Whoever you may be

The Rule of St. Benedict can seem strange and intimidating to many who read it for the first time. Even continual study can sometimes raise questions. Who’s it meant for? Who can possibly benefit from it these days?

The answer is in the first few lines. Verse 3 of the Prologue, in many English translations reads: “To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be …” (or something similar). Whoever you may be. In other words, anyone – which includes you! Benedict himself describes his work as a “little rule for beginners” (cf. Chapter 73). The way of life he outlines—not so much in its particulars, but in its underlying values—is accessible to anyone serious about the Christian spiritual life.

Although it has guided monks and nuns for hundreds of years, the Rule was not – and is not – exclusively for them. St. Benedict was not a priest (surprised?), and he wrote his “little rule” primarily for laymen in the mid-sixth century who desired to follow Christ in a more structured, intentional manner – living in community under an abbot. He never intended to establish a formal religious order (these did not exist at the time) and certainly did not envision one consisting mainly of clerics. Those historical developments occurred much later—some of them rather problematic, considering St. Benedict’s intentions and the origins of a lay movement that began in the late third century with groups of non-ordained desert hermits (men and women) in Egypt and Palestine.

So, despite present-day perceptions, the Rule is not the exclusive domain of “professional religious” or the “spiritual elite” (if such people exist!). It can—and does—benefit anyone who sincerely seeks God. This is evident in the growing interest in monastic spirituality among laypeople in the last 30-40 years. That appeal coincides with the steady and rapid growth of Saint Meinrad Archabbey’s Oblate community. Today, there are approximately 1,300 oblates associated with Saint Meinrad. In 1995, there were only a couple of hundred!

As Esther de Waal wrote in the 2001 preface to her popular book Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict:

It is clear that great numbers of people—people busy with work and family commitments, many finding it stressful to hold together the demands of their busy and complicated lives—are today turning to the monastic tradition. … I believe the main reason, quite simply, is that here they find what they know they most need: practical help and guidance in imposing the order and structure on the circumstances of their ordinary and daily lives that will give them a way to find God. …

In St. Benedict himself we have a layman writing a guide for his household, his extended family of brothers with their busy shared life and all its inevitable demands: preparing food and washing up, looking after guests, maintaining buildings and property, educating children, caring for the sick, and also earning a living. …

[Prayer] was the one essential priority, the central focus of everything else. There was here no separation of prayer and life. Everything flowed from one center, that contemplative center which so many today recognize as what they themselves are looking for.

As a result, lay men and women for centuries—and especially in recent decades—have associated themselves with Benedictine monasteries. Today, oblates live in the secular world but seek God through the inspiration and guidance provided by St. Benedict’s Rule. They apply its values and principles to their individual, daily circumstances—within their families, homes, workplaces, places of worship, and wider communities.

Those expecting the Rule to be some kind of profound treatise on mystical prayer and the spiritual life will be sorely disappointed. Rather, it is a practical, down-to-earth guide outlining a structure and daily rhythm for life in a community whose members have one common goal: to love and serve the Lord.

This is all in line with the Church’s “universal call to holiness,” which includes all the faithful. As individual members of the Body of Christ, we the People of God constitute the Church, whose mission involves each member. Everyone is called to holiness; there are simply different ways to live out that call. (If you’ve never read the Second Vatican Council’s Lumen Gentium, which addresses this topic, I encourage you to study the document; it can be found free online.)

Incidentally, my patron saint, Francis de Sales, was a huge proponent of the universal call to holiness (400 years before Vatican II!). In his ministry and writings, he not only repeatedly emphasized that sanctity is for everyone, but that it is indistinct from daily life, and is experienced in the very midst of it.

That has profound implications for what most of us consider the “routine drudgeries” of daily existence. Our prayer may indeed occasionally include brief, uplifting periods of divine insight or elation, but like the apostles Peter, James and John, we too must “come back down the mountain” (cf. Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:2-10), engage with the here and now, and become Christ to one another. However mundane, difficult, or pointless things may sometimes seem from day to day, that is precisely where God is to be sought, and virtue is to be practiced. Ours is an incarnate spirituality; we not only worship God but follow Christ, who came among us as a human being who walked this earth—the Word made Flesh.

