the Monastery

. . . when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. (Mt. 6:6)

Keep the oratory a place for worship

The oratory is the place for beautiful things, and for silence. It is good for you to have a place that is only used for attending to the Lord. If you do not have such a space, you might have a particular posture for liturgical prayer, or a ritual that distinguishes that prayer time from the rest of the day.

Chapter 53 The Reception of Guests

I was a stranger and you took me in (Matt 25:35)

Be on the lookout for the poor and the stranger to welcome.

“The greatest care should be shown in the reception of the poor and travelers, because Christ is received more especially in them, whereas our awe for the wealthy itself gains them respect.” (RSB, Ch53)

While there is no physical monastery that might receive guests, we all have the opportunity for guests in our lives, and these guests are not already our personal friends.

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Chapter 55 The Clothing and Footgear of the Community

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matt 6:25)

Personal belongings, including clothing and bedding, should be kept to a minimum.

What this means will vary from person to person, but all of us should routinely ask ourselves if any particular belonging is really necessary.

Chapter 57 The Artisans of the Monastery

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:11)

Do not become proud about your skills, or your ability to bring in money. Do not allow making a profit to become the highest good.

From childhood, many of us have been taught that our identity is defined by our work, and work does develop the identity in a direction. In our monastery, our work is to purify our souls and build up the Reign of God; all else is secondary.

This is another way of rejecting the values of the world.

Chapter 66 The Porter of the Monastery

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is 55:8-9)

Keep an unmistakable boundary between the world and the community; also welcome the guest into the community.

We want to always be attending to the invisible realities, not distracted by ‘the world. It is a task that requires considerable resolution. It is not good for your soul to go about outside because you will inevitably be tempted to go along with a world-view and lifestyle that you have become a monastic to resist. Guests are welcome, as long as they accept the world-view and lifestyle of our monastery--at least for the duration of their stay.

Chapter 67 Those Sent on a Journey

. . . everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Rom 14:23)

Don’t read trivial gossip on Twitter, etc. And certainly do not share trivial gossip from Twitter with others!

Everything not oriented toward holiness is a distraction from holiness. So listening to idle talk, watching something evil--even playing phone games!—is to be avoided. And when it cannot be avoided, you may want to make amends, or ask a blessing from the community.

Chapter 68 Assignment of Impossible Tasks

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Phil 2:14-15)

Try to do as you are asked.

If you are asked to do something, do not be hasty in saying, “Oh, that is too much for me.” It may be God has something for you to learn in your failure, if you fail. But you can return to the community, and admit it is beyond you.

Chapter 69 The Presumption of Defending Another

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Never participate in factions in the monastery.

Your allegiance is first to God, and then to the community. Do not speak or act in a way to undermine either.

Chapter 71 Mutual Obedience

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22)

Obeying one another is a high priority--consider carefully before you don’t.

You may even want to consult someone about this, so you are not following your own will. Obedience, in this new world we are creating, is a blessing.

Chapter 72 Good Zeal

I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.…(Phil 3:13-14)

All aboard the train bound for Glory!

No one gets a ticket unless everyone does! Let’s keep pressing in the direction of holiness, helping our sisters and brothers when they feel faint.

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Appendix

Prayer

Silent contemplation

Christians have practiced silent contemplation before God since the time of Christ, and others from other traditions have practiced it since long before then. The following is one way for beginners to get started. There are elements of this practice that resemble learning how to ride a bicycle; that is, some physical skills to learn before you can take off with joy.

Set a timer for a length that is not intimidating. If ten minutes sounds like too much, make it five. You can always continue in silence when your timer goes off, if you like.

If you can, sit in a quiet spot. This is especially important when you are getting started, and are easily distracted by noise.

Attend to your breathing. Do you feel it in your chest? Or perhaps in your nose, as the air enters? Over time, you may be able to move your awareness of your breath to your belly. You can practice this anytime you are not being social. We find a long car trip to be a good time to practice.

