The members should serve one another. Consequently, no members will be excused from kitchen service unless they are sick. ~Rule of Benedict

Everyone does a turn in the kitchen. ~Procter Community Practices

What lies dead and deformed in the letter on the dead parchment comes to life when put into practice. ~Peter of Celle, The School of the Cloister

[We ought] to be of help to all, to refrain from hurting others out of bitterness. ~Bede, Homilies on the Gospels

Annunciation of the Lord

Persist in your holy purpose, even if you fail a thousand times a day.

~Louis De Blois, Spiritual Mirror

Silence is neither mute nor talkative. ~Peter of Celle, The School of the Cloister

When we live in community, let us choose obedience over discipline, for the latter teaches arrogance while the former calls for humility. ~Syncletica

Openness to the working of the Spirit in both individual and in community is vital, life~giving. Without it, there will be a closed~up person, a closed~up community. ~Esther De Waal, A Life~Giving Way

It is the responsibility of the abbot or prioress to have great concern and to act with all speed, discernment, and diligence...they should realize they have undertaken care of the sick, not tyranny over the healthy.

~Rule of Benedict

Abba Moses asks Abba Silvanus, “Can a man lay a new foundation every day?” The old man said, “If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation at every moment.” ~Silvanus

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others. ~Saint Augustine

This is the advice from one who loves you; welcome it and faithfully put it into practice. ~Rule of Benedict, Prologue

Holiness...has something to do with being who we are, claiming our truths, opening our hearts, giving ourselves to the other pure and unglossed. ~Sr. Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict

Do not always be wanting everything to turn out as you think it should but rather as God pleases then you will be undisturbed and thankful in your prayer. ~Abba Nilus

Do your work in peace. ~John the Small

Together we shall try to find the exact answer to each one of the problems. ~Abba Pachomius to housemaster Thomas

Only God, its Creator, who is incomparably better and more worthy than it, can make the human Spirit content and happy. ~Louis De Blois, Spiritual Doctrine

If you want to keep peace in the community, judge yourself and no one else. ~John Trithemius

Whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk in the same way as he walked. ~1 John 2:6

Reverence declares, “All of the things God established please me. I do not hurt any of them.” ~Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Life’s Merits

We carry ourselves wherever we go. ~Matrona 1, The Forgotten Desert Mothers by Laura Swan

Monastic spirituality says we are to honor one another. We are to listen to one another. —Sr. Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict