What are the characteristics of Benedictine spirituality? Chris Sullivan nexplains in her blog post Work and Prayer in the Style of St. Benedict for Loyala Press. variety in physical characteristics, languages, and ways of life is really our . For Benedict, prayer had a particular structure and process. You can learn more about her in her Living Spiritual Teachers Project profile. But if they are rich communally, they must be rich for the many people who are poor not only materially but also intellectually, culturally, spiritually, and humanly. //. Only after we have come to understand our desires are we capable of relinquishing them in service of others. Continue to Prayer and Community: Benedictine Spirituality (Part 2). 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." It is my experience that the simplicity of this message oftentimes seems just too difficult to accept. The event will bring together sisters, monks, oblates, and Benedictine staff, as well as nonreligiously affiliated Millennials interested in contemplative . It includes reading, reflecting, responding to and resting in the Word of God not in a scholarly way, not to make a sermon to preach to others, but simply to nourish and deepen our own relationship with the Divine. Strong communities embrace stability and are open to necessary change. Christian monasticism had been in existence for a long time before Benedict wrote his rule. It insists that God is present in our world and active in our lives. Benedictine spirituality helps us to: Focus our eyes on God and His Word Be a people of humility Live and pray in community, rather than being too individualistic Maintain prayerful discipline in our lives 1. Sister Joan Chittister is an extraordinarily prolific writer and among the most famous living Benedictines. Encyclopedia.com. What practise spiritual practices do? He neither innovated nor broke with tradition. Co-Director of the Spirituality Center. Benedictine, member of the Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B. This religious practice refers to St. Benedict and his spiritual practice. 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. Brother David Steindl-Rast of the Gut Aich Priory monastery in St. Gilgen, Austria, is the founder and senior advisor for A Network for Grateful Living. More than a billion Muslims share a common set of fundamental beliefs that are described as "Articles of Faith." These articles of faith form the foundation of Islamic belief system. The monk's own attitude toward his life then is one of stewardship. In other words, the core of Franciscan spirituality is the universal call to holiness that all women and men receive at baptism. (320) 363-7112. 540-604 CE), who praised Benedict for his discretion and moderation. The Rule of St. Benedict has often been referred to as a compendium of the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus prayer and community, to borrow again from Stewart, are at the heart of the Benedictine school of spirituality. People are seen as an integrated whole: Body, Mind, and Spirit. It evokes the name of St. Benedict, who lived in the 6th century, together with all those who have been inspired by the Rule of Benedict and associate themselves with the Benedictine spiritual tradition. Benedictine spirituality offers an important voice in our world today, a voice which informs our praying, living and discerning. Even the Cistercians, who in the 12th century had intended to return to a faithful observance of the rule itself, added numerous statutes. It is a matter of self-respect and purpose which we see clearly in the changing nature of retirement. Listen here: Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Contact. It sets up a framework of life, an institution, of which the essential and constitutive elements are firmly determined: life in common under the government of a superior called an abbot, who has the help of a prior and other officials and takes counsel of the whole assembly of monks, even the youngest in the community. Benedict's Rule and Spirituality. This will not subscribe you to a contact management software program, and you wont get an onslaught of computer-generated emails begging you to buy my books and services. 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. Because I couldnt find relevant, simple answers online to the questions, What is Benedictine Spirituality? and What are Benedictine practices? I decided to publish this summary of 23 habits Benedictines seek, through lifelong practice, to cultivate into a lifestyle. We are all accountable as steward of creation, they tell us. Benedict's treatment of obedience must be understood in light of his understanding of authority. Bndictine D.O.M. There are three primary commitments in the Benedictine way that form the spiritual backbone for the rest of the spiritual practicesobedience, stability, and conversion. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. It is humility that makes us happy with what we have, willing to have less, kind to all, simple in our bearing, and serene within ourselves. It only takes 2-3 minutes to read her article. It is a comprehensive rule of life for the whole church and all her members. podcast at DiscerningHearts.com from the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory, Fr. About oblates, the Benedictine order says: "Oblates seek God by striving to become holy in their chosen way of life. Co-Director of the Spirituality Center. 