On this feast day of St.
Benedict, we send prayers and blessings to all the Servants of the Father of
Mercy trying in their hearts to follow the Holy Rule of St. Benedict on our
team and to all our brothers and sisters doing the same, Prince of Peace Abbey
and those named Benedict!
CHAPTER III OF THE HOLY RULE OF ST. BENEDICT
The Instruments of Good Works
1.
In the first place to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole
soul, the
whole strength. Then, one's neighbor as one's self (Mt 22:37-39; Mk
12:30-31; Lk 10:27).
2.
Not to kill.
3.
Not to commit adultery.
4.
Not to steal.
5.
Not to covet (Rom 13:9).
6.
Not to bear false witness (Mt 19:18; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20).
7.
To honor all men (1 Pt 2:17).
8.
And what one would not have done to himself, not to do to another (Tob
4:16; Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31).
9.
To deny one's self in order to follow Christ (Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23).
10. To chastise the body (1 Cor 9:27).
11. Not to seek after pleasures.
12. To love fasting.
13. To relieve the poor.
14. To clothe the naked.
15. To visit the sick (Mt 25:36).
16. To bury the dead.
17. To visit the prisoner.
18. To help in trouble.
19. To console the sorrowing.
20. To hold one's self detached from
worldly ways.
21. To prefer nothing to the love of
Christ.
22. Not to give way to anger.
23. Not to foster a desire for
revenge.
24. Not to entertain deceit in the
heart.
25. Not to make a false peace.
26. Not to forsake charity.
27. Not to swear, lest perchance one
swear falsely.
28. To speak the truth with heart and
tongue.
29. Not to return evil for evil (1
Thes 5:15; 1 Pt 3:9).
30. To do no injury and even patiently
to bear the injury done us.
31. To love one's enemies (Mt 5:44; Lk
6:27).
32. Not to curse them that curse us,
but rather to bless them.
33. To bear persecution for justice
sake (Mt 5:10).
34. Not to be proud.
35. Not to be given too much wine (Ti
1:7; 1 Tm 3:3).
36. Not to be an overeater.
37. Not to be slothful (Rom 12:11).
38. Not to be a murmurer.
39. Not to be a critic.
40. To put one's trust in God.
41. To refer what good one sees in
himself, not to self, but to God. But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own
and charge it to himself.
42. To fear the Day of Judgment.
43. To be in dread of hell.
44. To desire eternal life with all
spiritual longing.
45. To keep death before one's eyes
daily.
46. To keep a constant watch over the
actions of our life.
47. To hold as certain that God sees
us everything we do everywhere.
48. To dash at once to Christ with the
evil thoughts which rise in one's heart, and disclose them to one’s spiritual director.
49. To guard one's tongue against bad
and wicked speech.
50. Not to love much speaking.
51. Not to speak useless words and
such as to rob conversation and provoke laughter that distracts. Not to love much boisterous laughter.
52. To listen willingly to holy
reading.
53. To apply one's self often to
personal prayer.
54. To confess one's past sins to God
daily in prayer with sighs and tears, and to amend them for the future.
55. Not to fulfill the desires of the
flesh (Gal 5:16).
56. To hate one's own will.
57. To obey the commands of the
Servant Leader in all things, even though he himself (which Heaven forbid) act otherwise.
58. Not to desire to be called holy
before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called.
59. To fulfill daily the commandments
of God by works.
60. To love chastity.
61. To hate no one.
62. Not to be jealous; not to
entertain envy.
63. Not to love strife.
64. Not to love pride.
65. To honor the aged.
66. To love the younger.
76. To pray for one's enemies in the
love of Christ.
77. To make peace with an adversary
before the setting of the sun.
78. And never to despair of God's
mercy.
_______________
Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc.
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