Most of us probably think of rules as unwelcome limitations on our actions. For years, our society has extolled personal freedom and depicted rules as limitations to be overthrown. But there is ...

Saint Benedict imagined a life of stability, community and measure; one devoted to the care for souls and, ultimately, to ...

The monastic alternative, at least in the West, has become so deeply unfashionable that most people no longer consider the possibility, but there is, at least to me, something deeply appealing about ...

(The Conversation) — Christian monasticism developed in part because people were seeking the solace of quiet places. But for them, like us, it was a struggle. In some parts of the world, a mysterious ...

Benedict’s Rule became the gold standard of monastic life. Listen!” wrote Benedict at the beginning of his monastic Rule. Writing around A.D. 540, he offered a way of listening in a setting where ...

Monasticism developed, in part, because people were seeking silence. Mario Mifsud In some parts of the world, a mysterious “droning sound,” similar to a “a diesel engine idling nearby,” has been ...