March 1

Chapter 23 and 24

The Rule of Benedict March 1

Instead of focusing on the punishments in these chapters, I would like for us to consider how to rid ourselves of any fault that would warrant correction.  Let us lay aside our resistance and be motivated by a desire to share more fully in the spiritual riches of our common life and practice.

February 28

Chapter 22

The Rule of Benedict February 28

I am full of joy after our meeting together on Sunday.  I witnessed the good fruit of a community in which gentle encouragement is the posture the members assume with each other.  We each have a "bed" out of which we struggle to rise, and we each have a kind nudge to apply to a brother or sister.  Let us continue to give ourselves over to being awakened within this loving dormitory of the BSBSB.

February 27

Chapter 21

The Rule of Benedict February 27

This chapter in the Rule has informed my approach to the roles that members of our order have discerned.  You are each to share in the spiritual formation of the BSBSB and St. Brigid's Community according to your callings in the order.  This is a true sharing of authority, not merely a delegation.  Therefore, as Prior, I have not been a micromanager regarding the roles/callings you have assumed and been commissioned to live out.  These roles: Porter, Catechist for Children, Deacon, Catechist for Youth, Archivist, Librarian, and Novice Master of Wisdom are really and truly yours to embody in our community.

February 26

Chapter 20

The Rule of Benedict February 26

I hear from this chapter that the Divine Office is not an end in itself, but a means by which we are compelled to live a life of humility and devotion before God, our own highest end.

February 25

Chapter 19

The Rule of Benedict February 19

I appreciate that Benedict describes the desired relationship between mind (our thoughts) and voice (the words we sing) in the Divine Office as "in harmony".  "Harmony" implies a pleasant relationship between two distinct entities, not a top-down conformation of one to the other.  Our task as we pray is not so much to submit our thoughts to the words of the Office, but to allow our thoughts the freedom to sing along.  And as we all know from experience, such freedom takes practice.

February 24

Chapter 18 pt. 4

The Rule of Benedict February 24

Benedict places a high value on covering all the Psalms in the Divine Office.  I believe this is because the Psalms serve a central role in his vision of spiritual formation.  In our order, I wonder if one way we can honor this value is to eventually discern a schedule according to which we can cover the entire Psalter while praying only one or two offices a day.  We have a very good example of such a schedule in the Daily Office at the back of our own Book of Common Prayer.

February 23

Chapter 18 pt. 3

The Rule of Benedict February 23

During our Vespers services on Thursdays, I have been rotating the weekday Vespers Psalms approximately as they are arranged in our breviary; an arrangement which is based on this section in the Rule.  This week, for example, will feature the Psalms from Monday's Vespers service.  Next week will feature Tuesdays, and so on.  On significant feasts, however, we will use the Vespers Psalms as found in the Festival Psalter.

February 22

Chapter 18 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict February 22

I have found that returning to the psalms designated for Terse, Sext, and None (Tuesday-Saturday) has ministered to me in unexpected ways.  Psalms 120-128 seem to resonate within the depths of the human experience, and during some of my life's greatest challenges, they rise from my lips better than any words I could have mustered on my own.

February 21

Chapter 18 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict February 21

I have been struck over the last couple of years by the fact that almost every hour of the Divine Office begins with the versicle, "O God, come to my assistance," and the response, "O Lord, make haste to help me."  How profoundly honest to begin prayer with such a request.  And the expectation that, even if I'm praying 7 times in one day, I need God's help each time I approach God in prayer is naked realism on the part of Father Benedict.  What joy it is to experience the Presence of a God who honors such a request.

February 20

Chapter 17

The Rule of Benedict February 20

Sister Joan ends her commentary on this chapter admonishing us to consider the material we commit to memory.  I think of the loads of songs with which I can sing along or whole scenes of dialog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail I often recite unbidden.

In October of 2009, I was driving home with Jana from northern AZ on a Tuesday at noon, the hour of Sext, which I had prayed each Tuesday for a year previous.  We had our breviary with us, and so we prayed together in the van.  To my surprise, I found that I had no trouble following along while looking straight ahead.  I had accidentally memorized the Office.

To spin Sr. Joan's question in a positive light, what components of our prayer life have made their way into our memory without us realizing it?  I imagine that the answer would surprise us.

