Caput XIV. Quibus exercitiis vacandum a calendis novemb. ad Quadragesimam.
The Discipline of Work and Prayer
The recluse is instructed to set fixed times for manual work, reading, and prayer.
Once you have looked these things over, set aside fixed times for manual work, reading, and prayer.
The Danger of Idleness
Idleness is condemned as the source of all vice and spiritual ruin, to be resisted through varied spiritual exercises.
Idleness is the soul's enemy, and the recluse should guard against it before anything else. It is the parent of every evil, the craftsman of lust, the nursemaid of wanderings, the nurturer of vices, the fuel of listlessness, the goad of sorrow.1 It sows the worst thoughts, hunts down illicit attachments, and stirs up desires.2 It breeds a disgust with stillness and strikes the cell with dread. May it never find you unprepared; may the Spirit never find you idle. But because our mind, which in this life is subject to vanity, never stays in the same state, idleness must be fled through variety in spiritual exercises, and our rest must be upheld by a certain alternation of works.
The Night Office
From November to Lent, the recluse is to keep the nightly vigils according to the Rule of Benedict, led by the Spirit's help.
And so from the Kalends of November up to Lent, let her rest past the middle of the night, as she judges best, and rising with whatever devotion she can, let her celebrate the nightly vigils according to the Rule of blessed Benedict, to which prayer should soon follow; and depending on how the Holy Spirit helps her, she ought to prolong the vigil or shorten it.3
The Spirit of Prayer
Prayer should be brief and frequent rather than burdensomely long, with psalms and commemorations governed by devotion rather than fixed rule.
But she should beware that a prayer that goes on too long does not breed weariness. For it is more useful to pray briefly and often than to go on at length all at once — unless, perhaps, a devotion inspired into the prayer itself, without the one who is praying even knowing it, prolongs it. After a prayer in honor of the Virgin, let her pay the duty owed, adding commemorations of the saints. But take care not to bind yourself to any fixed number of psalms or commemorations as a hard rule; as long as the psalms are a delight to you, keep using them.
The Daily Round
The recluse is to move cyclically among prayer, reading, and manual work from dawn through the hours, refreshing the spirit by holy alternation.
If they begin to feel burdensome, move on to reading; and if reading becomes wearisome, rise to prayer; then, turning to manual work, pass through it once you have grown tired of the rest, so that by this healthy back-and-forth you may refresh your spirit and drive away listlessness. Once the commemorations are finished — their number determined not by a set plan or by what the voice requires, but by the devotion that inspires them — let the remaining time, right up to dawn, be given to manual work accompanied by the chanting of psalms. As dawn breaks, let her complete the morning praises along with the hymns of the first hour of prayer; and so, in a rotation of readings and psalms — as the particular devotion leads — let her wait for the third hour, which, once it arrives, she should spend at manual work until the ninth hour. Once food has been taken and thanksgivings offered to God, let her return, as prescribed with gentleness, to spiritual exercises, setting aside bodily work until evening.
Evening Reading and Rest
Before sleep, private reading of the Lives of the Fathers is prescribed to stir compunction and fervent prayer.
After a short while, let her read something privately to herself from the Lives of the Fathers, or from their teachings or miracles, so that some compunction may arise from these, and in a certain fervor of spirit she may recite Compline, and with a heart full of devotion lay herself down to rest in bed. She, of course, who does not understand letters should apply herself more diligently to manual work.45
Weaving Prayer into Labor
Even during work and reading, the recluse should briefly rise to pray, frequently repeating the Lord's Prayer and psalms throughout her tasks.
