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"Benedictine Experience" Adult Christian Education by The Rev. Joyce Stickney
Esther de Waal, wife, professor, historian, and mother, started a program called "Benedictine Experience" in the midst of her busy life in the early `80s. Out of this experience a book "Seeking God" evolved in which she demonstrates how the profound wisdom of the Rule of St. Benedict speaks across the centuries and to us now. Indeed, it is often the most mundane details (shopping, driving, getting dressed, interacting with people in our communities) that bring us closest to St. Benedict, who brought his understanding of the Gospel to bear on every aspect of daily life. In each chapter, de Waal expounds on a principle value from the Rule: stability, listening, balance, people, material things, authority, praying ... I find her book to be very spiritual, practical and refreshing. De Waal's hope is that her book will be a first step encounter with the Benedictine Way for those "seeking God in the midst of a busy, often confusing and exhausting daily life." St. Benedict in his teachings continually points us toward Christ himself, and I am hoping that in our class and conversations together, we will also have a Benedictine Experience. Copyright © 2002 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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