It is only in a secondary sense that Benedict himself, speaking through the rule, and the abbot of the community are masters. You will likely recognize the timeless quality of the values which has caused them to endure for centuries and continue speaking to the many layers of our human experience (personal, familial, communal and societal). Music students do their instruments. St. Benedicts chapter on humility is one of the longest in the, The Benedictine practice of Liturgical prayer is one of Benedictine spiritualitys most visible, unmistakable hallmarks. In other words, to be a good Franciscan means to be a good Christian. The Rule revolves around five practices: Prayer, Work, Study, Hospitality and Renewal. Silence in Benedictine practice is knit together with listening and with prayer. Benedictine simplicity of life is understood properly with the reality of Christ and his mission in mind. %PDF-1.4 % Benedict of Nursia lived from ca. It encourages a life balance between corporate worship, spiritual reading and work in the context of community. Joan Chittister is the executive director of the company Benetvision, which serves as a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality; a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie; and a former past president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. There were also other forms of monastic life, but they were more or less eccentric in comparison with the two main types and sometimes led to abuse. The Nazirite's spiritual disciplines included not drinking wine or eating grapes, not cutting . [], [] is both. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Benedicts wisdom and commentary has provided the foundation for Benedictine communities throughout the centuries, and continues to influence many of us in the community of St. Pauls. It encourages a life balance between corporate worship, spiritual reading and work in the context of community. Lets make ours a truly humana listening and reverentconnection. Lynne Smith elaborates, All this service is sacred and to be done with reverence service is seen as a form of prayer, a way of seeking God. This practice is also linked inextricably to gratitude, as we give thanks for the ways we can serve and for those who serve us. He did not intend to impose uniformity; he foresaw and intended diversity and reserved to each monastery the possibility of adapting the rule's prescriptions to various circumstances, provided the essential values of monasticism were safeguarded. It may be an old liqueur but it has a well-deserved place in the modern bar. Benedict reminds us of our priorities: prayer, contemplation, balance and the importance of everything we do. In Benedict's rule, humility is not the same as humiliations, for humiliations degrade the person. Continue to Prayer and Community: Benedictine Spirituality (Part 2). The Friends of St. Benedict website says The Rule offers people a plan for living a balanced, simple, and prayerful life. Simple, yes. Sam Rahberg is former Director of the Benedictine Center and a spiritual director in St. Paul. Their prayer discipline is based on the rhythms of the universe. Benedictine reverence for all creation applies to nature and all creatures, to the objects we use and make, and to all peoplepilgrims, the broken and downtrodden, to every single human, including ourselves. RB 73, the final chapter, is more or less a bibliography for all that precedes it. It was considered as proposing a spiritual program, while daily life was regulated by "customaries," to which succeeded, from the beginning of the 16th century, "Declarations" and "Constitutions" as well as the "Ceremonial." Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Im interested in connecting person-to-person with others who share my values, who want to participate with me in building a meaningful network of relationships that will serve to support us on our spiritual journey. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. The Rule of St. Benedict structures this for the monk. About oblates, the Benedictine order says: "Oblates seek God by striving to become holy in their chosen way of life. 540-604 CE), who praised Benedict for his discretion and moderation. St. Benedicts chapter on humility is one of the longest in the Rule. Reading the transcript or listening to the podcast is worthwhile. Co-Director of the Spirituality Center. The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (Latin: Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a monastic religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedict.They are also sometimes called the Black Monks, in reference to the colour of their religious habits.They were founded by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century monk who laid the foundations of . Ignacio Gonzalez, OSB writes that the Benedictine practice of Conversatio requires that we never stop asking hard questions about our personal growth. Am I growing in my true identity as a son or daughter of God? Benedictine monks have often received freely from their families and educators, from the rich Benedictine tradition, from the abundant life of their own communities, and from the many mercies of God. Furthermore, he avoids anything that would be excessive or beyond the capacity of the average monk. Perhaps the most useful definition is that given by Jean gerson: "Theologia m, Omnipotence is derived From the Latin omnis (all) and potens (capable of making or producing). Benedictine spirituality is a way of life that helps a person to seek God and his will daily. Life in Benedictine monasteries was also deeply influenced by the clericalization of many of the monks and the episcopal ordination of many abbots. Spiritual Direction, sometimes referred to as spiritual guidance or spiritual friendship, is an on-going relationship in which a person, desiring to be attentive to his or her spiritual life, meets with the spiritual director on a regular basis to become more attuned to God's presence and to respond more fully to that presence. Humility enables the monk to stand in awe before the world and to receive the gifts of God and others. What does it mean for us to learn contentment with living