When you notice you are distracted from your breathing, go back to it. This is the core of the practice. You will be distracted, and have to return to noticing your breath over and over. Don’t bother blaming yourself, because you are learning something new. Did you blame yourself for not recognizing the letter ‘a’ when you were learning to read?

Those are the basics. It may be helpful to start every session with a phrase that has meaning for you, such as “In You I live and move and have my being.” (Acts 17:28), or “You are closer to me than I am to myself.” (St. Augustine, (Confessions III, 6, 11) Build up the amount of time you spend in silent worship as you are able, and if you can, sit down to silence more than once a day.

Once you are routinely praying in this manner for ten or more minutes once or more each day, you may want to put some effort into remaining physically still. When a joint starts to ache, or an eye starts to itch so much that you are distracted from your breathing, direct your attention to the spot of the discomfort instead of moving to relieve it. You will be surprised at the result, we think!

Physical and external stillness support inner stillness. You will be drawing your attention back to the breath for the rest of your life, although maybe not as frequently in years to come. For a further discussion of this kind of prayer, we recommend The Cloud of Unknowing.

Cordelia and Daphne are starting such a practice together. Cordelia has sat in silence before, but not for a long while. She is disciplined and goal-oriented, and now she is frustrated with her inability to keep her attention on her breath the way she used to. Daphne is not so disciplined. She was the kind of child who could stare out a window for an hour. She also has trouble keeping her attention on her breath, because she is not aware of where her attention is. When their time is up, Cordelia is upset with herself, and ashamed. Daphne feels as if she just woke up from a nap. Both of them were immersed in the Holy, although neither of them knows it yet.

Lectio Divina

As you have seen in the Rule, Benedictines are instructed to spend hours every day in lectio, and in memorizing Scripture. This may well be the most fun part of the practices. When you are getting started, you may want to choose a Scripture passage, or a piece of visual art, and set your timer again. Ask the Holy Spirit for help, and then muse on the object you have selected. THIS is the time to hold up thoughts and watch them glitter! Stay with them until the glittering ceases, and you get bored. Stay with the object until a new understanding arises. This may take weeks, or minutes. If it stops being fruitful, switch to another passage or object. You can always return. For more on this practice, Holy Longing offers an eight-part, self-guided series.

Liturgical prayer

St. Benedict calls this the Opus Dei; or the Work of God, and it is central to Benedictine life in an enclosed monastery. For us, living under our several roofs, it is also central, although it may not be communal in the sense of being in the physical presence of others. It is communal, in the sense of the global community. Someone, somewhere, is praying the Divine Office every hour of the twenty-four. When we share in the Divine Office, we are making the invisible realities visible.

Most of us learned to read for information, and this kind of prayerful reading may be difficult--Oh yeah, I remember that part from yesterday; got it; let’s move on--but it can be learned. Spending time studying a psalm outside of liturgical prayer can help you become aware of new heights, depths, and breadth. One useful technique is the Jewish method for creating midrashim; commentaries on the text that are meant to supplement rather than replace a more literal meaning. Midrash can be a conversation over time with other interpreters. It can turn on a single word--what if the word ‘us’ in that passage means all of humanity? What if it refers to all of Creation?

Jacob Neusner distinguishes three midrash processes:

Paraphrase: recounting the content of the biblical text in different language that may change the sense;

Prophecy: reading the text as an account of something happening or about to happen in the interpreter’s time;

Parable or allegory: indicating deeper meanings of the words of the text as speaking of something other than the superficial meaning of the words or of everyday reality, as when the love of man and woman in the Song of Songs is interpreted as referring to the love between God and Israel or the Church as in Isaiah 5[36] and in the New Testament.[37]]

Once one psalm opens up for you, the next one will be easier to study. Again, this is a practice, and it is to be hoped that whatever you learned about the psalm you chose will be overthrown, or elaborated on, next time you consider it.

Fasting

St. Benedict does not order you to fast, he orders you to love fasting! This is another thing that takes practice. Doing without means deprivation of something you are used to taking for granted, like regular meals. Grace is alive in every moment, but we are so easily distracted by the habitual call of this or that desire.

