Benedictine Way

Reading Old Books

2015-11-09T12:16:28-04:00November 9th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , |

Medieval Monastic Library From the beginning the monastic way of spirituality has emphasized the importance of reading and study. Here's why: studying the old books safeguards your spirituality from being merely a subjective, emotional and ephemeral experience. Knowledge ground prayer in reality. The old books are the ones that have stood the test of [...]

Closed to the World. Open to Heaven

2015-11-06T16:53:03-04:00November 6th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , , , , |

Cloister, Mont St Michel, France When I lived in England I made my annual retreat with the small community of Benedictines at Mont St Michel. The architecture is a Gothic marvel of economy and engineering brilliance. The lower levels with thick walls support common rooms with thinner walls and pillars and the whole living [...]

On the Vow of Obedience

2015-11-06T12:30:29-04:00November 6th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: , |

In the present world the suggestion of obedience is met with incomprehension. That one should submit one’s entire will to another individual is not only a social error, but an anti-social horror. Obedience is a blasphemy in a world of individual freedom, and yet all the wise ones tell us it is only through obedience that [...]

The Little Way of St Benedict

2015-11-04T20:05:09-04:00November 4th, 2015|Categories: Suburban Hermit|Tags: |

My first encounter with St Benedict was through the life of a Benedictine oblate who lived in a little cabin in the woods near Bob Jones University. June Reynolds was a quiet, prayerful, joyful and bookish person. When I went to study at Oxford she loaned me some money and she also shared the Benedictine life [...]

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