Monastic Routine For Laity

[Era Might]

How can someone cultivate a sort of monastic routine as an anchor to your spiritual life, without becoming a religious? In other words, trying to capture the charism or rhythm of life that religious practice? I imagine how you go about this depends on what kind of spirituality you want to focus on...Benedictine, Carmelite, Jesuit, etc.

[puellapaschalis]

Getting up at the same time each morning for a fixed time of prayer is a starting point.

[Laudate_Dominum]

I do not know. Lectio divina and the breviary come to mind, for whatever reason.

[Gabriela]

My SD used to tell me to "make my house a monastery". I drew up a horarium and tried to stick with it. It didn't work. But for people who work regular 9–5 jobs, I think it could.

[Not A Real Name]

How can someone cultivate a sort of monastic routine as an anchor to your spiritual life, without becoming a religious? In other words, trying to capture the charism or rhythm of life that religious practice? I imagine how you go about this depends on what kind of spirituality you want to focus on...Benedictine, Carmelite, Jesuit, etc.

 

One of the best things you can do is speak with your spiritual director and ask for their help in making a sort of rule for your life.  Your spiritual director will be able to help you design one based on your state in life and how far you have progressed so far in your spiritual life. 

 

In Fr. Lasance's "My Prayer Book," you will be able to find a good outline for a Rule of Life on pages 195-200

 

http://www.catholickingdom.com/s_Library/Books/P/My_Prayer_Book_Lasance_OCR_CK.pdf

 

Getting up at the same time each morning for a fixed time of prayer is a starting point.

 

Yes!  The Heroic Hour!  One of the greatest mortification's we can give to God is to rise early at a fixed hour without any complaint and pray. 

 

St. Josemaría Escrivá, the Father and Founder of Opus Dei, tells us:

 

“The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and ... up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find oneself beaten at the first skirmish.” (cf. The Way 206)

 

http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2012/02/heroic-minute-immediately-upon-waking.html

[Era Might]

 

Yes!  The Heroic Hour!

 

 

lol. I like that. Second in difficulty only to The Noonday Devil.

[An Historian]

The first and really only answer is to sanctify your day through the use of the Divine Office. Says the Hours regularly at their appointed time. That is the bedrock of any sort of monastic living, of any imitation of the consecrated life. Without it you risk becoming a Jesuit!

[Era Might]

The first and really only answer is to sanctify your day through the use of the Divine Office. Says the Hours regularly at their appointed time. That is the bedrock of any sort of monastic living, of any imitation of the consecrated life. Without it you risk becoming a Jesuit!

 

Jesuits rule!

[Era Might]

The first and really only answer is to sanctify your day through the use of the Divine Office. Says the Hours regularly at their appointed time. That is the bedrock of any sort of monastic living, of any imitation of the consecrated life. Without it you risk becoming a Jesuit!

 

Jesuits rule!

[An Historian]

Jesuits do indeed rule at anything they apply themselves to. Shame they never seem to apply themselves to the Christian faith!

Anyway, Jesuit-hating aside. :P Monasticism is all about praising God, about being a living canticle. As I said, the liturgy, both Mass and Office, is the bedrock of all of this. But each tradition takes on it's own little quirks too. Benedictine monasticism is basically the Christian life lived in community and under a superior. There's a heavy focus on manual labour or manual work. Cistercians are VERY austere monks. Carthusians are all about the deep silence of contemplation outside of the Office, etcetera. Just pick up the Office, set a schedule for yourself, find a spiritual director, develop a deep devotion to Our Lady, read the Bible and meditate for 15 minutes a day and you'll be a monk in the world within a month!

[CountrySteve937]

Aside from the excellent advice already given;  a good way to start is with Lauds and Vespers and some Lectio (about a half hour or so). Try reading the HOly Rule of St. Benedict; particular Ch. 4-7   http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html#toc

 

 

Pax

[Fr. Antony Maria OSB]

Even before I entered the monastery, I tended to live rather monastically. While I didn't have the same schedule every day, I would have the same morning routine which included showering, etc., Lauds, and breakfast. Then Mass would be either in the middle of the day or in the evening (depending on when it was offered and my own schedule), and I'd generally pray Vespers before or after dinner. The specific time would vary, but they generally came as a package deal: food for the body and food for the soul. Then I'd pray Compline immediately before bed, or close to it. I found that having a set time for everything when living outside the monastery didn't work very well for me because different events or meetings would come up at different times, but if I had a sort of 'movable routine' then it didn't matter what time it was: I could get up at 6 and have the same morning routine as I did if I got up at 10. I simply knew how much time I needed for my morning, evening, and night routines and went from there. I hope that helps some!

