Resources for a Workshop on Preparing a Rule of Life
Saturday, March 13th, 2021, 10 am - 2:30 pm
Here you will find materials related to the workshop.
You are welcome to join us for only a portion of the time; please consult the schedule below.
Materials include:
• schedule;
• Zoom link;
• description of the workshop;
• reflection questions;
• brief instructions;
• reading suggestion;
• From Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation from February 23, 2021:
Some reflections on the Benedictine rule of life; and from February 27, 2021: excerpts from Beverly Lanzetta’s rule of life;
• instructions for centering prayer;
• how to prepare for an online quiet day;
• video of the workshop, with participants’ sharing removed for privacy reasons;
• the Ignatian Examen;
• quotation used in Lectio Divina.
Schedule - Approximate
10:00 - 10:45
Introduction to the day
Brief review of the centering prayer guidelines
Centering prayer
10:45 - 12:00
Preparing a rule of life
12:00 - 1:00
Lunch in silence
Reflection, discernment, reading, journalling
1:00 - 1:30
Centering Prayer
1:30 - 2:30
Sharing and closing
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Preparing a Rule of Life
A Zoom Workshop
Saturday, March 13th, 10 am - 2:30 pm ET
A rule of life is a statement of intention about how we would like to live, a commitment we make to God and to ourselves. Discerned and composed during times of prayer and reflection, it’s a reminder from our most prayerful self that we put into writing so that we can refer to it, continue to refine it, and be guided by a supportive structure as we work to balance all the competing demands in our lives.
On this quiet day we will discuss the elements of a rule of life and spend time in centering prayer and silence, discerning the vows that may be coming to us from God and our own hearts, so that we may begin preparing our statements of intention or revise existing ones. There will be a silent lunch.
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Rule of Life Reflection Questions
• What are the essentials of my spiritual life that will help me to live prayerfully if I do them every day?
• Is there something that God wants for me that I am not allowing myself that I could make a part of my regular program?
• Do I need to subtract rather than add? Do I need to make more free space for something to arise?
• What do I most want to bring away with me into my daily life from this day of prayer and reflection? A word of reminder to myself? A feeling? A way of being? A sense of stopping myself in the midst of busyness to pause and be with what is? How can I make that part of my daily life?
• Where and when am I most likely to feel the presence of the sacred in my life and how do I make more space for that?
• As I reflect on these questions today, what is happening with my breath? What feelings do I notice in my body? What can I learn from these feelings? How are they a part of my prayer?
• What is the change I most want to see in the world?
• What is God’s call for me in regard to working for justice and peace?
• What do I need to do to increase my tolerance for uncertainty, anger, despair, and frustration so that I can be more effective and prayerful while experiencing difficult emotions? How do I bring these difficult emotions into my prayer so that they can be used for good?
• How do I manage my anxiety about what is happening in the world without rushing into action that is not right for me?
• What can I do to provide hope, inspiration and spiritual nourishment to those around me? What can I do to provide practical assistance? Is there a place where these two things intersect in a powerful way?
• How can I structure my time to create more balance between being and doing, prayer and action?
• How do I find meaningful community to support me? Who supports me? Who does not support me?
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Creating a Rule of Life or Statement of Intention - Brief Instructions
A rule of life is a statement of intention about how we would like to live. It’s a reminder from our most prayerful self, discerned during times of prayer and reflection, that we record so that we can be guided by a supportive structure as we work to balance all the competing demands in our lives.
As you reflect on what you would like to include in your rule of life, notice where your energy and attention are leading you. What activities would you like to be a part of your daily, weekly and monthly life that will help you to live in a prayerful and centered way?
Some possible elements of a rule of life:
• You might begin by writing a short prayer of intention, inviting God’s participation in your discernment process.
• A list of things that you would like to be a daily, weekly, and monthly part of your life. What are the essentials that will help you to live in a prayerful and centered way if you do them every day, every week, or every month?
• What else needs to be included?
Some ideas of activities that might be included as things to be protected, encouraged, made space for, given a special time, in no particular order:
Time in nature; community; family time; friendship; making art; enjoying art; music; crafts; prayer, meditation, mindfulness, spiritual practice; worship; discernment; exercise; journaling; therapy; spiritual direction; sex; travel; study; volunteer work; activism; cooking; time doing nothing; silence; scripture; bathing; swimming.
Reading suggestion
Margaret Guenther, At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us,
especially Part I and Part III.
From Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation from February 23, 2021:
Some reflections on the Benedictine rule of life:
If Jesus was a wisdom master who sought to transform the consciousness of his disciples through a way of life, the desert communities that sprung up in the fourth century may have been an attempt to carry on that traditional way of teaching. Cynthia Bourgeault, an accomplished wisdom teacher in her own right, traces the movement of Wisdom from the desert to the monasteries and into the present moment, honoring it as one of the foundations of her own wisdom schools:
One of the streams of Wisdom comes from very, very deep in the Christian tradition—the Wisdom of Benedictine Monasticism. Saint Benedict, in the fifth century, drew from an already well-established stream of transformational Wisdom that came out of the deserts of Egypt and Syria via a first generation of people who really wanted to practice what it means to put on the mind of Christ. Saint Benedict became heir to this and shaped it into a massive, stable container, which has been the foundation of Christian monasticism and monastic transformational practice in the West for 1,500 years. Its brilliant and stable legacy of “Ora et Labora”: “Prayer and Work,” offers a fundamental rhythm for the balancing and ordering of human life, and for the growing of that beautiful rose of Wisdom.
