not well-grounded in the real world outside of the monasteryOctober 5, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is written by a brother who has lived in a monastery for many years and really hasn't a clue as to how to actually APPLY monastic principles in the real world. He makes the effort to bridge that gap by quoting, too often, from oblates he surveyed or has spoken with. Still, he misses the mark.
It's certainly better than The Inner Room book by Mark Plaiss, a non-monastic living in the real world, but it still leaves a huge gap between monasticism and actually applying it to the real, everyday world.
Don't buy it; get it from the library. Don't rely on it for the best source of information as to how to apply monasticism to your real world. At best, you might glean from it an idea or two, but nothing more than that.
The subtitle of this book should have been it's main title. It's not as much about "how to be a monastic and not leave your day job" as it is about becoming a benedictine oblate with a specific monastery.
If you're looking for a manual about how to become a benedictine oblate and what that might mean, this book offers some help. However, if you're looking for a book about how to REALLY be a monastic without leaving your day job, best to pass on this one, or read it for just an idea here or there.
Don't expect much; this book leaves you wanting a LOT more.
Shallow Enough to Wade Into at the BeginningApril 8, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a convert not anywhere near a monastery and not ready for oblate life who has only known one benedictine for a short period of time. While the emphasis on community and oblate life within the confines of a monastery is rightly there, this short book has introduced me to a new approach and a philosophy of life that is as refreshing as it was unexpected. While it doesn't include the rule, it includes simple concepts -- enough to keep me busy, questioning, reordering my days, and embracing a kind of peace unusual in this current day's pace. I would also highly recommend a book called Oblation: Meditations on St. Benedict's Rule. It is a collection of poetry born as a reaction to various parts and concepts contained in Benedict's Rule.
Benedictine OblateJanuary 24, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I guess I didn't read the introduction when I purchased the book otherwise I might have known that in order to become a Monastic you first must become a Benedictine. That's a tongue in cheek comment by the way.
There is the Oblate's in the Benedictine world and "Third Order of St. Francis" in the Franciscan order, both provide a somewhat structured method of achieving some sort of normalcy in a hectic world. The Oblates of St. Benedict is a unique group in that every Benedictine Monastery has a Oblate group. The interesting thing about being a Oblate is that you do not need to be a Catholic in order to join. In my own experience as well as my wife's, we have been Oblates for nearly ten years at a Monastery in Arkansas. There isn't much that they ask you to do except for praying the "Liturgy of the Hours," and following the writing of St. Benedict in his "Rules" book. Depending on the Oblate Director at the Monastery, your participation in their community as an Oblate can be done twice a year at a retreat.
So I guess that If you learn anything from the book is that you can be a part of the community of Christ by praying and being a good person with the help of a local Benedictine Monastery. I would suggest to visit a Monastery, any Monastery, because all of them are founded on the same principle that each visitor is treated "as if Christ Himself came to the door!" Which is the primary principle of St. Benedicts Rule.
WeakNovember 21, 2007 4 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book was weak in my view. The author seemed juvenile in places - as if he were a college professor proud of his "independence" from orthodox (right-thinking) Catholic doctrine and practice. He admits the Benedictines DO have that reputation. Of course, they do, now, in 21st Century America. He is even proud to cite Sr Joan Chichester, OSB, someone who is so leftist she might be given the oxymoronic label a "new age Catholic". I interpret his response to this accusation that they have been around for so many centuries, they cannot be un-orthodox and, presumably, THEY set what is really orthodox. Unfortunately, this argument ignores the fact that the Benedictines have needed many major reforms over those centuries. Why? Because they have often strayed and sometimes far from orthodox Catholic doctrine and practice!! I am sure the author is a holy man but just a little shallow - the same wonderful, soft type of man whose softness has caused the pendulum to swing the wrong way in the Catholic Church this past generation. I don't think he would kick those money changers out of the temple. He might plead very nicely with them to leave, however.
STRONG ADVICE FOR ALL OF US NEEDING TO RESTORE THE SENSE OF THE SACRED AND ITS PRACTICE INTO OUR SECULAR AND BUSY LIVESJuly 6, 2007 5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book of course cannot set up a monastic schedule coordinating with your particular work and family life, as the variety is far too great within the intended audience of lay persons. FOr this you really need an individual Oblate Director and your own intense and daily prayer commitment in order to discern, discover and to realize all the ways and slow paths to conversion by which the ancient Rule For Monks of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict already winds its ineluctable road throughout your own individual life. But this book is a mighty guide, wise counsellor, constant coach, inspiring leader, generous gatekeeper, and encouraging friend in times of despair, disanimation, lassitude and the will to quit once and for all to path towards eternal life in God's merciful Love.
In the words of Our Holy Father Saint BEnedict, may we all get there together (or, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., warned us, die apart as fools).
Not much more to add to what has already been indicated here, except that this book has the power to open up for you the possibility of truly praying and living the Rule, and the Gospel, in your daily life, as difficult as this may be in our modern world. This book can set you free, to begin. Please read it and consider seriously taking on the commitment and the possibilities within your own limited life. What have we got to lose! I'll encourage you if you will encourage me too!
