Building a School of Love

en he wrote his Rule, St. Benedict speaks about establishing or organizing a school to learn how to love as Christ loves us. It might seem odd that any of us must learn what love is much less how to do it. The Rule he wrote for his unruly monks was an attempt to focus on Christ in daily livings. That he was successful is evident by the many monasteries and convents that practice the Rule of Benedict (RB). There have even been some adaptations and applications to that Rule by Cistercians, Carthusians, and Camaldolese. One Rule, many applications, all based on having in each of us the mind of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5) For St. Benedict and those who seek God using this approach, they prefer nothing to the love of Christ. What about the rest of us who would like to apply the Rule of St. Benedict to our parishes or ministries but don't live in a monastery or convent? Laity now has the opportunity to follow the Rule as Oblates of St. Benedict or as Lay Cistercians www.trappist.net. This is a book about one of many approaches to organizing a contemplative approach to prayer for your parish. My approach comes from Cistercian spirituality, as I understand it. It does not supplant prayer that goes on in parish communities of faith but enhances it for those who wish to follow its disciplines.