February 19

Chapter 16

The Rule of Benedict February 19

I wonder how best our order can honor the high value Father Benedict places on prayer that is dispersed throughout each day.  Many monastic orders now pray four times daily, including The Order of Holy Cross, the Episcopal Benedictines with whom Gil is an associate.

In the near future, I would like for us to discern together how, as an order, we can support a robust practice of prayer in our daily lives.  It will look very different than it does in a monastery, surely, but I can imagine us discovering many creative ways to call the attention of our hearts away from the temporal to the Eternal in the course of each day.

February 18

Chapter 15

The Rule of Benedict February 18

I hear from this chapter that we are to experience our worship as full of joy, or a deep sense of well-being.  Alleluia, or Hallelujah, is Hebrew for the imperative, "Praise the Lord!"  As Christians, we state this imperative in the light of the Resurrection through which Christ is alive in our lives and, thereby, in the world.  But this is a joy that is experienced on the other side of darkness and death.  It is not naive, nor is it a matter of our feelings or preferences.  It is a defiant claim on the narrative by which we will tell our own story.

February 17

Chapter 14

The Rule of Benedict February 17

This chapter inspires in me the thought that we should collect and develop our own liturgies for the feast days of the saints we honor in our community: St. Brigid (February 1) and St. Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).

February 16

Chapter 13 pt. 2

The Rule of Benedict February 16

When we place our inner work in close proximity to the inner work of others, we find ourselves to be vulnerable and exposed.  This exposure is to the combustible dynamics of the Spirit, which is "apt" to cause contention amidst our egos as they maneuver to avoid being burned.  Benedict's instruction is to keep these dynamics in mind as we pray the Lord's Prayer each day.

February 15

Chapter 13 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict February 15

Lauds is the primary office that I have prayed for more than two years.  I continue to learn to pray within the structure of Lauds.  I have no commentary on it other than to offer my wholehearted endorsement.

February 14

Chapter 12

The Rule of Benedict February 14

If our Thursday gathering does function as St. Brigid's solemn Sabbath in practice, how should we regard it?  In many ways, I think our community does a very good job of approaching Thursday night as a weekly celebration of the mysteries of God in prayer, Eucharist, fellowship, and feast.  In response to these chapters in the Rule, let us, as the BSBSB, consider again the internal posture we bring with us to St. Brigid's Community on Thursdays.

February 13

Chapter 11

The Rule of Benedict February 13

Let us to consider what the notion of Sabbath looks like for our community.  Does the gathering of St. Brigid's Community in prayer and Eucharist on Thursday evenings function as our Sabbath?  If so, we sisters and brothers should set it aside in our hearts as such.  If not, how can we set apart the physical, temporal, psychic space in which to practice Sabbath?

February 12

Chapter 10

The Rule of Benedict February 12

I hear from this chapter (with Sister Joan's help) that it is okay for us, like Benedict, to hold our standards lightly.  We should learn from Benedict's adjustment of the prayer regimen that legalism does not serve us well as we approach the development of our personal practice.  We are free to move slowly and sustainably.

February 11

Chapter 9

The Rule of Benedict February 11

The Night Office appears as Vigils in our Breviary.  The first 902 pages of the Breviary we use are filled with the lessons, or readings, referenced in Chapter 9 for Church Seasons and Ordinary Time.  Other readings for Commons begin on pg. 1213, and for Propers of Saints begin on pg. 1676.

To find where we are in this series of lessons requires a bit of liturgical prowess, as our Breviary is Roman Catholic, not Episcopal.  The readings for today, February 11, for instance, are found on pg. 404 under "Friday of Week 5" in Ordinary Time.  This is because Epiphany is not technically a Season, but a Feast.  In the Episcopal Church we refer to this time between January 7 and Ash Wednesday as the weeks after Epiphany, but Catholics refer to it as Ordinary Time.  Thus we are in Ordinary Time 5 in the Breviary.

I point these things out to invite us to consider using one or more of these daily readings in our practice, whatever Office(s) we pray during the day.

February 10

Chapter 8

The Rule of Benedict February 10

Since Benedict places the Divine Office at the center of his program for inner transformation, it seems appropriate that we, who have accepted his name as members of the Benedictine Sisters and Brothers of St. Brigid, should carefully consider how Benedict's instructions in this matter can inform our practices.  Over the next several weeks let us ponder these chapters on the Divine Office with open minds and receptive hearts.