simply? In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. In contrast to monks who fled the world to encounter God in solitude, St. Benedict's Rule was written to guide communities in living elemental aspects of Christianitysuch as shared meals, shared prayer, and shared work. You can order a free copy of Give Us This Day, published by Liturgical Press, by clicking here. It is rather the fact that monastic existence is a form of religious life having not secondary or ministerial purpose. Belief in One God: The most important teaching of Islam is that only God is to be served and worshipped. We always can go deeper in prayer, grow more open to the truth, enrich our understanding of the will of God, and learn what, in this moment at this time, is good, acceptable, and right. Columba Stewart OSB, the 73 brief chapters of the RB make up four major sections. Do you yearn for a good life, and do you desire to see good days? The word "Benedictine" is relatively modern; it scarcely existed before the 17th century. Through contemplative prayer, the monk becomes an emptiness so there is space for God as well as space for others. Listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through scripture and through the insights of others. All these helping ministries place value on the confidentiality of the relationship and may lead to increased personal wellbeing and a more fruitful and productive life. The monk needs time along and needs time in community. 1. Hence the monk must be poor psychologically because he realizes his dependence on others. Much research has been devoted to this topic, ranging from practical to academic. How are you feeling called to commit that value to practice in the days ahead? In 1887 Pope Leo XIII, who was enamored of the Benedictines, reestablished the College of Saint Anselm in Rome. That kind of movement toward moderation is especially important as we live the open and complex questions. The Ten Hallmarks of Benedictine Education. Benedict's Rule and Spirituality. While submission is an act of youth, true obedience can only come as a response of maturity. Mindfulness is a trending word these days yogis, psychologists, educators, physicians, and practically everyone else is talking about the importance of quieting our busy minds in order to become more aware of the present moment. It was not founded by a particular saint. According to monastic scholar Fr. The event will bring together sisters, monks, oblates, and Benedictine staff, as well as nonreligiously affiliated Millennials interested in contemplative . At the heart of his contemplative tradition are values which are directly opposed to blindness, materialism, and greed. For Benedict, prayer had a particular structure and process. The rule invites the monk to recognize the presence of God in his life, a presence which is neither gained or won or achieved but simply given. 0000001554 00000 n While there are times allotted for prayer and for work, ultimately there is to be no division between the two. Acts 18:18). A devoted monk, he established the Rule of Benedict. God speaks to the monk through Christ, but the monk is called to see Christ not only in the superior but also in the guests, in the sick, in the young, and in the old. In her blog, Presbyterian minister Lynne Baab offers ways for those of us who do not live in a monastery to embrace stability. Every four months, we begin again at the beginningso we read the Rulethree times every year. Core Islamic Beliefs: Six Articles of Faith. Listen here: (Six Hallmarks of Benedictine Spirituality) by Fr. Benedict reminds us of our priorities: prayer, contemplation, balance and the importance of everything we do. New Catholic Encyclopedia. The years 1987 and 1990 saw the publication of two unprecedented and immediately popular reference works, The New Dictionary of Theology and The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship.The present work, The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, edited by Michael Downey, is intended as a companion to these, with a parallel aim and purpose.The NDCS is a collaborative attempt to take stock of . 0000002499 00000 n We prefer concepts like freedom and independence. The typical person takes little time for personal renewal in the hectic daily round of activities. Emerging out of the high middles ages, it emphasizes the humanity of Jesus Christ as the mystery of God's presence in human flesh. We stumble through being in right relationship. Spirituality is the broad concept of a belief in something beyond the self. [], [] Learn more about Benedictine spirituality. Benedictine spirituality is essentially contemplative even though many who follow the rule are deeply involved in intellectual or manual work as well as in ministerial service to others. Teaching Artist. Cultivating awareness of God is important for all who seek a meaningful spirituality. Encyclopedia.com. The devotio moderna is an example. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"Mjbegi0csMdpEDVeqSUEXsusxBikAj9UyKZw_VuRiag-86400-0"}; If he persists in this state, atheism truly becomes a way of life. Humility is also a dominant theme in Benedictine spirituality; in fact it is closely related to contemplation. This manuscript is a copy of St. Benedicts rule. This pattern of sharing is a basic characteristic of a cenobitic community. It underscores the tenets of Care ethics in conjunction with Benedictine Spirituality. Chanon gave Ignatius the book Exercises for the Spiritual Life written by Benedictine reformer, Fr. In this, affective piety and the contemplative study of the mysteries of God were no longer so strictly united as in the preceding centuries, in which the patristic tradition had been preserved. The Benedictine practice of mindfulness, like all the Benedictine practices, is lifelong. Jesus said "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." (see Matthew 25: . %%EOF It embraces a diversity of vocations: lay and clerical, contemplative and active, academic and pastoral, married and celibate. to the Rule is a good way to summarize the goal of Benedictine spirituality and prayer. What gives the Rule of Benedict its exceptional quality has commonly been called its "discretion," in