In this way, when she has gradually grown tired, let her rise and bend her knees, and pray briefly to her Lord, and immediately take up again the task she had set aside. And let her do this at both times—that is, during reading and during labor—repeating the Lord's Prayer more frequently between her tasks, and if she wishes, weaving in whatever psalms she chooses.67
Read the original Latin
His inspectis, operi manuum, lectioni et orationi certa tempora deputentur. Otiositas quippe inimica est animae, quam prae omnibus cavere debet inclusa. Est enim omnium malorum parens, libidinis artifex, pervagationum altrix, nutrix vitiorum, fomentum acediae, tristitiae incentivum. Ipsa pessimas cogitationes seminat, affectiones illicitas quaerit, suscitat desideria. Ipsa quietis fastidium parit, horrorem incutit cellae. Nunquam te improvidam, nunquam te spiritus inveniat otiosam. Sed quia mens nostra, quae in hac vita subdita est vanitati, nunquam in eodem statu permanet; otiositas exercitiorum varietate fuganda est, et quies nostra quadam operum vicissitudine fulcienda. Itaque a calendis novembris usque ad Quadragesimam, secundum aestimationem suam, plus media nocte repauset: et sic surgens cum qua potest devotione, secundum formam Regulae beati Benedicti, nocturnas vigilias celebret, quibus mox succedat oratio: secundum quod eam Spiritus sanctus adjuverit, aut protelare debet aut abbreviare.
Caveat autem ne prolixior oratio fastidium pariat. Utilius est enim saepius orare breviter, quam semel nimis prolixe: nisi forte orationi devotio inspirata ipso nesciente, qui orat, prolongaverit. Post orationem in honorem Virginis debitum solvat officium, sanctorum commemorationes adjiciens. Cave autem ne de numero Psalmorum, vel commemoratione, aliquam tibi legem imponas; sed quamdiu te Psalmi delectant, utere illis. Si tibi coeperint esse onerosi, transi ad lectionem: quae si fastidium ingerit, surge ad orationem: sic ad opus manuum, his fatigata, pertransiens, ut salubri alternatione spiritum recrees, et pellas acediam. Finitis commemorationibus quarum numerum non propositioni, vel voci necessitas extorqueat, sed inspirans devotio dictat; tempus quod restat usque ad auroram, operi manuum cum psalmorum modulatione deserviat. Albescente aurora matutinas laudes cum horae primae orationum hymnis persolvat: et sic in alternatione lectionum, Psalmorum quoque prout ea devotio variaverit, tertiam exspectet, qua dicta in opere manuum usque ad horam nonam occupetur. Cibo autem sumpto et gratiarum actionibus Deo solutis, ad praescriptam mansuetudinem redeat spiritualibus exercitiis opus corporale intermittens usque ad vesperas.
Facto autem parvo intervallo aliquam lectionem de Vitis Patrum vel institutis vel miraculis eorum sibi secretius legat: ut orta ex his aliqua compunctione, in quodam fervore spiritus completorium dicat; ut cum pleno pectore devotionis lectulo membra componat: illa sane quae litteras non intelligit, operi manuum diligentius insistat. Ita ut cum paulatim fuerit fatigata, surgat et genua flectat, et breviter oret Dominum suum, et statim opus, quod intermiserat, resumat: et hoc faciat tempore scilicet utroque lectionis et laboris, Dominicam orationem crebrius inter opera eadem repetens: et si quos psalmos voluerit, interserens.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin chains vivid metaphors for idleness: 'fomentum acediae' (fuel/nourishment of listlessness/spiritual sloth) and 'tristitiae incentivum' (goad/incitement of sorrow). Rendered to preserve the concrete imagery while keeping the sense clear.
- 2 ↩affectiones illicitas rendered 'illicit attachments' rather than 'illicit affections' to avoid modern psychological overtones; the sense is disordered inclinations drawn toward what is forbidden.
- 3 ↩The Latin repauset (let her rest) is a rare verb; the sense is that the recluse should sleep later into the night during the winter season. The jussive subjunctives throughout (repauset, celebret, succedat, protelare debet) express a recommended rule of life rather than strict command.
- 4 ↩compunctio rendered 'compunction' per lexeme policy: grace-pierced sorrow for sin, not generic guilt.
- 5 ↩fervor spiritus ('fervor of spirit') captures a warmth of interior devotion, not mere emotional excitement.
- 6 ↩Dominicam orationem rendered 'the Lord's Prayer' (cf. Pater Noster).
- 7 ↩interserens ('weaving in / interspersing') captures the practice of inserting psalms between periods of work.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
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