“Listen carefully, my child to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”
—Prologue to The Rule of Benedict.
Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century tried to follow a spiritual path by himself and realized he instead needed to practice this in community. From his awareness, we now have The Rule of Benedict, a way to find and follow God in community—balancing work, study, sleep, worship and prayers, and recreation. This Rule has now been used for centuries in Benedictine monasteries. Today people are developing ways to follow a rule as they live in the secular world, still connecting in community with spiritual friends and spiritual directors.
This Prologue to The Rule is my favorite part of the treatise: “Listen with the ear of your heart.” This is the call to the spiritual life, a way to live in the world still connected to God. First, we are to listen, to pay attention. We are called to awaken the ear of our heart. Through this we learn to connect to something outside of ourselves, hearing and loving. We hear and listen and learn about love most evidently in community, finding our source and inspiration in the other.
There are many outstanding books about The Rule of Benedict. I will share three favorites, but would like to hear about books that have been most helpful as you try to find your rule of life. The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century, by Joan Chittister, is used by The International Community of Hope, a training program for lay pastoral care ministers that also immerses them in Benedictine spirituality. Joan Chittister writes a short meditation after each part of The Rule and applies it to our everyday life.
Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living, by Memphis lawyer John McQuiston II, is a pocket-sized book that can be carried around during the day. It is a modernization of Benedict’s Rule with a sample rule of life.
St. Benedict’s Toolbox is exactly what the author, Jane Tomaine, calls it in her subtitle: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living.
All three books are especially good to read together in community, while learning and supporting each other.
The Daughters of the King at my previous church, and now at St. Mark’s, are reading St. Benedict’s Toolbox together. Episcopal priest Dennis Campbell, my daughter’s husband, reminds me that The Book of Common Prayer is also steeped in Benedictine spirituality!
Jpanna . joannaseibert.com