Category: Benedict for Beginners
St. Benedict for Beginners – The Second Step to Humility
This is the eighth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors The Second Step to Humility ‘The second step of humility is that a man should not love his own will nor take pleasure in carrying out his own desires.’ St Benedict cuts right to the heart of the matter in [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – The First Step to Humility
This is the seventh in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors The First Step to Humility ‘The first step of humility is for a man to set the fear of God always before his eyes.’ We live today with a Jesus who is our friend and a God who is more [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – ‘…what will profit us forever’
This is the sixth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘We must do now what will profit us forever.’ The past is a memory and the future is a fear. The only reality is this present moment. Therefore it is in only in this moment that we can enjoy reality. [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – ‘In a Flood of Words…’
This is the fifth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘In a flood of words you will not avoid sin.’ The Trappists are the Benedictine monks who are most famous for their silence. The stricter orders still have an elaborate system of hand signs for communication. Saint Benedict recommends silence [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – ‘The Way of Obedience’
This is the fourth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘It is by the way of obedience that we go to God.’ Benedictine monks and nuns take three vows. They promise to pursue obedience, stability, and conversion of life. Obedience is a hard word in a society that values personal [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – ‘Welcomed as Christ…’
This is the third in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.’ Monks and nuns might stay in their monasteries, but they are not cut off from the world. Instead of going about in the world, they invite the world to them. [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – ‘Follow this little rule…’
This is the second in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘Whoever you are then, follow this little rule written for beginners.’ Saint Benedict’s monastic rule is sometimes thought of as an esoteric text to take the spiritually elite to the heights of mystic attainment. Nothing could be further from the [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – Listen my son…
This is the first in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors ‘Listen my son, to the master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart.’ Saint Benedict established his simple Christian communities in the sixth century. In the chaos of the crumbling Roman Empire, Benedict’s monasteries were havens [...]
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