[superblue]

I think, if I had the discipline to make a routine like everyone is speaking about, I could have a better chance of handling the stresses of college, working for scumbags who could careless about anyone they manage, etc....

 

But I have realized in order for me to progress I need a different environment in an actual religious order to learn how to properly pray TLOTH, and having a more meaningful prayer life which would then in turn allow me to better live the faith in the world around me.

[BarbTherese]

I have found for myself that trying to convert my home into a monastic situation just would not work for me.  I have reasoned that I am not called to monastic life personally, acknowledging that some in lay secular life might be so called.  I work my day around the duties in a particular day with an emphasis on any duties as prayer.  This means that my formal type prayer time and schedule can vary from day to day and not at all clock-related.  I also consciously strive to live that I am not monastic but rather lay secular and I guess what this means for me in really concrete terms is still on the drawing board and while some things have unfolded, the unfolding continues.  In my rule of life, approved by my SD, there is allowance for variation and development in some areas.  I do recall reading something by a diocesan hermit (Sr Laurel O'Neal Er. Dio. I suspect) that a personal rule of life for the hermit can be be reviewed and ideally is reasonably flexible leaving room for creativity now and then and since the rule of life for those canonically vowed to the eremitical life is under the jurisdiction of the bishop, I felt it was good enough therefore for me.

 

I have found "Notes from Stillsong Hermitage" (Sr Laurel O'Neal) particularly helpful to me on many matters and is a truly excellent resource, even though I am not called to the eremitical life.  http://notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com.au/

 

I have also found it very helpful indeed in putting a rule of life on paper to prayerfully read and to have read and researched many matters without actually applying probably anything I have read on a verbatim basis, rather striving to grasp the spirit therein.  I also found that having lived monastic life, I had to abandon that type of conditioning and thinking while picking up on aspects that could work in my way of life as a celibate lay person in secular life, either directly or with variation(s).

When I submitted my rule to my SD, his comment after reading it was "It is all embracing".  Having made private vows to the evangelical counsels, each of the counsels vowed has a radical aspect in the rule - certainly for a lay person in secular life anyway I would imagine.

[RoseOfGuadalupe]

Have set periods of time to pray

[ST BERNARD]

Have set periods of time to pray

 

 

Yes, very true. Start out small and see where that leads. I started out just by saying prayers upon waking, even while still in bed.Overtime, prayer itself becomes something desirable and you will want to set certain times aside for it.

 

To me, being monastic simply means to structure my life around God, in whatever ways that I can. With Him at the center of my life, all else flows from that.

[Swami Mommy]

Check out this great article on establishing a daily monastic routine at home:

http://notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/horarium-question.html

[oremus1]

 

Yes!  The Heroic Hour!  One of the greatest mortification's we can give to God is to rise early at a fixed hour without any complaint and pray.

 

St. Josemaría Escrivá, the Father and Founder of Opus Dei, tells us:

 

“The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and ... up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find oneself beaten at the first skirmish.†(cf. The Way 206)

 

http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2012/02/heroic-minute-immediately-upon-waking.html

​HAHA I love this!!!

[BarbTherese]

That gave me a smile.  I get up around 6.15am or 6.30am and have said 5 rote prayers non reflectively before I am really awake - so I have to repeat them around 7am when I am really awake and aware of what I am praying.  I am sure God with Joy receives the prayer of those performing the 'heroic hour' - and also the unheroic hour of those of us who groggily wake up after medication the night before.   Just as well for me God does not demand perfection whatever it is - rather it is His Gift to whomsoever He may please and howsoever He may please. After all there is world of difference in the journey between a St Francis of Assisi and a St Therese of Lisieux for example.

Edited April 14, 2015 by BarbaraTherese