Class 3: Scripture
The focus on Scripture is how Benedict and his predecessors: Antony, Pachomius, Basil, Cassian, the Lerinian Fathers, and The Master integrate the Word of God in every aspect of living and especially as the heart of prayer. Wynkoop, Lucy. "The Word of God." In The Word of God in RB and His Predecessors. 1.What are the common threads in how Antony, Pachomius, Basil, Cassian, the Four Fathers (Lerinian Fathers), The Master and Benedict use Scripture as a guide for life? Casey, Michael. "Pondering the Word." In Toward God, pp. 66-75. 2. How is reading God's Word, the Bible, praying? 3.How might we contemporary followers of Benedict use Scripture as a guide for our life?

Class 4: Antony as a Paradigm (Pattern) of the Spiritual Journey
Anthony's life is a blueprint for the spiritual journey and it can be a blueprint for our own spiritual journey. "Anthony of Egypt discovered and organized the four basic elements of the contemplative lifestyle: solitude, silence, simplicity, and a discipline for prayer and action." [Thomas Keating. Invitation to Love.] Keating, Thomas. "Anthony as a Paradigm of the Spiritual Journey." In Invitation to Love, pp. 58-66. 1.How is Anthony a good paradigm for the spiritual journey? 2.How does this blueprint help me with my own spiritual journey? The self is transformed as "Antony moves progressively from one `home' to another as he progresses in his discipline, his internal perfection of life." [Judith Sutera] Sutera, Judith. (1992). "Place and Stability in the Life of Antony." Cistercian Studies, 27:2, pp. 101-114. 3.Judith Sutera says "The monastic life...is a journey into another environment that places the rest of the world in a different perspective." How do each these places help Antony's new level in spiritual awareness and his growing relationship to the world around him? Optional Reading More, John Blake. (1988). "Antony's Conversion Experience: A Psychodynamic Perspective." American Benedictine Review. no. 3, pp. 287-303.

Class 5: Benedict's Approach to Prayer
"The monk who, in the course of a life-time, submits himself to the divine pedagogy, becomes a living prayer . . . . Prayer is the monk's mirror." [Michael Casey, "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer."] Casey, Michael. (1980). "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer." Cistercian Studies, 15. pp. 327-343. 1.Describe how Benedict's Rule envisions a life characterized by prayerfulness and how Benedict creates structures of prayerful living? 2.How does Benedict understand "prayer of the heart" as described by Casey? Wenninghoff, Kristin. (1988). "Compunction of Heart." Spirit and Life, Nov/Dec, pp. 21-23. 3.What is compunction and how does it recall God's providence? Wenninghoff, Kristin. (1987), "The Gift of Tears." Spirit and Life, July/Aug, pp. 6-8. 4. How are the gift of tears related to conversion of heart in prayer? Optional Readings Colm Luibheid, (trs.) John Cassian Conferences Chapter 9 "On Prayer" pp.101-124 or the web: http://www.osb.org/lectio/cassian/conf/index.html Evagrius Ponticus, "The Pratikos and Chapters on Prayer."

Class 6: Reading
"Monastic reading was less like study, as we know it, and more like prayer....It was rather, a full and voluntary immersion of the monk in the Word of God, allowing it to touch his awareness, to enflame his desire, to direct his understanding and eventually to serve as a guide and incentive to Gospel living." [Michael Casey, "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer."] Painter, Christine and Wynkoop, Lucy. Ch 3. "Reading for Formation." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness 1.Describe reading for formation in lectio 2.How does knowing the literal sense of scripture help us in lectio? Norvene Vest. No Moment Too Small. pp. 59-62 3.How did Benedict understand what we now call lectio? What provisions did he make for it in the Rule of Benedict?

Class 7: Meditation
"The custom of prayerfully reciting texts from the Scripture during work and at other times was described as meditatio. This was not conceived as an intense mental exercise, but as an almost automatic repetition of the text with a view to assimilating its inner meaning." [Michael Casey (1980). "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer." Cistercian Studies, 5, p. 337.] Painter, Christine and Wynkoop. Ch. 4. "Savoring the Word." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness 1.How did the Ancients meditate and savor the Word? 2.How might you meditate in lectio? 3.What is the allegorical or Christological sense and how does it help us in our lectio?

Class 8: Prayer
"When [the monastic] wished to pray, the words in which the movement of his heart is expressed are scriptural. There is no dissonance between inner grace and outward form; he is unable to discern where Scripture ends and his own prayer begins." [Michael Casey (1980) "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer." Cistercian Studies. 15, p.337.] Painter, Christine and Wynkoop, Lucy. Ch. 5, "Responding to a Touched Heart." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness. 1.How is prayer understood in lectio and how is all of lectio a prayer? 2.What is the moral sense of scripture and how does it aid us in our lectio and living?

