In Omnibus we just finished a small book called The Rule of St. Benedict. Something that stuck out to me was the Steps to Humility.
The Steps to Humility:
1: Fear God
2: Do God’s will and do not seek to satisfy your own.
3: Obey God
4: Peservere
5: Confess your sins
6: Be content with the lowest treatment
7: Prefer Others
8: Be Accountable
9: Control your tongue and don’t speak unless you are spoken to
10: Avoid foolish jesting
11: Speak Gently
12: Be lowly in your posture.
I am sure that I have probably not followed most of these steps to humility but I will try to do better with God’s help.
We learned alot about monks because St. Benedict was a monk. Here are some of the things that I learned about monks while reading this book.
Monks are to sleep in seperate beds. If possible,the are all to sleep in one place but should the size of the group stop this, the will sleep in groups of ten or twenty with the watch of senior monks. A lamp must be kept burnig from night until morning. They should sllepp fully clothed belts but take off the knives lest they poke themselves with it in the night. The young monks are not to sleep next to eachother but interspersed among the senior monks.
If a monk is fouund guilty of a fault, he will not be allowed to share to common table. Anyone who is not allowed sit at the common table can’t lead a psalm or recite a reading until satisfaction has been made. After the other brother have eaten, he will eat alone. A monk guilty of a serious falt is to be excluded from both the table and oratory. No other brother will be allowed to converse with him. He will work alone living always in sorrow and He should not be blessed by anyone at anytime. If a brother chooses to contact another excommunicated brother, converse with him or send him a message, he should recieve a like punishment of excommunication.