This is the crux of the matter, isn’t it? How do we continue to seek God, believe in his omnipresence and omnipotence, and trust him amid our busy, overstimulated lives within an often indifferent or even hostile secular culture? Assuredly, it isn’t easy. Jesus never promised that it would be (quite the contrary!).

Navigating this journey and deepening one’s relationship with God amid such circumstances is not something that can be simply hoped for or left up to chance. A plan is needed. Like anything else worth pursuing (a military objective, a business goal, an athletic achievement, etc.), the Christian spiritual life requires strategy. And prayer must be at its center—not something employed merely to fill in the gaps around what we might term “priorities.”

That is precisely what St. Benedict is doing with his Rule. He offers a plan on how to respond to God’s universal call to holiness. It’s not the only way; there are many others. But I am convinced it’s one of the best (of course, I may be biased!). The fact that it’s been around for nearly 1,500 years and has guided so many souls – monks, nuns, oblates, and others – on their earthly journeys testifies to that. This ancient wisdom has modern relevance. Not everyone is called to be a monk or nun, but all are called to faithfully live out the Gospel, and the Rule of St. Benedict offers a time-honored way for anyone to do just that.

The strategy St. Benedict prescribes is simple, practical, and down-to-earth, establishing a daily sacred rhythm for seeking God. As former Archabbot Justin DuVall (d. 2021) once wrote of Benedict:

He believed that the search for God engaged the whole person—body, mind, spirit—and the human person comes to conversion without division and in communion with others…Much contemporary spirituality strives for balance in life, and the hectic pace of modern life makes it an attractive goal. St. Benedict, however, roots the practices of his Rule in a rhythm that ebbs and flows according to the demands of the time…He establishes a regular rhythm to each day through his careful arrangement of the times for prayer, work, eating, and sleeping.

Still, the Rule can present challenges to the modern-day reader. It can prompt objections, doubts, and confusion (just like Scripture!). That’s OK. But I propose that such challenges are signs to dig deeper, not pull away. A good question to keep in mind while reading the Rule is this: “What is this saying to me today—and how do I put it into practice?” 

For example, an oblate recently asked me what purpose or relevance Benedict’s chapters on such “boring” items as the order of the psalmody and footwear can possibly have for her. I suggested that she focus less on the literal application of such items, and more on their underlying values. What is Benedict conveying by including such pedestrian (even “boring”!) chapters in his Rule? Could it be that the “little things” matter? That structure is necessary in our pursuit of God? That there is really no distinction between the sacred and secular—that the world and everything in it is sacramental, and should be treated as such?

Those are the types of questions one should ask while striving to live out the Rule. With all that said, I leave you with a few tips for engaging with St. Benedict’s Rule:

n   Try to go beyond a mere literal reading. As noted with the example above, not all passages will have obvious relevance for you. Focus on the underlying values being conveyed. 

n    The Rule is very much a flexible, “living” document. It is adaptable to nearly any living situation. No one observes it exactly as written (though some have tried!). Like Scripture, not everything in the Rule is equally edifying or even useful. Consider context while reading and look for overall themes. Take to heart what is helpful and leave behind what is not. Even Benedict himself suggests that if what he spells out is unsatisfactory, then do “whatever one judges better” (cf. Chapter 18:22).

n    Don’t just read the Rule. Pray with it. It is suitable for lectio divina. Both God’s Word in Scripture and the Rule (which is heavily steeped in Scripture, especially the gospels), if approached via the Holy Spirit, is living and active. It has something to say to each of us today. Prayerfully engage the text. Consult commentaries on the Rule. Ask God in prayer what a passage means for you. And listen for an answer.

Like Jesus, St. Benedict doesn’t promise that all this will be easy, only that it will be eternally rewarding. And over time, the path should widen and level out: “Let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide …,” he says. “Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (Prologue 21, 48-49).

Whoever you may be.

(Originally published in Saint Meinrad Archabbey's The Oblate Voice, Winter 2026, Volume 5.)