This was an interesting read and had many insights into monastic life. I appreciated some of the disciplines that are encouraged for the purpose of growing in virtue.

here's to you, Saint Anselm College.

More about ordering a monastery than about spiritual practices, but an interesting and influential historical document.

It'd be easy to write off monks or Benedict as one who simply rejected the world (though if we define world via biblical theology or how Paul thought, we probably should reject it too!) and ran off into isolation. I'm sure there's truth in that. But the Rule, taken as an alternative way of life of Christian holiness, is seriously formative. Just the amount of attention Benedict gives to the ordering of days/time is incredible. Given that we are shaped by so much around us, especially social media and technology, I found this rule a breath of fresh air. It gave me hope that serious, robust, and faithful Christian discipleship/catechism/formation is certainly possible. While not to be taken as a direct and unchanging template for life, the Rule inspires faithfully creative Christian thinking to establish formative practices to make us holy as our Heavenly Father is holy.

Here are some great quotes that challenged me to think how I personally resist being formed into Christ-likeness or were just great quotes:

"Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must come before all else. You are not to act in anger or nurse a grudge. Rid your heart of all deceit. Never give a hollow greeting of peace or turn away when someone needs your love. Bind yourself to no oath lest it prove false, but speak the truth with heart and tongue."

"Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are, but first be holy that you may more truly be called so."

"In the unsettled, strife-torn Italy of the sixth century, Benedict's Rule offered definitive direction and established an ordered way of life that gave security and stability." Timothy Fry from the introduction.

"a busy, involved society doesn't make a community." Thomas Moore from the preface.