WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Chapter 18: The order for reciting the psalms (paragraphs 1-2)

Each hour begins with following verse: O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me. (From para. 1 of Ch. 18 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

How wonderful and curious that Benedict begins each hour with the same psalm verse that Cassian earlier recommended as a formula for continuous prayer. And for John Main, Cassian's recommendation of a formula became the key to Fr. John's recovering the Christian tradition of the mantra. The psalmist, Cassian, St. Benedict and John Main all point me toward a way of selfless growth.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersJune 21, 2015 at 10:25 PM
I love Joan Chittister's quoting the Navajos' writing: "We felt like talking to the ground we loved it so!" Repeating "O God come to my assistance; O Lord make haste to help me" is my way of talking to the Ground I love so. That's you, Abba.
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