NEW YEAR RETREAT: The Spirituality of Saint Benedict and His Disciples

In the early sixth century the monk we have come to know as “Benedict” wrote a rule for monasteries that has been in continuous use for more than fifteen hundred years. Part of the reason for the success of the Benedictine Rule is its author’s willingness to gently adapt and improve existing ascetical and spiritual practices in accordance with the needs of his age. In this workshop, we will study selected portions of Benedict’s Rule to discover how his wise approach to work and prayer may be lived out in our own day, and we will also study select texts by his later biographers and disciples to see how his wisdom was developed and applied in the centuries after his death.