4. The RB is saturated with Scripture and, as Esther de Waal has suggested in her book Seeking God: The Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St. Benedict (Liturgical Press, 2009), the Prologue exemplifies this as a model of baptismal instruction. For example, Let us get up then, at long last for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Rom 13:11), or Run while you have the light, that the darkness of death may not overtake you (John 12:35). Scripture and baptism undergird the Benedictine vision of Christian discipleship, a vision which relies on a prayerful orientation toward God and relationships which support us in Christ-centeredness. (320) 363-7112. mholicky@csbsju.edu. The Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana explain the importance of community life in Benedictine practice on their website. In a podcast at DiscerningHearts.com from the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory, Fr. There is a temptation to complicate it, to . In monastic life public prayer is only one observance among those which help the monk seek God. Read the full essay to learn more about how humility helps us grow in the love of God and deepens our bonds with each other. Ive drawn this list of 22 (+ 1 = 23) Benedictine practices (arranged alphabetically) from Stepping into the Oblate way of life, published by St. Benedicts Monastery in 2017, when Laureen Virnig OSB served as Director of Oblates. In her blog, Presbyterian minister Lynne Baab offers ways for those of us who do not live in a monastery to embrace stability. But it also requires that he let go of false expectations concerning others. Much research has been devoted to this topic, ranging from practical to academic. The Rule revolves around five practices: Prayer, Work, Study, Hospitality and Renewal. Cultivating awareness of God is important for all who seek a meaningful spirituality. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Father Mandonnet then lists three characteristics that are concerned more especially with the will. These prayers, which included the saying or chanting of the psalms, can be experienced in our Daily Office. Ordered by a rhythm of daily prayer that is Biblical and reflective The Rule of Benedict has resonated through more than 1400 years and today is followed around the world by thousands of monastics and oblates (people associated with monasteries who live and work outside the monastery). While submission is an act of youth, true obedience can only come as a response of maturity. This emphasis on silence is so that we can learn to listen to God more acutelyThis kind of sensitivity and awareness makes it easier to pray at all times. This article explains that silence is healthy for community life and fosters the learning of reverence for all creation. Benedict was born in Nursia, Italy in 480 and died in 543. 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. Humility enables the monk to stand in awe before the world and to receive the gifts of God and others. For more information, fill out the form below or contact: Mary Catherine Holicky, OSB. 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. It is that same balance that has made it attractive today to those countless lay men and women who are not living vowed lives in a monastery but who are associated with Benedictine monasteries as oblates attempting to live their lives in the secular world according to the spiritual values set out in the rule. Through spiritual direction, individual and group ministerial reflection, and writing, Sam companions Christian leaders as they re-discover the sense of calling and giftedness at the heart of Christ-centered ministry. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Benedictines say mindfulness is as much as a Christian and biblical concept as it is a Buddhist one. Just as all these people practice to become more proficient, spiritual seekers practice in order to become better at living a spiritual life. The root of the word obedience means "to hear" and is about making a commitment to listen for God's voice in the world and respond when you hear the call. This will not subscribe you to a contact management software program, and you wont get an onslaught of computer-generated emails begging you to buy my books and services. Gymnasts practice routines, yoga students practice poses, swimmers practice strokes, and tennis players practice their serves. . 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 This practice is not particular to Benedictines, however. The website of Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas tells us, Modern monks like to point out that first word in the Rule is to Listen,which cant be done while talking! In chapter 72 of the rule, Benedict encourages his monks to be zealous, "supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses of body and behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another. Benedictine spirituality is practical and profound. Hospitality There was societal chaos and political dissatisfaction and we might wish that the conditions of those times did not sound so familiar to our modern ears. We each hunger to make a meaningful contribution to our world. d. rees et al., Consider Your Call: A Theology of Monastic Life Today (Kalamazoo 1978). Sister Joan Chittister is an extraordinarily prolific writer and among the most famous living Benedictines. Humility demands that the monk take God seriously, that he take others seriously, but that he never take himself too seriously. Saint Clare of Assisi (16 July 1194 - 11 August 1253, born Chiara Offreduccio and sometimes spelled Clara, Clair, Claire, Sinclair, etc.) 21 0 obj <>stream It embraces a diversity of vocations: lay and clerical, contemplative and active, academic and pastoral, married and celibate. Prayer is the foundation to the monastic life and calling, and can be a constant part of the life of non-monastics as well. Instead of being possessive and manipulative, he is called to grow in detachment which manifests itself in the constructive and creative use of things. This manuscript is a copy of St. Benedicts rule. If he persists in this state, atheism truly becomes a way of life. Since Benedict was a monk, the spirituality which is based on his rule, is fundamentally monastic. A monk should be above all a good listener. The Benedictine practice of mindfulness, like all the Benedictine practices, is lifelong. It is the balanced spirituality that one finds in the Rule of Benedict that has made it attractive to many men and women throughout the ages. 