JULY 11 is St. Benedict Feast Day!
Join us in a Novena to our Patron Saint, going from July 2nd until July 10th. Each day, we will post a short reading from St. Benedict’s writings, along with a reflection and prayer. Pray with us for our parish and parishioners, that St. Benedict may guide and inspire us to grow in faith and love during these difficult times.
DAY 1: LISTEN
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “Listen carefully to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.” (RB Prologue: 1)
The Rule of Benedict opens with the word “listen.” This word is key to understanding the approach the Rule takes relative to a spiritual life. Every Christian should be a listener, attending with the “inner ear of the heart.” This means that listening is more than an activity that I do in my head. The “ear of my heart” means listening with all my being.
REFLECTION: When did you last listen to a person, a talk, or a reading that seemed to say something profound to you? Did you trust “the ear of your heart?” What stops you from listening? Where and how would you like to hear God speak? Have you been listening? Do you expect to hear God?
PRAYER: Holy God, I believe there are masters of vision, masters of peace, masters of wisdom and joy and love for me to hear. Sometimes I think my inward ear has been dulled by the many loud voices and noises of the world. I do not know where or how to start, but I ask you to teach me to listen and to hear you through the brothers and sisters who surround me. Amen.
DAY 2: PRAY
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “First of all, every time you begin a good work, you must pray to God most earnestly to bring it to perfection. . . . Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this charge: If you hear his voice today, harden not your hearts (Psalm 95:8).” RB Prologue: 4-10
REFLECTION: How often do you pray? What hinders you from praying? Even if you do not pray regularly now, commit yourself to pray for a short time every day for a week. Later that week, see if you notice how easily prayer comes to you. Commit yourself to morning and evening prayer. This might seem ambitious to you, so start small. Pray for a few minutes when you get out of bed and for a few minutes before you fall asleep.
PRAYER: Dear God, help me to be reminded of what matters most: to offer myself to your service in whatever opportunities you give me this day. Help me to rest in your love and to know you as the one true God who truly loves me. Help me know you through friends and through the love I receive from others. Amen.
DAY 3: HOSPITALITY
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Mt 25:35). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims…. Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received….” RB 53: 1-2, 15.
A CONTEMPORARY WRITER SUGGESTS: People who come into our lives are representatives of the great mystery at work in creation. These people should always be treated with respect and should be welcomed into our lives. Adapted from Always We Begin Again by John McQuiston
REFLECTION: We often encounter opportunities to make room in our schedules for other people. How can you be consciously aware when someone needs you, when someone needs a moment of kindness, a little attention, a gracious gesture? If hospitality means making room for another person, what will you do differently in your life to express hospitality?
PRAYER: Holy God, hospitality does not always come easily. There are so many things to do, important things. I have so many responsibilities and pressures that get in the way of my best intentions. Give me eyes to see the possibilities and a heart big enough to make room for someone else. Amen.
DAY 4: SERVICE
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “The brothers should serve one another. Consequently, no one will be excused from kitchen service unless he is sick or engaged in some important business of the monastery, for such service increases reward and fosters love. Let those who are not strong have help so that they may serve without distress.” RB 35:1-3
A CONTEMPORARY WRITER SUGGESTS: When we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who we will serve and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable. Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
REFLECTION: Pay close attention today for opportunities to serve others in subtle ways. Think how you felt the last time you made a conscious effort to serve others. You can always find opportunities to serve the members of your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Watch for subtle opportunities to do random acts of kindness.
PRAYER: Servant God, you know that there is a lot of work to be done to make this a beautiful world. I know that I can be overwhelmed and intimidated by all the good causes there are, by all the hurting and needy people in our world. If I keep my eyes as well as my heart open, I will be able to see things that I can do with my talents and abilities. Make my heart open to others. Give me the sight to see the needs of others and the strength to serve. Amen.
Day 5: COMMUNITY
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “The workshop where we toil faithfully …is the shelter of the monastery and stability in the community.” RB 4:78
A CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR SUGGESTS: Something happens to us in our living together that could not happen if we chose isolation. What we give and get in community makes us stronger people. “I come away stronger,” said one friend when speaking of her community of faith. Lonni Collins Pratt in Benedict’s Way
REFLECTION: How are you involved in your communities: home, school, neighborhood, church? What actions do you need to take to strengthen those ties? In what circumstances did your involvement with one of your communities make you “come away stronger?” Who are the people that have most influenced your spiritual formation? Find a way to tell one of these people about their impact in your life. Do it soon!
PRAYER: Dear God, relationships with others seem like a mixed bag for me. Deep down, I know I want the strength, power, and companionship of community. Help me see how other people can help me get through hard times. Remind me how others have shaped me into the person I am and the person I am becoming. Let me be more conscious of the power of my relationships. Let me always be grateful for the true friends I have. Amen.
DAY 6: BALANCE
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “Arrange all things so that the strong have something to yearn after and the weak nothing to run from.” RB 64:19
A CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR SUGGESTS: St. Benedict clearly understood the matter of balance. He carefully states in his Rule that there must be a time for everything: work, prayer, reading, food, solitude, silence, noise, companionship, and more-all in a single day! We get out-of-balance when we spend too much time in one activity. The person who can’t shut the door to work will soon burn out. Too much solitude may make one quite self-absorbed. Too much play or television watching may prevent some good things from happening. Fr. Daniel Homan, O.S.B. in Benedict’s Way
REFLECTION: Do you ever worry that you spend too much time, energy, and resources on something not really that important for your life? Are there times when you may tend to extremes in some aspect of your daily life? Think of a situation today where you might want to strike a better sense of balance. What specific steps will you take toward that goal?
PRAYER: Lord, I bring to you my extremes and all that I may lack. There may be some deeper motivations for my obsessions and my complacency than I know or understand. However, you can be present in the depths of my heart and you can even show me things that I can hardly name or even understand as being a part of me. Please help me bring my life into balance. Amen.
Day 7: LECTIO DIVINA (SACRED READING)
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “The Lord says in the Gospel: Whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon rock; the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, but it did not fall – it was founded on rock (Matthew 7:24-25)…. The Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his holy teachings.” RB Prologue: 33-35
A CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR REFLECTS: Repeated encounters with the Word of God [a daily period with Holy Scripture] will bring about a gradual transformation as my thinking and willing become progressively harmonized with God’s will. Slowly I grow in interior freedom and lose my innate orientation towards comfort and security. Fr. Charles Cummings, O.S.C.O. in Monastic Practices
REFLECTION: A daily encounter with the Word of God does not need to cover a lot of the Scriptures. Sometimes a sentence or two is enough to get in touch with God and with what God has to say to your heart. Try to commit yourself to a daily encounter with God’s word for the next month. Begin with a Gospel, go over it slowly.
PRAYER: Loving God, open the ears of my heart. Quiet me enough to notice your stirring in the depth of my heart. Teach me always to listen to you, especially in what you tell me through your word.
Day 8: JOY
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “As we journey in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.” RB Prologue: 49
CONTEMPORARY WRITERS COMMENT: Joy isn’t something that simply happens to us. Joy is a decision we have to make-or not make for that matter! We are responsible for whether or not we experience joy. Joy is not going to happen if we pamper ourselves and somehow prevent joy. A lot of things can choke joy: fear, cynicism, boredom, low self-esteem, taking life too seriously, loss of awe and wonder, greed, guilt, and even bitterness. Lonni Collins Pratt & Fr. Daniel Homan, a.S.B. in Benedict’s Way
REFLECTION: Review the list of joy-chokers. Are any yours? How can genuine love of self and others relieve fear and make space for joy?
PRAYER: Faithful God, you have seen the depths of me. There is no reason to hide anything from you, or to pretend that I am what I am not or that I have no fears. The antidote to fear is genuine love. Make me more loving, that I may be a person of genuine joy, bringing that spirit into the lives of all those around me. I continue to ask your help that I will carry an infectious spirit of joy every moment of my day. Amen.
DAY 9: LISTENING, AGAIN
ST. BENEDICT WRITES: “Let us get up then, at last, for the Scriptures rouse us…. Let us open our eyes to the light … and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out…. If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts (Psalm 95:8).” RB Prologue:8-10
THE PSALMIST EXPLAINS: “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.” Psalm 19:2
REFLECTION: Before going to sleep tonight, review the day’s events, the people with whom you spoke, the places you visited, and all the sights and sounds of them. In what events did God speak? How did you sense it, or why did you fail to sense it at the time? Make a habit of reminding yourself several times a day to try to be more attentive. It might be as simple as writing “Listen” into some of the empty lines in your date book or calendar or class notes. It is often between the lines and in the empty spaces where we hear God.
PRAYER: Loving God, every day does indeed pour forth speech. You are present in every moment, in the smallest details of my world, in the person to whom I am least inclined to listen. Take this life I give back to you and keep me always aware of your presence in all the times and places of my life. Amen.