Consider two friends, taking a bus trip. The bus leaves very early in the morning, and Alice, who says she absolutely cannot start a day without coffee, doesn’t have time for a cup. Beatrice does not have that relationship with coffee, and as the bus rolls through the dark, and the sky begins to lighten, and they can see the sun about to come over the distant hills, Alice and Beatrice are experiencing the moment differently.

Alice, we can imagine, is preoccupied with the absence of coffee, very aware of how she feels, and not happy about it. We don’t know what is going on with Beatrice, but it is not that. She has the opportunity to be alive to grace, not because she doesn’t drink coffee, but because that is not her issue.

One strength of the Rule is that it requires practices that break our habit of putting our own comfort first.

Alice sighs in resignation. There will be no coffee at least until the next stop. She looks over Beatrice’s shoulder at the rising sun, and realizes she has a choice here: to continue to obsess over the thing she wants that she cannot have right now, or to notice the great big beautiful world we live in. Or--she can do both. She is a person with an urgent desire for coffee, living in a great big beautiful world. The bus rolls on.

Alice discovers she can direct her attention to the sunrise, or to her desire. For the first morning in a long time, her attention is not totally consumed by the quest for coffee, although the desire is still there. Huh, she thinks. It is possible to start a day without coffee, and look at what the morning out there has to offer! Wow.

The enforced asceticism has given Alice an opportunity to confront her own self-absorption. Beatrice may be aware of the sunrise, or engulfed in her own version of self-absorption. She might be wondering if she remembered to lock the front door, and be worried about burglars.

This morning nudges Alice toward God. Being free of the compulsion to seek comfort gives one the freedom of God’s world. Working at getting free of the compulsion is how we teach ourselves how little that comfort means, and our true relationship to God.

Works of mercy

Whatever you do that proceeds from faith and kindness to another, is a work of mercy. Getting up in the middle of the night to comfort the baby; not reminding your husband that he forgot to put out the trash again; preparing the food for a funeral lunch. These are the small works of mercy we are called to perform every day. More heroic versions are also available, which you are sure to uncover in your own life.

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Last year on the feast of St. Gertrude, I wondered why on earth a group of very practical German sisters chose a medieval saint who said things like: “Lord, you have granted me your secret friendship by opening the sacred ark of your divinity, your deified heart, to me in so many ways as to be the source of all my happiness, sometimes imparting it freely, sometimes as a special mark of our mutual friendship.” Oh my! I don’t think she’s from around here.

I’m still pondering what a very over-the-top, medieval mystic has to say to us today, in 2025, in Cottonwood, Idaho. What can she possibly say to us who are concerned about all the critical issues in our hurting world, when the future is scary, when we’re struggling with diminishment, when we’re tired and don’t have time for this extravagant, swooning, sentiment. There’s work to do; we need to get to it.

Then I remember the line from the Prologue of the Rule: But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.

Wow! “Inexpressible delight of love….”

Actually, I prefer hard work, meetings, doing stuff, changing the world. Because hard work, meetings, and doing stuff doesn’t require me to change. I don’t have to look deep inside and admit that I’m often selfish, fearful, angry, and entitled. I want to just keep being focused out there, on those people, those activities. I am running on a path, sure, but now I’m not sure it’s the path of God’s commandments, and so far, I’m not sure it’s leading to a heart overflowing with love.

St. Gertrude’s way sounds off-putting to most of us today. But if we get past the language, she’s saying:

It’s all about love.

She was Benedictine, she knew the call to have a heart overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. And she knew, what I tend to forget, which is that if one can’t love God, neither I, you, nor any of us can love our neighbors. And if we aren’t rooted and grounded in that primal love of God, we keep contributing to all that is wrong in the world.

St. Benedict says that when we reach the top of the ladder of humility we come to “the perfect love that casts out fear.” The perfect love that casts out fear. How much of what is wrong in the world, in our own lives, is the result of fear? How much better would the world be if we came to a place of love that casts out that fear?

So maybe we have a very appropriate saint. Not the most accessible, but a patron who says:

Go deep.

