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.

  In my family, on Christmas Day we always celebrate Christmas by opening presents, feasting with the family, and reading the Christmas story from the Bible all together. When I was young, I thought Christmas was only really about getting presents and playing with them and enjoying them, but as I grew in the faith, I realized that there was more to it than that. I thank God for blessed parents to teach me that it is okay to get presents, but it is most important to understand the concept of what CHRISTmas is really about.

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

 ⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

 ⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
      and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

 ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 ¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

 Christmas has really changed my life and I hope it will change all lives that read my blog.

 God bless you and have a WONDERFUL CHRISTmas!!!