|
At the gate of the
monastery let there be placed a wise old man, who knows how to receive
and give a message, and whose maturity will prevent him from straying
about. From chapter 66 of the Rule of St. Benedict. |
The Expanded Index contains many links and summaries.
The Expanded Index is where I keep a list of all the things I want to find quickly. The Mini Index is for people who want to find the essential information quickly.
Expanded Index
● About
Oblate Spring Purpose, dedication
●
How to use the Oblate Spring.
Two options on how to locate information contained on this web site.
●
Articles Links to four key
documents on oblates and the divine office. Oblate Manuals.
●
Articles Links to foundational
in-depth articles about monasticism and St. Benedict from the New Advent
Encyclopedia (the 1914 classic).
●
Benedictine
Spirituality
in PDF - An Overview
For many people it is the desire for a deeper spiritual life that causes them to open the door to this little-known and ancient part of the Catholic church.
Benedictine Spirituality drew me and my wife to the Catholic Benedictine monastery near our home. We knew something was there for us the minute we walked on the abbey grounds.
Benedictine spirituality is peace, tranquility, and rest in God. For us, we had travelled many years on a spiritual path, and this was like coming to the headwaters of the stream.
Benedictine spirituality is not something added to our lives, it was the conversion of our ordinary lives into a life for God: an oblation.
(The above link is to my overview of the basis and reasons for Benedictine Spirituality.)
● Benedict St. Benedict in PDF
St. Benedict of Nursia, Italy. Born at Nursia, c. 480 AD; died at Monte Cassino, Italy, 543 AD. Benedict was author/compiler of a Rule for monks. The Rule consists of 73 short chapters on how to live in a monastery. Benedicts Rule became the foundation of western monasticism.
The Rule contains many Biblical principles for living the Christian life making the Rule easily used by oblates who do not live in a monastery. That's part of the wisdom we find in the Rule.Nursia (Latin) is now spelled Norcia in Italy and is pronounced "Nor - cha."
●
Benedictine Monasticism
Encyclopedia articles.
●
Blog my blog about my life as an oblate.
● Books
First book to read
about being an oblate.
●
Books
Lists and where to buy.
● Breviaries Online charts from Keller Book. A breviary is a book of the divine
offices (also known as the liturgy of the hours, or opus dei (work
of God)). If you want to pray the divine offices, you will get some
type of breviary. I use the
Benedictine Daily Prayer.
● Calendar For Divine Office from Universalis
● Conversatio Morum
means
fidelity to the monastic
life.
This
long document contains
an extensive list of quotes from web sites on the meaning of this
strange and uniquely Benedictine term.
●
Divine Office
prayed by oblates
In-depth article on divine office at Christ in the Desert Monastery.
Online Divine Office at Universalis
If you need to pray the divine office at your computer or on your hand-held device, you will like Universalis.
I print the Universalis calendar and use it to make sure I keep up with the Saints, Time of Year (Ordinary Time, Advent, etc.) and the Psalm week (1-4).
● Encyclopedia
Many articles on Benedictine monasticism.
● History of oblates
Scholarly
article on the development of oblates in Western Monasticism.
●International
World Congress of Oblates every four years.
International Benedictine oblates.
● Lectio Divina
Slow, contemplative Bible reading that lets God speak to your heart and seeks close communion with God by God's illumination of your soul.
Read my wife's favorite format of the above lectio divina article in pdf.
Read more on the sources and rights to use the material (Thank you) .Read more on lectio divina at a Jesuit's web site.
Lectio divina is pronounced lex-ee-oh dih-vee-nuh.
● Links
Oblate Resources (Page 4 of this web site) Essential & most basic resources are grouped by TOPICS . This is my list of KEY Internet Resources for new oblates and those interested in exploring oblate monasticism in depth. This is where to start a serious examination of oblates and monasticism.
The Page 4 is a manageable list of Topics providing a wide introduction to oblate monasticism.
● Liturgy of the Hours
See
Divine Office in this index
● Message Boards, Online Forums, Mailing lists
● Monasteries
Find
a monastery or Benedictine group near you or
one that you might be interested in. Don't have a monastery
near you not to
worry.
Some monasteries have lay
associates located all across the nation.
● Monasticism
Many articles on Benedictine monasticism.
●
Mystical Theology Link to New Advent Article
"extraordinary forms
of prayer, the higher
forms of contemplation in all
their varieties or gradations, private revelations,
visions, and the union growing out of these between God and
the soul, known as the mystical union."
● Mysticism
Link to New
Advent Article
When the heart "enlightened
by special illuminations, contemplates with ineffable joy the Divine
essence."
● New
What's new at the Oblate Spring, added and revised pages on this Oblate
Spring web site.
● Oblates
What's an Oblate?
Brief summary
● Oblates
Becoming an Oblate
-- What's an oblate? (in more detail)
---- What do oblates do?
● Oblates
Web site of the Organizing Committee of
the Benedictine Oblates World Congress
● Oblates
Number
in World
● Oblate Manual
from the Monastery of the Ascension
● Oblate Formation
Booklet from Saint Vincent Archabbey
● Online Daily Office and
Breviaries
● Opus Dei Work of God See
Divine Office in this index
● Order of St. Benedict for all things
Benedictine.
●
Pope Benedict XVI Reasons for
choosing name Benedict.
●
Reading
Importance of
spiritual reading
● Retreats
Find
a retreat near you or far away
if you want to travel -- think of it as a pilgrimage.
● Rule of St. Benedict
A set of 73 short chapters on how monks are to live together in a monastery under an abbot. Written about 530 AD. My favorite translation is this version of the It has a gentle grace and beauty.
Short, simple, and with its principles expressed in frequent Biblical phrases and allusions, this Rule guides monasteries of monks and nuns all over the world today. Other than the Bible, the Rule of St. Benedict has been called the most important book for the development of European society and culture.
The Rule's principle are easily adaptable to "regular" Christians who are not monks or nuns.
●
Rule of St. Benedict Commentary
Commentary by a monk for oblates -- one of
the best resources available
● Vatican documents Links to
documents by Popes and
Vatican officials on monasticism. You will find long and in-depth reading if
you go here. Probably not for a person who stumbled here and
wants to know if oblates wear hoods and robes. (I wear neither,
except when I read the Pope's encyclicals in Latin.)
● What I am doing What I am thinking,
reading and watching on the TV and using in the practice of the
divine office.
● What's New at the Oblate Spring
Added and
revised pages on this Oblate Spring web site
and Oblate Blog,
on page 6.
●
Work of God Opus Dei See
Divine Office in this index
●
World Congress of Oblates every four years.
International Benedictine oblates.
