Rule of St. Benedict

There’s nothing flashy here—just a long, steady list of ways to live well: love God, love your neighbor, hold your tongue, forgive, choose Christ again and again. These are not dramatic gestures; they’re ordinary decisions made repeatedly, often unnoticed. Chapter 4 quietly insists that the spiritual life is built in the daily workshop of small, faithful acts where Christ is preferred and allowed to take root over time.

Benedict lays out four kinds of monks, but it doesn’t take long to recognize ourselves moving among them. Read alongside Chapter 3, that picture deepens. Benedict insists that important decisions be discerned together, because God’s wisdom isn’t confined to position, age, or experience.

Reading the Prologue, I’m struck by how little distance there is between God and us. Benedict doesn’t begin with commands or expectations, but with listening. God is already speaking, already inclined toward us, already attentive.

As often as anything important is to be done in the monastery, the abbot shall call the whole community together and explain themselves what the business is; and after hearing the advice of the monks, let them ponder it and follow what they judge to be the wiser course. ...this chapter encourages a spirit of discernment: to ask advice, to listen deeply, and to recognize that the Holy Spirit speaks through community, not just through our own thoughts.

"Do not grant newcomers to the monastic life an easy entry, but, as the Apostle says, ‘Test the spirits to see if they are from God (1 John 4:1)." Benedict expects important decisions to be discerned in community, because the Spirit speaks through many voices, not just our own. Taken together, these chapters feel very relevant today. Impulsiveness doesn’t just affect us; it spills into our work, our families, and our relationships.