Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Benedictine Code

Be An Instrument of Good


  • Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
  • Spend time each day with positive thoughts and ideas.
  • Own your personal limits.
  • Share your talents and time with the community.
  • Care for a plant, garden or other living things.
  • Learn to live with ambiguity.
  • Dress simply and neatly.
  • Reject consumption patterns that breed oppression for other people or the earth.
  • Find inexpensive ways to celebrate life.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Help create an atmosphere that fosters contemplation.
  • Develop a deeper appreciation for all creation.
  • Let nothing distract you from your main goal – to seek God.
  • Learn to eat sensibly and sensitively.
  • Make recreation healthy, happy and gadget-free.
  • Know the difference between significant travel and self-indulgent travel.
  • Live now the way you would honestly like to live.
  • Join with others in reshaping institutions in order to bring about a more just global society.
  • Seek peace and pursue it.
  • Become acquainted with different races and cultures.
  • Choose work that is fulfilling and contributes to the well-being of others.
  • Recycle whatever you can.
  • Purchase goods that are durable, usable and beautiful.
  • Make a yearly inventory of your clothes and possessions and develop a habit of giving things away.
  • Practice conservation of natural resources.
  • Speak from your heart.

~The Benedictines

A good way to live, whatever your faith. I received this code from a friend in 1989, and it has been a good way to live. I haven't always been able to follow all of it, but just in trying, I feel my life has had a soul-satisfying direction and purpose.

No comments: