My First Visit to Ladyminster

As many of you who follow my life on Facebook, and have read this blog before may know, I have been an Oblate of Saint Benedict for a number of years now. One of the privileges afforded to Oblates is that we may visit the monastery we are attached to. I have been trying to visit my monastery for at least as long as I have been a novice Oblate, and this year I was finally able to go.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 21

We have finished with the rules for praying, and we go into the governance of the monks at a monastery. Just like at a business, or even the military, the brother monks have some placed over them to help govern the monastery and ensure things run smoothly.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 20

This is the last chapter that deals with formal prayers. And while this chapter is short, I think it is a little profound what Saint Benedict writes for us to read. 

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 19

This next chapter is back to being short again. After this chapter, we have one more that deals with prayers and things, then things go more into life and governance of the monastery. This chapter talks about the discipline of Psalmody.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 18

This next chapter is not as short as the other ones that we have recently had. This chapter is a little lengthy, but it is not that long. Believe it or not, but I actually enjoy typing out the longer chapters; it makes me feel like I've worked at the blog post.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 17

I apologize for missing two days of updates. My wife and I have been very tired as of late, so when my day is done I usually go straight to bed. Anyway, we continue on where we left off, explaining how the prayers of the Hours should be practiced.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 16

This next chapter deviates from what we have seen with the services thus far. This chapter talks about praying during the day. Some of my readers may remember that I have touched on such things before in previous blog posts. Also, this is still a short chapter.

The Orthodox West

In my post on Chapter 15 of the Rule of Saint Benedict, I mentioned toward the end that the West was once Orthodox. Many people - at least those who know that there is such a thing as Eastern Christianity - often think of the West as being distinctly Roman Catholic, and the East as being distinctly Orthodox. While today that assumption pretty much holds true, at one point in time it did not.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 15

Not much for an introduction today; I'm running out of things to say to open these short chapters. I will say this, though, and that is for everything there is a reason. I may not know what the reason is, nor how to accurately explain the reasonings behind the thing, but there is a reason for the thing.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 14

This next chapter is really short, like only 2 verses long. And again it covers the proper procedure for services.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 12

Now, we move into the way Lauds is supposed to be conducted. Lauds is similar to Matins, or Orthros in the Eastern churches. Lauds is so called because, "the three last psalms of the psalter (148, 149, 150), the Laudate psalms, which in former versions of the Lauds of the Roman Rite occurred every day, and in all of which the word laudate is repeated frequently." (Wikipedia)

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 11

So this post was here yesterday, and now it's gone. I have no idea what happened other than that I must have overwritten it with the new one. I have no idea how that happened. So here is Chapter 11 again.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 10

This is another short chapter that details how summer Vigils should be kept.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 9

This next chapter covers more of how formal prayers are to be conducted.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 8

I decided to take a break from posting yesterday and try to focus on worshiping. Our parish had its first Divine Liturgy in our new building and I wanted to have no distractions so I could be in a worshipful mood when I got to church.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 7

This next chapter is quite long; longer than the others that we have seen thus far. I think that this chapter being long is a good thing given the material that it covers.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 6

This next chapter is actually very quite short, and it is on a topic that I know I have a problem with on most days.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 5

This next chapter on our journey through the Rule covers obedience.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 4

This chapter of the Rule covers good works. Many of my protestant readers may think that Orthodoxy is a works based religion, which is partially accurate; we are a faith based religion that practices faith based works. We don't think that these works will get us into heaven; rather we have faith, and doing works is a result of that faith.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 3

I apologize for the tardiness of this post; I had the whole thing typed up with a nice intro on my Blogger app on my phone. Then it just disappeared. All of those words like I had never written them.