the double sense of the word: discernment and moderation. It is humility that takes the monk beyond the myth of his own grandeur to the grandeur of God. It is not possible to formulate a singl, Etymologically the word "contemplation" derives from templum, which signified the space marked out by a seer with his divining rod as a location for, Barth, Karl How have we been equipped by God to do so? As Sister Julie explains on the blog A Nuns Life, The Liturgy of the Hours is made up of specific prayers said at various time (hours) during the day and night. Monsignor Charles Pope seems to be saying in the blog post, A Reflection On the Benedictine Vow of Stability for Community in Mission of the Archdiocese of Washington (DC), that stability of heart is the Benedictine practice our chronically unstable contemporary society most desperately needs. He is called to live in the rhythm of alternating between receiving and giving, accepting the gifts of God and others, while sharing generously jut as others share generously with him. The Benedictine practice of service to others is intimately entwined with the reverence for all creation, and another of the great foundations of Benedictine spirituality. We are no more self-sufficient than the poor whose dependence on the service of others cant be hidden. The Rule of Benedict teaches that Monastics should serve one another (35:1). Awareness of God In Benedictine practice we acknowledge the primacy of God and look for God in the ordinary events of each day. In a blog hosted by Holy Wisdom Monastery of Madison, Wisconsin, Lynne Smith, OSB, The website of Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas tells us, Modern monks like to point out that first word in the Rule is to Listen,, This article explains that silence is healthy, Monsignor Charles Pope seems to be saying in the blog post, A Reflection On the Benedictine Vow of Stability, ways for those of us who do not live in a monastery to embrace stability, The Friends of St. Benedict website says The, offers people a plan for living a balanced, simple, and prayerful life., Joan Chittister puts it, Benedictine practices build a spirituality that will enable us to go on beyond disappointment, beyond boredom, beyond criticism, beyond loss., the monks and oblates of Saint Meinrad Archabbley, in this post on Environmental Stewardship on the blog. He realizes that attachment to oneself and one's talents or goods brings anxiety, a bondage that ties the human spirit down to the earth and allows no enlargement of either one's horizons or one's heart. A particular spirituality is a specific system, or schema of beliefs, virtues, ideals and principles which form a particular way to approach God and therefore all life in general. Benedict shows us the value of ordering our day around communal prayer (i.e. Prince of Peace is a community of Benedictine monks that has been in San Diego County since 1958, but their community spans more than 1,400 years of uninterrupted tradition dating back to St. Benedict. Francis consulted her, especially when he was discerning between becoming a hermit and being an itinerant preacher. Being in right relationship is wholly other than being in the right relationship. It isnt about finding the right person for me; its about being the right person to others in the way I show respect to them, in the way I accept their humanityeven their weaknesses and irritating personality traits. The first word of the Rule of Benedict is Listen. The Benedictine practice of listening is the heart of Benedictine spirituality, for not only are we instructed to listen constantly to one another in community, to leaders, to guests, to the sick, to our inner selves, and most of all, to God, we must also attend to [what we hear] with the ear of the heart. As Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon writes, Listening with the ear of the heart can be a scary experience because it can call me to radical change, to a transformation of my limited human perspective. 6v-7r of the Bodleian library in Oxford. We practice clumsily like beginners running through piano scales. Ignatian spirituality is a spirituality for everyday life. People are seen as an integrated whole: Body, Mind, and Spirit. Divine omnipotence is a divine operative attribute, an, TAULER, JOHANNES 2. When a monk is aware of his own littleness, he is not driven to satisfy his own ego more than his true needs. The meaning of stability in our day and time refers to staying rooted where we arein relationship with ourselves and with others, in order to grow in the spiritual life. From the 13th century, Benedictine monasteries have often felt the influence of spiritual movements coming from non-monastic sources. Nazirites (Numbers 6:1-21): Nazirites were of two types: those who were dedicated from birth to be a Nazirite (e.g. For most of us, though, stability can have a figurative element beyond our experience with a [], 2023 Benedictine Center of St. Pauls Monastery, Core Values: Benedictine Spirituality (Part 1 of 3), Prayer and Community: Benedictine Spirituality (Part 2 of 3) - Benedictine Center, Lectio Divina and Preferring Christ: Benedictine Spirituality (Part 3 of 3) - Benedictine Center, My Day with the Sacred Fire | Benedictine Center, Saturated with Peace: Experiencing Personal Retreat | Benedictine Center, Wholehearted Living as the Lamed Vav | Benedictine Center, Practicing Sustained Lectio Divina | Benedictine Center, What Discernment Means to Me | Benedictine Center, Sabbath: Well-being, Not Endless Work | Benedictine Center, Moderation and Rhythm: A Benedictine Help Against Social Isolation | Benedictine Center, Stability: The Benedictine Value of Locatedness | Benedictine Center, The Erector Set: Adapting to Others | Benedictine Center, Sharper: Benedict's Tools for Good Works | Benedictine Center, The Benedictine Commitment to Learning | Benedictine Center, We Dare To Hope (Part 1 of 2) | Benedictine Center, We Dare To Hope (Part 2 of 2) | Benedictine Center, Life, A Continuous Advent | Benedictine Center, Rooted in Love: My Sustained Lectio Divina | Benedictine Center, Just Wave: Following that Holy Nudge | Benedictine Center. 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