A Plan for Living

In the early 1970s, I attended St. Meinrad Seminary located in southern Indiana. The school is housed on the grounds of St. Meinrad’s Monastery which is a Benedictine Archabbey. Some years later I was given a copy of the Saint Meinrad Prayer Book. Father Julian Peters, OSB writes in his preface:

The Benedictine tradition of ora et labora became a thread that has been woven into our association with Saint Meinrad. Once you’ve been touched by that perspective of prayer and work, it is easy to see how one’s spirituality, one’s love of liturgy, one’s listening for God’s call in life has been enhanced.

The prayer book includes a piece titled Just For Today – A Plan for Living. The plan has ten affirmations. Perhaps during Lent it might be helpful to take the following three affirmations and seek to follow the Benedictine practice of prayerfully putting them into the work of daily living.

Here are three affirmations:

Just for today, I will try to live through this day only and not tackle my whole life’s problems at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. If anyone knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do – just for exercise. And I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt. They may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Fr. Showers