Call within 10 minutes & we’ll double your order. A Benedictine oblate blog.

I move between two views about whether I should describe my oblate life to people who know little about this ancient Christian manner of living -- ie praying the Psalms at various times in the day, a practice that goes back about 2,800 years to the Jews in the time of Temple.

On one hand, there’s a part of me that thinks “gosh, everyone will want to be an oblate once they learn about it.”

But on the other, I also know that there are many other charisms (gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit) created by God. These different gifts are essential for the full flowering of the Church and maybe I should just leave people alone to see if they will discover an oblate program somewhere.

I tend to the first view (yes, you too will love being an oblate and with your order you'll receive a set of Ginsu Knives!) because I see many people on the Internet interested in a deeper spirituality.

Further, I sometimes think that people who are not familiar with monasticism in general might have a stereotyped and incorrect view that monasticism is rigid austerity -- when in fact it is a fountain of spirituality.

Oblates are not monks or nuns, but the monastic principles guiding the lives of monks and nuns, are similar to how oblates try to live in the world. Thus, if you have an idea of the monastic gifts lived by monks and nuns, you will have a glimpse into the life of an oblate, but on a much different scale.

Here is the best short video about the monastic life of one group of Benedictine nuns. The video was produced by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.