While submission is an act of youth, true obedience can only come as a response of maturity. Lectio divina involves contemplating what we read or hear in a Scripture, being receptive to the presence of God, and letting ourselves be transformed. This springs from a desire to please God, or to seek God, as the Rule puts it (chapter 58). . A crucial confessor and teacher for Ignatius very early in his spiritual journey was a French monk, Fr. Personal or private prayer is traditionally exercised under the form of meditative reading of Holy Scripture and of authors who explain and reflect on it, according to the three phases designated by the words "reading" (lectio ), meditation (meditatio ), and "prayer" (oratio or contemplatio ). . It is specified solely by a commitment to God sanctioned by public vows. Benedictine spirituality offers an important voice in our world today, a voice which informs our praying, living and discerning. The ascetic and contemplative orientation of the monastic life was accompanied historically by such cultural activities and manifestations as were compatible with a separation from the secular world, conversion, and a life of personal prayer. Am I growing in my true identity as a son or daughter of God? Awareness of God In Benedictine practice we acknowledge the primacy of God and look for God in the ordinary events of each day. But the monk's development, like that of all human beings, requires both material resources and the help of other people. It is likewise through that response that one becomes free to be and develop as the person one is called to be. xb```f``x(80 e. de waal, Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict (Collegeville 1984). is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. 4. He entered the Dominican novitiate c. 1315 in his na, Benedictine College: Narrative Description. Benedictine Center is affiliated and operated in partnership with St. Pauls Monastery. (320) 363-7112. mholicky@csbsju.edu. 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. 6 Characteristics Of Benedictine Spirituality . The event will bring together sisters, monks, oblates, and Benedictine staff, as well as nonreligiously affiliated Millennials interested in contemplative . [], [] is both. This discussion shows that its impossible to isolate any Benedictine practice as independent of the others. It underscores the tenets of Care ethics in conjunction with Benedictine Spirituality. 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. Focus Our Eyes on God and His Word For Saint Benedict, the Word of God was of central importance. It is such a personal thing that it can be considered part of one's identity. Furthermore, he avoids anything that would be excessive or beyond the capacity of the average monk. Thus the rule refers frequently to the "divine commandments" and often cites the Bible, particularly the gospel. Monks are to listen "to the precepts of the master" but their primary and ultimate master is God. Only after we have come to understand our desires are we capable of relinquishing them in service of others. Benedict reminds us of our priorities: prayer, contemplation, balance and the importance of everything we do. But what does the Bible teach on this issue? Only a year ago, after a year of formation, I became an Oblate of Saint Benedicts Monastery in St. Joseph, MInnesota. Just because these spiritualities are different does not mean they are contradictory. However, the date of retrieval is often important. What makes spiritual direction distinctive is its 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. //]]>. 540-604 CE), who praised Benedict for his discretion and moderation. The second characteristic of the monastic vocation is that it demands a life of which a privileged part is given to prayer. 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. Benedict of Nursia lived from ca. Tradition assigns no other end to monastic life than to "seek God" or "to live for God alone," an ideal that can be achieved only by a life of conversion and prayer. Silence in Benedictine practice is knit together with listening and with prayer. Like counselling, therapy and coaching, spiritual direction rests on careful listening to the 'client'. Through contemplative prayer, the monk becomes an emptiness so there is space for God as well as space for others. It is my experience that the simplicity of this message oftentimes seems just too difficult to accept. endstream endobj 10 0 obj <> endobj 11 0 obj <> endobj 12 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/ExtGState<>>> endobj 13 0 obj <> endobj 14 0 obj <> endobj 15 0 obj <> endobj 16 0 obj <> endobj 17 0 obj <> endobj 18 0 obj <>stream Its principal source is the Word of God and its model is Christ. Saint Gregory has written that Saint Benedict, in entering his solitude, had no other desire than "to please God alone", "soli Deo placere desiderans." These simple words, better than any others, explain the monastic vocation. Benedict's community might well be called a formation community in which all, including the abbot and other superiors in the community, are in the process of being formed all of their lives into the likeness of Christ by attentive listening to the word of God, and a loving response to that word mediated into the life of the community by Christ's own offer of friendship through the communication of the Holy Spirit. Characteristics of Benedictine Spirituality. to the Rule is a good way to summarize the goal of Benedictine spirituality and prayer. Benedictine Abbeys and Priories in the U.S. Benedictine University: Narrative Description, https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benedictine-spirituality. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. It is regular, converting, reflective, and communal. More than a founder in the juridical sense of the word, its author had been an educator, or better, a spiritual father, and he aimed at forming consciences capable of spiritual liberty. As time went on we decided that we needed a clear focus on the values. How are you feeling called to commit that value to practice in the days ahead? No one thingprayer, work, rest, studywas to be done in the extreme. Humility helps us accept our gifts and talents joyfully while letting go of our false selves. In contemporary society, Christian spirituality is generally defined as a set of beliefs, values, and way of life that reflect the teachings of the Bible, the holy book of Christianity. Near the end of his life in 547 AD, Benedict of Nursia wrote a a guide to living, in the company of other humans, the kind of good days that add up to a good life. Augustinian Spirituality does not take us out of the world (into the . Patience does not relieve us of our natural feelings of aversion, irritation, and indignation, but it controls and rises above these feelings Our Lord felt the natural impulse to avoid suffering, but He set aside and refused to listen to this feeling: Father not my will but Thine be done.Where does this patience show itself? This practice is not particular to Benedictines, however. In Benedictine practice we acknowledge the primacy of God and look for God in the ordinary events of each day. The rule did not become a text of the past or a dead document; rather it continued to live and to vivify, but its very fecundity, its inexhaustible youthfruits of its discretionexplain how it was able to inspire different realizations. It strives to answer questions about the meaning of life, how people are connected to each other, truths about the universe, and other mysteries of human existence. What does it mean for us to learn contentment with living simply? The Benedictine practice of Moderation in All Things is another that is trending today, under the word balance. In the blog Echoes from the Bell Tower, Fr. 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. 6v-7r of the Bodleian library in Oxford. Francis consulted her, especially when he was discerning between becoming a hermit and being an itinerant preacher. Benedictine writers often appealed to methods of prayer and asceticism that were foreign to the monastic tradition. [contact-form][contact-field label=Name type=name required=1 /][contact-field label=Email type=email required=1 /][contact-field label=Website type=url /][contact-field label=Comment type=textarea required=1 /][/contact-form], Downloaded from the web site of the Bodleian library: [1]. Co-Director of the Spirituality Center. Benedictine Spirituality - also known as Monastic Spirituality. Its recipe comes from a 16th-century monk and includes a secret blend of 27 herbs and spices in a neutral spirit that's sweetened with honey. From the 13th century, Benedictine monasteries have often felt the influence of spiritual movements coming from non-monastic sources. 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 Rule of Benedict opens with the word "listen" (ausculta ). Benedict calls the monastery a "school" because it is the place where the monk is to be taught by God. Benedictine, member of the Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B. 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. The rhythm of life leads one to times of being alone and times of being in community. In Benedict's rule, humility is not the same as humiliations, for humiliations degrade the person. Benedictine spirituality is practical and profound. 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 . In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Consequently he accepts the services and ideas of others, the gifts of life, and community. 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. If you fill out this form, Ill respond from my personal email. The ideal of this pattern of conversion is meant to be incarnated in a special way for the community in the abbot, who is expected to be a symbolic center exercising a centripetal force that draws individuals into a truly Christian community of life for God and others in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. ." The resulting collection of ten core values - love, prayer, stability, conversatio, obedience, discipline . Music students practice their instruments. h|X+8v&yh{#||(E AM3. . Do you yearn for a good life, and do you desire to see good days? This article on the Contemplative outreach website explains the history of lectio divina, and offers instruction in how to do it. I hope this list (compiled in September, 2018) is helpful, perhaps even inspiring. 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. Fr. Just as all these people practice to become more proficient, spiritual seekers practice in order to become better at living a spiritual life. Benedictine spirituality is a way of life that helps a person to seek God and his will daily. It is a spirituality that transcends ecclesiastical divides because it is rooted in religious sources that antedate the sometimes . Columba Stewart OSB, the 73 brief chapters of the RB make up four major sections. Cultural Producer. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. How do we respect all things as vessels of the altar (RB 31:10). 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. ." 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. If a monk's life is not grounded in God, he is tempted to put himself in the place of God. One of the primary functions of the various monastic structures is to provide conditions in which the monks can concentrate on learning the art of listening. They are all intertwined. [], [] Learn more about Benedictine spirituality. Since Benedict was a monk, the spirituality which is based on his rule, is fundamentally monastic. The Benedictine practice of Liturgical prayer is one of Benedictine spiritualitys most visible, unmistakable hallmarks. The Benedictines, strictly speaking, do not constitute a single religious . They pray the Office together, with no voice standing out above the others. As you read, pay attention to the one or two which resonate most for you today. c. smith, The Path of Life (Ampleforth, England 1995). In other words, the core of Franciscan spirituality is the universal call to holiness that all women and men receive at baptism. The Nazirite's spiritual disciplines included not drinking wine or eating grapes, not cutting . 9 0 obj <> endobj Benedictine monks and nuns made a commitment to living in a specific location, within a specific community, as the context for their spiritual growth and development. U`` . BARTH, KARL In the East it dates back to the 3rd century with St. Anthony, and in the West to the 4th century with St. Martin and other founders of monasteries. He writes: "The will develops its own gifts, seeking to perfect them in the order of nature and of grace so as to bring the faithful soul to spiritual maturity. This sounds like the universal call to holiness, the theme that began this article. 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). Prayer is essential to a Benedictine lifestyle. Cultivating awareness of God is important for all who seek a meaningful spirituality. Hence he is able to receive others in the community, including guests, with kind consideration. Encyclopedia.com. Obedience is a concept 21st-century souls dont generally like to consider. 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