Go to the core. Do the hard inner work, and realize it is all about love.

Do the hard work of knowing and loving God.

Know you are loved. Know that in Him you can love others and so change the world.

St. Gertrude of Helfta, pray for us.

Adopt a regular liturgical prayer schedule and keep the appointments.

Why? Here is a partial list of reasons:

1. You are reminded several times a day that your immediate desires are not as central as they seem.

2. You are brought into contact with the Word frequently

3. In community, you are reminded that we go to God as a community, not as individuals.

4. The Bible says to.

Liturgical prayer is clearly central to St. Benedict. He call it Opus Dei—the Work of God. The current author is ignorant of what that kind of prayer meant in his day, but we do know that a thousand years later, St. Teresa of Avila had to struggle to get her monks to appreciate any other sort of prayer. She advocated “mental” rather than vocal prayer. This turn toward silence is, in our experience, beneficial. It may help to hear St. Augustine’s take on prayer: So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.

Why he should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realise that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it), but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it. That is why we are told: Enlarge your desires, do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.

The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive that gift, which is very great indeed. No eye has seen it; it has no colour. No ear has heard it; it has no sound. It has not entered man’s heart; man’s heart must enter into it.

In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.1

Praying the liturgy, therefore, enlarges our capacity for receiving the gift of Presence.

Much of these chapters will be useful for understanding St. Benedict’s point of view, and if you are part of a community that can pray together, you may want to see what they hold that would work for your group.

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St. Augustine, from a letter used in the Office of Readings on Sept. 1

Annibale Caracci

Once upon a time there was a woman who set out to seek her fortune. She filled her backpack with the things she would need, but it was too heavy.

—-I’ll never be able to carry all of this, she said to herself, and took out everything except the bare minimum for survival. With some satisfaction, she hefted the bag, only about twenty pounds now, and set off.

She came to a river. Not one of those placid rivers, but not a torrent, either. There were just cheerful bits of foam here and there, and a convenient log for crossing. But as she crossed, she slipped, and fell in.

The log was also dislodged, and down the stream they both went. The woman’s bag was soaked, and dragged her down. She grabbed the log, but the weight was too much, and she kept losing her grip.

—-I’m going to drown, she cried, as the log rolled under her hands.

—-Drop your bag, and you will be okay, said the log.

—-I can’t! I need it to survive!

—-What am I, chopped liver? said the log. Drop your bag. Or you will drown.

As this was clearly correct, she slipped out of the straps, and let it go. Now she could hang on to the log. The blanket she had planned to sleep in was gone; the bowl and silverware she had planned to eat from were gone. Her plans would have to be jettisoned along with them.

—-I wonder what is going to happen next, she thought, as she and the log sped down the stream.

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Video:

Readings: Rule of Prayer and A Prayer Rule (please note, these articles are from the Eastern Orthodox tradition and will make reference to unfamiliar practices, the point is the concept of the prayer rule, not necessarily to copy their example).

Practices: Continue your practice of silence, try to be as regular as possible, if you’ve fallen try cutting back on your time and start over. Continue with journaling and daily examen as regularly as possible. As mentioned last week try to have an on-going practice of lectio with Scripture.

Assignment: Create your own “rule of prayer.” This will be very short, simple and concrete. Include time, places and practices. Base your rule on what you’ve found helpful and life-giving during these last weeks. Be realistic about what you can commit to. Remember that this rule is adaptable. Share your “rule” along with your other reflections.

Reflection Questions: 1) What was your practice like this week? What helped you stay with it? What tripped you up? What are you going to commit to doing to make yourself do it? 2) What insights did you find from your practice? 3) What was your experience of writing a prayer rule like? Do you think this will be helpful to you?

Tip of the Week: A prayer rule is a commitment. You are telling yourself that this is what you will do. It may also be helpful to share this with a trusted friend or spiritual director to not only create some accountability but also to have support in going forward.

A Prayer Rule

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Humility is the prime virtue for St. Benedict, and progress in it is the key to spiritual growth. He portrays it as a ladder with twelve rungs.

