The aim of Benedictine prayer is to assist the monk to live his whole life in eager receptivity to God’s will. He is to become a “living prayer.” He is to live a life progressively dedicated to God and responsive to grace in every circumstance. The vow of stability limits the monk’s outer “coming and going” to render him more sensitive to the workings of grace here and now. Even more significantly, the vow is meant to cultivate stability in the heart, so that the monk may faithfully focus and refocus on Christ amidst life’s undramatic demands. Thus every task becomes a sacred task. Early in the Rule we are urged, “Every time you begin a good work, you must pray to [God] most earnestly to bring it to perfection.” Of course, Saint Benedict is not referring to our standards of perfection, which can plunge us into a frenzy of perfectionist impulses, but rather to God’s standards of doing everything of the love of Christ…
From Lessons from Saint Benedict, Finding Joy in Daily Life
by Donald S. Raila, OSB
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