Class 9: Contemplation
"As a monk's life becomes simpler and his purpose single, his prayer tends toward fewer words but richer content. A short prayer from Scripture, or perhaps a small selection of such texts, may serve as sufficient support for sustained prayerfulness." [Michael Casey (1980). "Saint Benedict's Approach to Prayer." Cistercian Studies, 5, pp. 337-338.] Painter, Christine and Wynkoop, Lucy. Ch. 6, "Contemplative Awakening and Awareness." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness What is contemplative prayer? How does it lead to communion and community? 1.Describe the mystical sense and how it deepens our lectio prayer. Keating, Thomas. Open Mind, Open Heart (20th Anniversary ed 2006) Chapter 9 "Summary of the Centering Prayer Method" pp 120-128 2.How can centering prayer lead to pure prayer? 3.Why would it be important to do Centering Prayer out of a lectio context? Optional Readings Keating, Thomas. "The Essence of Contemplative Prayer." In Invitation to Love. pp. 113-119. Keating, Thomas. "The Unloading of the Unconscious." In Open Mind, Open Heart. pp. 93-107. Cassian, John. "On Prayer." In Luibheid, Colm, trans. Conferences. [Also on the Web at: http://www.osb.org/lectio/cassian/conf/index.html]

Class 10: Mindfulness
"The fruitfulness of sacred reading depends not only on what contributes to the process or what happens while the book is open. Much hinges on what we do with what we receive." [Michael Casey, Sacred Reading. p. 70] "The goal is to rise each moment to the things of God." [Kristen Wenninghoff, "Mindfulness of the Last Things"] "Monastic mindfulness sees everything as one: the people of the earth, the resources of the earth, the products of the earth." [Joan Chittister, Wisdom Distilled through the Daily.] Casey, Michael. "Levels of Meaning-Mindfulness." In Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio, pp. 70-76. 1.How does mindfulness allow God's word to flow more freely into my life and what are reasons it does not? Wenninghoff, Kristin. (1989). "Mindfulness of the Last Things." Spirit and Life, Sept/Oct: 25-28. 2.Sister Kristin says "Mindfulness of God is acquired through meditation on Scripture, discernment, the works of justice, self-knowledge, and prayer." Give examples of each of these. Chittister, Joan. "Monastic Mindfulness." In Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. pp 67-69. 3.How does a Benedictine spirituality of monastic mindfulness contribute to prayer? 4.How do you understand mindfulness?

Class 11: Short and Continual Prayer
"A verse, even a single word, that makes a special impression when heard during the liturgy may become one's short prayer for the day." [Charles Cummings, "Short Prayers, p. 105] Cummings, Charles. "Short Prayers." In Monastic Practices, pp. 103-113. 1.How did the early monastics discover the practice of repeating short prayers? Of what benefit are short prayers today? Mork, Wulstan. "Continual Prayer." The Benedictine Way, pp. 13-27. 2.Describe the Benedictine Prayer Tradition and how it helps the monastic pray always? Optional Reading Bockmann, Aquinata.(1988/1989). "Benedictine Prayer Tradition and the Jesus Prayer" Benedictines, Fall/Winter, 18-29.

Class 12: Benedict's Psalmody
In chapter 19 on "The Discipline of Psalmody" Benedict says: "...let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices (v7)." We are invited to pray the psalms in such a way that they become a form of pure prayer through making them a prayer of the heart. Bamberger, John Eudes. "Psalmody" (6th Sunday of Easter – Chapter) 1. How might we make psalmody a form of pure prayer? Optional Readings Jackson, Teresa. "Dash your Thoughts against Christ: Psalmody as a Spiritual Discipline in the Rule of Benedict." Painter, Christine and Wynkoop, Lucy. Ch 7 "Lectio as Scripture Study, Prayer and Living." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness.

Class 13: Discernment
Discernment is encountering God through listening to the desires of our heart and being nourished by silence, prayer, liturgy of the Hours and stability in the monastic life. "Communal discernment depends upon, flows from and is the fruit of lives lived out of a discerning stance." [Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses. "With a Listening Heart," p.12.] Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses. "With a Listening Heart," In Upon this Tradition, V. 1.How do I and/or my community live in a discerning manner in the everyday of monastic life? Explain how silence, lectio, liturgy of the hours, and stability aid discernment. 2.How is discernment a way of life? 3.How is communal discernment practiced? Optional Readings Forman, Mary. (1996). "Tasting the Wisdom of the Monastic Tradition: The Biblical and Patristic Roots of Discerning." Benedictines, 48:2, Summer, pp 32-47. Dowling, Delores. (1996). "Lectio, Our Daily Nourishment for Discernment." Benedictines, 48:2 Summer, pp. 7-18

Class 14: Prayer and Life
"Benedictine prayer has several characteristics that make more for a spirituality of awareness than of consolation. It is regular. It is universal. It is converting. It is reflective. And it is communal. Out of those qualities a new life emerges and people are changed." [Joan Chittister. Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, p. 29.] Joan Chittister. "Prayer and Lectio: The Center and Centrifuge of Life." In Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. pp 27-38 1.Explain how Benedictine Prayer is universal, converting, reflective and communal? Painter, Christine and Wynkoop, Lucy. Ch 10. "The Transformational Value of Lectio." In Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness. 2.How does Lectio Divina help you to respond to all of life?

Class 15: Oratory of the Monastery
"‘How shall I pray?' Benedict would probably answer: ‘Simply go in and pray, take yourself to the oratory, begin to pray; pray, and you will know.'" [Aquinata Bockmann. "On the Oratory of the Monastery," p. 77] Bockmann, Aquinata. (1998)."On the Oratory of the Monastery" American Benedictine Review, 49:1, March, pp. 60-85 1.How does Aquinata Bockmann sum up Benedict's understanding of how to pray? 2.How is the oratory a help toward continual prayer?

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