What oblates do. A Benedictine oblate blog

Dom David Knowles wrote the following summary of Benedictine life:

“THE LIFE which Saint Benedict wished his monks to lead was one in which full scope was to be given to the growth of supernatural motives and supernatural virtues. It was a life to be passed in the presence of God, with every action and activity directed towards Him. It was, therefore, to be a life without distractions, a life of prayer. In this life there were three chief instruments, liturgical prayer, reading, and work.”

Knowles moves from the detachment principles I wrote about in a prior post to the three activities that ground the Benedictine life in the real world. Those three main Benedictine activities are:

1) liturgical prayer (the divine office — an example here);
2) reading (discussed here in the second post of this blog); and
3) work (illustrated by the picture).

As an oblate (defined), those are also good instruments for a life lived in the presence of God.

___________________

Reference

Quote from:

"The Benedictines," A Digest for Moderns
By Dom David Knowles, page 8
Monk of Downside Abbey
Introduction by Marion R. Bowman, O.S.B.
Abbot of Saint Leo Abbey
The Abbey Press
Saint Leo, Florida
1962
Here is an incomplete, online version of this classic work.

The Picture:

I received the picture from the young daughter of a friend who lives in Germany. Work is a large part of the Benedictine life and perhaps is never better than when it is creative and expresses the beauty of God’s creation.