The first rung is to never forget that God is always with you.

Credit: James Goodwin Clonney

One way to think about this is, “behave yourself, for God is watching!” Another way is a little more complicated. God is always with you, says St. Benedict. St. Augustine puts it: You are closer to me than I am to myself. Wow. It takes a while, living with this thought, to absorb the implications. You might want to repeat it to yourself as you settle into silence (you do practice silence, right?) Because this is your first pass through the Rule, do not spend too much time on the other rungs.

St. Benedict tells us that having reached the twelfth rung we will arrive at that perfect love of God which casts out fear, and through this love and habitual persistence, all these practices will become effortless--”out of love for Christ, good habit and delight in virtue.”

We are building habits, delighting in virtue, out of love for Christ.

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It’s the presence of Christ, in our midst and in one another, isn’t it?

In chapter 35 of the Rule we see Benedict’s genius. He sees the deep, transformative presence of God in the mundane. As we know, Benedict is nothing if not practical, and we see it all laid out in this chapter. Who should be doing kitchen service, who should be excused, how to make sure all the utensils are accounted for, who needs help, who needs an extra snack, Benedict covers it all. And you know that comes from long years of personal experience with hungry, grumpy, overwhelmed people.

At the same time, Benedict also knows that we do not encounter God only in the chapel, God’s presence in not mediated only in holy rituals done by priests. Benedict reminds us that Christ is present in dirty towels, stinky feet, the people we don’t always like, and during times when we are tired, stressed and hungry.

Benedict also reminds us by making sure we know that Holy Thursday doesn’t just happen once a year, he says it should happen once a week. Once a week, every week, 52 times a year, he is calling people to be Christ, and to be served by Christ. All of us are to be Christ. All of us are to be served as Christ.

On Saturday night, even though everyone is probably hungry and impatient, Benedict says that everyone who is either finishing or starting a week of kitchen service is to wash the feet of everyone in community. And this probably isn’t a nice, ritualized pouring of a little water on feet that have probably never seen dirt and, have the advantage of modern hygiene or regular foot care. This was probably pretty up close and personal. This foot washing was a very humbling service. It was an incarnation of Christ’s service for one another.

So even if we never see one another’s feet, we are still called to wash them and have our own feet washed. We wash one another’s feet in the daily, messy service we offer to one another, the service we offer even when we’re tired, grumpy and hungry. We have our feet washed every single day in the amazing support we receive from others in the community, and from the countless people who supply our needs. Every day Christ comes to us in seen and unseen ways. Every day we have the life-changing opportunity to wash people’s feet. Wow!

And, finally, lest we get too carried away with our holiness, Benedict reminds us to keep it real. Put the kitchen utensils back where they belong so that the next person can find them. Don’t complain about the cooks who are trying hard. Because we find holiness and transformation in messy service, kitchen utensils, and the unexpected presence of Christ in others in the midst of ordinary life.

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Readings: Thelma Hall, Too Deep for Words and Luke Dysinger OSB, Accepting the Embrace of God

Practices: Continue your practice of silence, try to be as regular as possible, if you’ve fallen try cutting back on your time and start over. Continue with journaling and daily examen as regularly as possible. Use the steps discussed in the articles and video if they are helpful. (If you feel comfortable with your lectio practice as it is, feel free to ignore the steps!)

Assignment: Commit to a plan for doing lectio every day. Decide how you will choose what to do lectio with e.g. pick a particular book of Scripture you will read every day or choose one (!) passage from the daily lectionary or decide on some other short reading.

Reflection Questions: 1) What was your practice like this week? What helped you stay with it? What tripped you up? What are you going to commit to doing to make yourself do it? 2) What insights did you find from your practice? 3) What has your practice of lectio been like this week?

Tip of the Week: For your lectio pick a single, short passage, something you can really spend time with rather than trying to cram it in. Try doing “lectio continua” by picking a single book of the Bible and reading a few verses every day for lectio.

Hall Ch

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Dysinger Lectio Rev

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