Stability

Suscipiendus autem in oratorio coram omnibus promittat de stabilitate sua et conversatione morum suorum et oboedientia. Upon admission, in the oratory, before all, he is to make a promise to stability, conversion (of behaviour/morals/life) and obedience, For me the Rule of St. Benedict is a guiding document for the balanced life of discipleship, whether you […]

Chapter 65: provost of the monastery

With several in charge, no one will have the opportunity to become proud. Is it democracy? All commentaries on this chapter begin by stating the obvious tension found here in the Rule… I will do the same. It’s pretty clear that St. Benedict does not see the benefits of a prior/provost in the monastery and […]

Parish Monasticism: an update

Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam; 
et non confundas me ab expectatione mea. Receive me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. I started this blog at the end of 2013 as a learning project. I had no plans of what […]

Chapter 55: clothing and shoes

Suitable clothing shall be given the monks… Are you seriously going to wear that? Well it was bound to happen, wasn’t it? Sooner or later the conversation would come up about… Vestments. I have run a session on Holy Communion for two of our church’s home groups. The first part of these sessions look at […]

Chapter 54: the receipt of letters and presents.

Without the abbot’s permission a monk may not receive from or give to anyone… What is community? For Ash Wednesday this year I was away on holiday with some of my dearest friends. We go away for February half term to the Lake District each year and this year it happened to coincide with the […]

Chapter 25: grave faults

A brother guilty of a graver fault is to be excluded from the common table and the oratory Who is excommunication for? Dealing with excommunication in a culture like ours is difficult to understand. The last two weeks reflections have been an exploration of the need for context; the first week, the context for St. […]

Chapter 13: lauds – ordinary days

Neither Lauds nor Vespers is to end without the Lord’s Prayer, said aloud by the superior, in a voice all may hear because of the thorns of scandal always springing – so the brothers, remembering their pledge in the prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” may purge themselves. […]

Parish Monasticism?

Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam;
et non confundas me ab expectatione mea. Receive me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live:
and let me not be ashamed of my hope. Since training for ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall in Durham, I have felt a call to a form of monastic life. […]