CONTENTS Preface - v-viii CHAPTER I VOCATION : COMPUNCTION OF HEART Compunction, first sign of monastic vocation, as of the call to the Christian life — In what it consists — Obstacles to be removed that it may be preserved in us — St. Gregory's "Four Arrows of the Spouse" — Compunction, the touchstone of monastic spirituality— Prayer for the gift of tears 1-15 CHAPTER II OBEDIENCE Instinct of obedience, first effect of compunction in the soul — The necessary disposition for religious vocation as for admission into the Church — Obedience assures unity and stability to our life — Special character of obedience, as understood by St. Benedict — The Abbot's place in the monastery — How he is to be regarded — Different degrees in obedience — Certain souls called by God to the highest 16-32 CHAPTER III PENANCE The first condition for salvation — What is meant by doing penance — Absolute ignorance of many persons on the subject of penitence — The place of this virtue in St. Benedict's Rule — That it must first of all be interior — Obedience, the monk's true cross — Exterior mortifications not excluded — Importance of offering no hindrance to the action of the Holy Spirit 33-48 CHAPTER IV BAPTISM AND PROFESSION Christian initiation and the monastic novitiate — The four constituent elements of the baptismal ritual reproduced in that of profession : (a) Renunciation, (b) Profession of faith made by the newly professed, (c) Mystical death, (d) Emblems of the new life — Efficacy of profession for the remission of penalties due for sin — Share of the simple renewal of vows in this efficacy — St. Anselm's teaching on the dignity and merit which profession confers on our smallest actions, even in spite of some transitory weakness 49-66 CHAPTER V THE APOSTOLIC LIFE What was understood by the "Apostolic Life" until the twelfth century — Model proposed by Benedict to his monks, how these will constitute to the end the most vigorous portion of the Church — Threefold obligations resulting from this vocation: Close union with the Apostolic See; interest in every manifestation of Catholic life ; zeal to preserve the primitive spirit of Christianity in its integrity — Chief reason for the existence of a Benedictine Abbey in our day 67-83 CHAPTER VI THE BREAKING OF BREAD Union of men with God and with one another — The twofold end of Christian practices from the beginning — The Eucharistic union, indispensable to the life of the Church — How, as the Sacrament of Unity, it must be the crown of all religious life — This unity seen in the composition of the Assembly — In the series of liturgical lessons — The part taken by the faithful in the chant — The form of the prayers — The offerings, the Altar itself— The canon, or prayer of oblation — Ritual of the kiss of peace, of the fraction, the Communion — Zeal with which monks should study earliest forms of worship — Best manner of assisting at Mass - 84-101 CHAPTER VII LITURGICAL PRAYER Twofold kind of prayer practised by the early Christians — Is the Divine Office the especial end of the Benedictine vocation ? — Why is this matter so often misunderstood ? Why the Divine Praise has so large a share in the monk's life — Youthfulness of soul and fulness of Christian feeling which it implies — Reason for the comparative rarity of monastic vocations in our days— Minimum of musical aesthetics required for the preservation of the Benedictine spirit 102-118 CHAPTER VIII MONASTIC SPIRITUALITY Liturgical prayer must be supplemented by private devotion — Recipes invented by certain types of modern spirituality — Such advantages as they offer, unsuited to the normal conditions of monastic life — That we must not stand aloof from the movements of contemporary asceticism, but neither must we lose sight of the proper character of Benedictine tradition — How this tradition is distinguished from the more elaborate processes in fashion in our day — Pious reading, meditation, prayer, contemplation properly so called— The "gaudium de veritote," the monk's highest ideal 119-135 CHAPTER IX MONASTIC POVERTY In what the life of religious approaches most nearly to primitive Christianity — Community of goods, the essential condition of all religious associations— Its pre-eminently social character is that which distinguishes monastic poverty from the poverty of the Mendicant Orders — St. Benedict's teaching on this subject in agreement with all Christian tradition — No hindrance to the absolute renunciation on the part of individuals of all spirit of ownership — Socialistic Utopia realized in the monastery — Lessons which both rich and poor may draw from monastic poverty — The "re-creation of the poor" 136-151 CHAPTER X DISCRETION AND BREADTH OF VIEW What monastic equality is — General tendency in our time to universal levelling — The exact opposite of the discretion spoken of by St. Benedict — This discretion is truly the "mother of virtues" the qualities which it requires — The infinite diversity of toe works of God in nature and grace — How to imitate the breadth of the Holy Spirit in our relations with souls — How the knowledge of the past enlarges the mind — All exclusiveness to be avoided — Boundless and delicate compassion towards all — The Benedictine Rule, in this above all, an epitome of the Gospel 152-166 CHAPTER XI JOY What joy is — Why it cannot be ordered — Required, nevertheless, by our vocation — Has always been the heritage of great monks — How to develop joy within us — Joyous atmosphere of Christian centuries — Causes of the lessening of joy in our time — Joy, a powerful element of sanc- tification — Importance attributed to it by the great monastic leaders of the nineteenth century — Family life, source of monastic joy — Certain souls who have the "face of love" — The joy of Heaven must be prepared for in this life 167-183 CHAPTER XII SIMPLICITY Joy and simplicity, natural companions — Simplicity dwells in the intention — May be summed up in this word : "To seek God" — Why the world understands nothing of simplicity — The spirit of faith the foundation of monastic simplicity — Obedience, the practical application of this simplicity — How to exercise simplicity towards our brothers: to fly suspicions, not to dwell upon little faults — To be natural and sincere in our marks of respect and affection — To avoid even the least appearance of adulation — Frankness and courtesy, the device of the monk — Simplicity in regard to ourselves — Simplicity, hereditary virtue of Benedictines, peculiar attribute of the Blessed 184-200 Digitized by Google.

Translation of: L'ideal monastique et la vie chrétienne des premiers jours

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