I hear in Chapter 8 an instruction to intentionally structure our sleep in such a way that allows us time to arise in prayer.  Personally, I have found that such intention must be focused on both sides of sleep if this is to be possible.

February 9

Chapter 7 pt. 16

The Rule of Benedict February 9

The final step of humility concerns the outward demeanor of the monastic.  It is Benedict's desire that the monastic "should be free of any hint of arrogance or pride in their manner or the way they look about them" (Patrick Barry OSB).  Pride or arrogance are hinted at by different behaviors in different cultures, and we must be aware of what behaviors hint at them in our own culture(s) if we hope to follow Father Benedict's instruction here.

To conclude this chapter, Benedict paints a beautiful picture of a person whose life is fully at home in God's house.  That our lives can likewise be at home with God is our hope and the goal of our life together.

February 8

Chapter 7 pt. 15

The Rule of Benedict February 8

Some of us have had the opportunity to serve on a discernment committee at St. Augustine's.  When functioning as intended, discernment committees are able to hold big, weighty questions gently with humility and sincerity.  Words spoken in the course of a meeting are to arise from silence at the prompting of to the Spirit for the sake of the hearers.  This is the sort of speech Benedict would have us use in our life together.

February 7

Chapter 7 pt. 14

The Rule of Benedict February 7

Laughter is often put to uses other than a pure expression of delight.  Habitual laughter can serve to guard our conversations from ever going beyond the polite.  Such laughter can belittle or trivialize, which enables us to avoid honest, vulnerable engagement with a person or topic.  The tenth step of humility is intended to free us from this habit.

February 6

Chapter 7 pt. 13

The Rule of Benedict February 6

I perceive the ninth step of humility to be Benedict's way of weaning us from the belief that our daily circumstances stand in need of our uninvited interpretations and solutions.  By keeping silent until addressed, we cultivate the capacity to be truly hospitable and open to reality on God's terms instead of our own.

February 5

Chapter 7 pt. 12

The Rule of Benedict February 5

Trailblazer.  Entrepreneur.  Innovator.  These are the titles of aspiration in our culture and antitheses of Benedict's eighth step of humility.  We must take care, as a part of a lay order that has no clear precedent, to not become a law unto ourselves.  It's up to us to find those who act as our elders on this path and place our feet in their footprints.

February 4

Chapter 7 pt. 11

The Rule of Benedict February 4

For a good idea of that which Father Benedict seeks to accomplish with the seventh step of humility, consider its opposite.  We've all experienced an individual who inflates his virtues to anyone who will listen.  Some of us have been such individuals.  This tendency is born out of a deep belief that the admiration of others will satisfy the deepest needs of one's soul--that other people's regard is the key to well-being.  The seventh step of humility is an attempt to pull up that belief from its roots. 

February 3

Chapter 7 pt. 10

The Rule of Benedict February 3

There's an image that comes to mind when I read this passage.  It's an image of Gil, in August of 2006, the week he was appointed Vicar at St. Augustine's, in sunglasses, a baseball cap, shorts, a long-sleeved shirt, and gloves cutting back the palo verde that had grown to completely cover the church sign on College Ave.  It was well over 100 degrees that day and cloudy, and we all know how Gil feels about the %*##@ heat.  But, as the new Vicar, he didn't demand that anyone other than he brave the Summer weather and tend to the grossly neglected landscaping in front of the Parish.

I happened by that Saturday on my way somewhere important (I'm sure) and saw him out there by himself doing the work of a crew.  He didn't see me rumble by.

Benedict would have us to become people who stop and join in the work.

February 2

Chapter 7 pt. 9

The Rule of Benedict February 2

Perhaps over time the Benedictine Sisters and Brothers of St. Brigid will entail a relational dynamic wherein regular confession of secret wrongdoing to the Prior or Prioress is natural and appropriate.  It seems that this is not the case now, at least not for most of us.  However, it does seem appropriate that we each find ourselves in a relationship with a spiritual guide of some sort from whom we hide no evil thoughts or deeds.  To confess with our mouth that which we have intentionally hidden can be a powerful healing act in the proper context.  We would do well to incorporate such acts into our Benedictine practice.