INTRODUCTION TO THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT
A School of the Lord’s Service.
About The Rule of St. Benedict
Over fifteen hundred years ago, St. Benedict was a well-educated young man. He lived in Rome and sought the truth in higher education and in the Scriptures and tried to live a good life in a corrupt world. He was dissatisfied with what he found in the academia and sought solitude in a cave, where he meditated on the Gospels. Benedict personally experienced Christ’s redemptive love and considered Christ as his great teacher.
As a result of his deep listening to the Word of God and his study of Cassian and other early desert fathers, Benedict was inspired to found a “School of the Lord’s Service” for others seeking truth, Christ, and a good life.
The School that St. Benedict founded was not based on academic excellence. The formation process that Benedict provided to his followers was built on living in Community with others seeking Christ and a way of life based on the life, death, and resurrection modeled by Christ in the Scriptures.
For an overview of the Rule of St. Benedict, we invite you to read the Prologue. It is Benedict's introduction to his formation process and the way of life of a Benedictine.
A reading from the Prologue:
Listen carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience...
What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life...
And so we are going to establish
a school for the service of the Lord.
In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.
But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity
for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,
do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,
whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).
For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand
and we run the way of God's commandments
with unspeakable sweetness of love...
To read more of the Prologue: CLICK HERE.
To read the Rule of St. Benedict: CLICK HERE.
To experience a Benedictine Monastery, we invite you to visit us at 2675 Benet Road and join us for Community Prayer. Please call 651-777-8181 in advance so that we may be prepared for your visit.
OUR MISSION
RULE OF ST. BENEDICT
OUR HISTORY
OUR PEOPLE
OUR ART COLLECTION
PASSAGES
THE WORD OF OUR FOLLOWERS
Reneé Valois
CC Pupek
Mike and Janis Nash
Jerome Miller
Jerome and Barbara Bovy
Debbi Gosse
Bonnie Chester
Father Dave McCauley
Father Jan Michael Joncas
Father Cyprian Weaver
THE RULE OF ST.BENEDICT
THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT
The Rule of St. Benedict serves as an invitation to open our hearts to God. It summons us to recognize our responsibility in the world and the proper use of resources. Above all, the Rule reminds us of the fundamental value of living our lives in search and service of God, preferring nothing to the love of Christ.