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. . We practice clumsily like beginners running through piano scales. In no way am I qualified to be a teacher of the Benedictine way of life. It is humility that takes the monk beyond the myth of his own grandeur to the grandeur of God. Monks are to listen "to the precepts of the master" but their primary and ultimate master is God. Spirituality offers a worldview that suggests there is more to life than just what people . Cultivating awareness of God is important for all who seek a meaningful spirituality. U`` . They are all intertwined. What makes spiritual direction distinctive is its 0000001554 00000 n Benedictine prayer has several characteristics that make more for a spirituality of awareness than of consolation. How do we respect all things as vessels of the altar (RB 31:10). This is not simply a change in my opinion or even in my ideological stance, but a much deeper change in my attitude, a real change in my way of being and doing. Listening is integral to the practice of conversatio, indeed to all the practices, which, as Laureen Virnig OSB teaches to Oblates in formation, are inseparable woven together to make of our spirituality a living tapestry. Vincentian spirituality is centered around this concept. What we know about St. Benedict himself comes to us mainly through Gregory the Great (ca. The Ten Hallmarks of Benedictine Education. It is a pathway to deeper prayer, good decisions guided by keen discernment, and an active life of service to others. It is likewise through that response that one becomes free to be and develop as the person one is called to be. 9 13 6 Characteristics Of Benedictine Spirituality . Like counselling, therapy and coaching, spiritual direction rests on careful listening to the 'client'. 0000004832 00000 n What calls us to attention? Music students practice their instruments. 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. 0000000016 00000 n Mauritius Wilde O.S.B explains that obedience means, , Fr. She reminds that in the Rule of Benedict, in the economy of monastic life, prayer is work and work is prayer. While [t]ime set aside for prayer can be a great blessing, we can turn all of our daily tasks into prayer when we bring to them the awareness of ourselves in relationship with our ever-present God. Practice is how people develop the skills to become adept at anything. We become obedient only after we know our own will. Downloaded from the web site of the Bodleian library: Created: 8th century date QS:P,+750-00-00T00:00:00Z/7, we acknowledge the primacy of God and look for God in the ordinary events of each day, Benjamin Schfer, who calls himself an intercessory musicianary, blog theologian, and pilgrim on the narrow road of learning to love, writes in depth about ways to foster awareness of God, requires that we never stop asking hard questions about our personal growth, The Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana explain the importance of community life in Benedictine practice on their website, Interviewed by Krista Tippett for her podcast, Kyle T. Kramer explains in his 2011 article for America Magazine that hospitality, for a Benedictine, An essay by the Sisters of St. Marys Monastery in Rock Island, IL explains that, Read the full essay to learn more about how humility helps us grow, This article on the Contemplative outreach website explains the history of, As Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon writes, Listening with the ear of the heart, read more about the Liturgy of the Hours by clicking here. Through this experience, he came to believe that authentic spiritual growth happens only when we life with and among flawed human beings whose faults and failings are only too obvious. In community we struggle through the practice of being in right relationship with people who are stubborndullundisciplinedrestlesscareless scatterbrainedirritatingand tiresome. It is only in our communitiesfamilies or monasteries, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches and organizationsthat we make spiritual progress by learning to love and accept others for who they are, not for who we wish they would be. 1. Music students do their instruments. This listening is not merely an intellectual or rational activity; it is intuitive, springing from the very core of the monk's being where he is most open to God and most open to the word of life that God speaks. Gymnasts practice routines, yoga students practice poses, swimmers practice strokes, and tennis players practice their serves. Brendan Rolling, OSB of St Benedicts Abbey of Atchison, Kansas quotes Abbot Martin Veth: To will what God wills and because He wills it, this is the essence of patience. Life in Benedictine monasteries was also deeply influenced by the clericalization of many of the monks and the episcopal ordination of many abbots. 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