If one tries to google the term ‘Benedictine contemplative spirituality’, not much will come up. It is one of these catch-all terms which tries to include a lot of different aspects in one – or in this case, three words, but maybe in the end it doesn’t say much at all. Because I am not the only person describing in this way the spiritual path I am walking on, I offer a short explanation.
The first part, ‘Benedictine’, refers to the monastic tradition which is based on the Rule of Saint Benedict, written in the late sixth century. While the rule was originally written for people living in a monastery it has influenced the spiritual path of people outside of a monastic setting, for a long time, whether as modern oblates, in Benedictine lay communities like the LCSB, or just because they came in touch with the rule through visits to monasteries, books or television shows.
While different communities or individuals may emphasise different aspects of Benedictine spirituality, the following list should be agreeable to most people:
- A regular pattern of prayer throughout the day, often but not necessarily the Divine Office (also called Liturgy of the Hours, Daily Prayer or Opus Dei)
- Lectio Divina (a form of meditative reading)
- Ora et Labora/Work and Pray (integrating work and prayer throughout the day)
- hospitality
- The three monastic vows translated for a non-monastic life:
- obedience
- stability
- ‘way of life’ (conversatio morum)
All aspects on this list deserve a post with a more detailed explanation, and especially the three monastic vows need some degree of translation. But this list shows that Benedictine spirituality usually combines a regular pattern of daily prayer, some form of spiritual reading, a life in which prayer and work are integrated, and a form of service to others.
Contemplative prayer is the second part of that spiritual path the term ‘Benedictine contemplative spirituality’ describes. One could easily argue that using Benedictine and contemplative in one term is redundant, because contemplative prayer was always included in any form of Benedictine spirituality. While I would agree with this assessment, the awareness for its monastic origins is sometimes missing in today’s writings about contemplative prayer .
There is also the question of what is meant by contemplative prayer. The origin of the term lies in the Latin term contemplatio, which means looking at or viewing of. In Christian spirituality, it is normally used with regard to God or the divine, more generally. But that does not mean whenever somebody says she is practising contemplative prayer that she is then in the process of seeing God. Instead, the person normally wants to say that she is practising a form of silent prayer in which she tries to open herself to the presence of the divine, which then might be received by grace. Outside a Christian context, this prayer practice is often described as meditation, like Zazen in Zen Buddhism, or the many different forms of mindfulness meditation. But the important difference of contemplative prayer is its implicit or explicit focus on the Christian Trinitarian God.
Therefore, people like myself, who are using the term ‘Benedictine contemplative spirituality’ to describe their spiritual path, want to emphasise that their spiritual practice has its sources in the Benedictine tradition as well as in a form of silent/meditative contemplative prayer. In my case, that means I pray at least part of the divine office and practice contemplative prayer daily, do some meditative reading as often as possible, try to integrate work and prayer life, and understand my work as a service to others.
Stephan Jockheck 