Benedictine Oblate #2

[Luigi_Daniele]

BTW, anyone have a list of famous Benedictine Oblates (if they were saints, even better)?

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

Pretty sure that I am talking to myself

Anyone familiar with this monastery?

They list 24 monks!

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Pretty sure that I am talking to myself

Only because you ask very specific questions that people don’t necessarily have answers to.

Why don’t you say something about living life as an Oblate…then there might be some kind of response.

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

Only because you ask very specific questions that people don’t necessarily have answers to.

Why don’t you say something about living life as an Oblate…then there might be some kind of response.

My apologies. I was just kidding with the smilies.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

My apologies. I was just kidding with the smilies.

Yeah, I know.

So I’ll ask a question instead.

What is something from the Rule that inspires you?

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

Yeah, I know.

So I’ll ask a question instead.

What is something from the Rule that inspires you?

Even though it is a bit of a “dry” part, I am deeply thankful for that part of the Rule that sets up the Liturgy of the Hours. I have been praying it for about 15 years. It is a deep part of my life. I truly believe that it is St Benedict’s greatest contribution to the Church.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I agree with you on both counts. It’s not the most exciting reading, but it is a gift to the Church, The amount of attention it gets in the Rule is a sign of its importance to Benedict.

Of late I’ve been concentrating on Chapter 4. I always find myself overwhelmed when I read it – there’s so much to do and I fall so short. I’ve been taking one line a week and finding a way to put it into practice in my life. It has changed me.

 

[jwinch2]

The “Liturgy of the Hours” presentation sold here is very good and does a nice job of discussing the development of the Divine Office as taught by St. Benedict in the Holy Rule as well as discussing the Cathedral Office in use at the time and contrasting the two. I’ve listened to it a couple of times, and it is quite informative.

bkstr.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NavigationSearch?storeId=15053&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&categoryId=

Several of the talks are good by the way, but since the topic was the LoTH, I thought I would mention that one specifically. At $3.50 a piece for the audio only version, they are affordable too.

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

I agree with you on both counts. It’s not the most exciting reading, but it is a gift to the Church, The amount of attention it gets in the Rule is a sign of its importance to Benedict.

Of late I’ve been concentrating on Chapter 4. I always find myself overwhelmed when I read it – there’s so much to do and I fall so short. I’ve been taking one line a week and finding a way to put it into practice in my life. It has changed me.

This is a fantastic idea! I am going to try and give it a try (after I get through the commentary on the Rule).

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

This is a fantastic idea! I am going to try and give it a try (after I get through the commentary on the Rule).

For me, the idea of putting something into practice rather than merely thinking about it has made all the difference. It’s one thing to say “I should be more generous” or “I should be more even tempered,” and something else to say “This week I’m going to buy groceries to donate to a local charity” or “This week I’m going to make my mantra, ‘let it go, let it go.’”

Some of them have been a bit difficult to figure out how to practice. “You are not to kill” or “you are not to commit adultery” – I don’t do those things anyway. It took some reading of the Catechism to see what other kinds of things were included in those commandments. “You must not be given to wine” was another interesting one. OK…so I’m not supposed to overindulge in drinking…but what is the message underneath that I can actually put into practice?

It’s also been interesting how often the thing I’m trying to practice has fit in with events in my life. “You are not to nurse a grudge” came up the same week as someone at work had done something really awful to me. It gave me a very concrete thing to focus on.

So all in all it’s been an interesting experience. And I have another 30 or so weeks to go!