Joan Chittister, a vowed religious sister of the Order of Saint Benedict, explains how the Rule of Benedict provides an opportunity for transformation for everyone who chooses to follow its wisdom:
All in all, the Rule of Benedict is designed for ordinary people who live ordinary lives. It was not written for priests or mystics or hermits or ascetics; it was written by a layman for laymen. It was written to provide a model of spiritual development for the average person who intends to live life beyond the superficial or the uncaring. [1] . . .
Benedict was quite precise about it all. Time was to be spent in prayer, in sacred reading, in work, and in community participation. In other words, it was to be spent on listening to the Word, on study, on making life better for others, and on community building. It was public as well as private; it was private as well as public. It was balanced. No one thing consumed the monastic’s life. No one thing got exaggerated out of all proportion to the other dimensions of life. No one thing absorbed the human spirit to the exclusion of every other. Life was made up of many facets and only together did they form a whole. Physical labor and mental prayer and social life and study and community concerns were all pieces of the puzzle of life. Life flowed through time, with time as its guardian. [2]
[1] Joan D. Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today (HarperSanFrancisco: 1991), 4.
[2] Chittister, 74–75.
Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, An Introductory Wisdom School: Course Transcript and Companion Guide (Wisdom Way of Knowing: 2017), 4. Learn about and register for Cynthia’s online Introductory Wisdom School.
Creating a Rule of Life
In this week’s meditations on Wisdom, we mentioned the power of the monastic way of life. Few contemporary writers speak about modern monasticism with as much depth and clarity as spiritual teacher Beverly Lanzetta. She notes that an important aspect of any monastic community is a rule of life, or code of conduct. In her recent book, A New Silence, Lanzetta explores ways in which the everyday contemplative practitioner can deepen their commitment to love of the Divine. She writes:
Over the years, I have composed and followed a personal rule of life. I include below excerpts from the original and longer rule, which you may find helpful in writing and living your own code of conduct.
Be faithful to the Divine in all that you do. Put the Divine will before your own. Ask, “What would God do?” and wait for the answer. Do not allow personal attraction or gain to cloud decision-making, or your soul’s intentions to be compromised.
Be simple of purpose. The basis of simplicity is centering on God. The heart of the monastic life is to live in God’s presence.
Love all of creation with Divine compassion. Total commitment brings change. Give to life your unparalleled commitment, and complete love, one that is without self-interest.
Offer yourself as a place of prayer. May your presence be one that heals divisions and expands hearts.
Be attuned to the splendor of creation, and the gentle web of existence. Celebrate embodiment. Actively work—both within yourself and in the world—to make the holy manifest.
Refrain from possession. Remember the transient nature of earthly life. Possession can occur on all levels: physical, emotional, psychic, spiritual. Love expands the spirit, possession contracts it.
Pray daily to grow in humility, and to be empty of the false self. Offer over to the Divine your regrets, sorrows, doubts, motives, and unresolved desires.
In all you do, practice nonharm. Make a small footprint, tread lightly, become aware of the impact your actions have on others. The refusal to reflect on your motives leads to suffering (for others and also one’s self).
Treat all religions and spiritual paths with honor and respect. Enter silence. Keep faith alive.
Create community wherever you are. Make of your heart a home for the homeless, a refuge for the poor. Pray for the well-being of your monastic sisters and brothers.
I invite you to spend some time this week contemplating the rhythm of your own life. Without judgment, reflect on how you spend your time, what you pay attention to, and where your energy goes. Does the rhythm of your life honor the relationships and values that are most important to you? Is there some degree of balance between work and rest, solitude and community? Be open to the movement of the Spirit. How might God be inviting you into greater freedom, integrity, and love through the rhythm of your daily life?
The Ignatian Examen
A daily practice of praying the Examen from the Ignation tradition helps us discern how God is calling us. There are many different versions. This list of questions provides one example. Thanks to Modesta for raising how the Examen can be used for our discernment.
For what moment yesterday am I most grateful?
When did I feel most alive or energized yesterday?
When yesterday did I feel closest to God?
When yesterday did I have the strongest sense of being who I am?
What helped me to avoid pessimism and negativity yesterday?
When yesterday did I get what I needed?
When yesterday was I most able to give and/or receive love?
Quotation used in Lectio Divina
Awareness of a call make give rise to a feeling of inadequacy, as illustrated in the classical biblical calls of Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Moses said no five times to God. Moses’ excuses included not knowing God's name, not being a person of consequence, not having credibility, and not being a good speaker. Jeremiah responded to God, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Before Isaiah could say, “Here I am,” in response to God’s call, he expressed his profound sense of unworthiness with the cry, “I am a man of unclean lips.” Yet God not only calls but empowers—although the power may come only as we respond. Conversely, if we don't respond to God’s call, we may cut ourselves off from the Lord's strength and become increasingly blind and deaf to God's promptings. To ignore or resist a call may “fracture us further, widening the split between what we subscribed to inwardly and what we do outwardly.”
~ Suzanne Farnham, Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, pp 14-15