After Matins each day, Father George Luck will lead a morning meditation in the chapel. Morning and evening classes in Benedictine spirituality will be given by Father Robert Hale with discussions following. In the afternoon there will be time for rest, reading, and private prayer. In keeping with Benedictine tradition, all meals will be taken in silence while passages from the Rule of St. Benedict and commentaries on them are read aloud to the community. Also in keeping with Benedictine tradition, the community will gather each evening before dinner for a half-hour of conversation and fellowship.
Silence is important to allow undisturbed prayer, meditation, and contemplation.
The Rule of St. Benedict comes from the early 500s, long before the universal church divided into independent parts. The Rule is, therefore, an important source of Christian unity. Participants come from a wide variety of Christian traditions and backgrounds. During the Benedictine Experience the participants form one Christian body to pray, worship, study, and be together. The Very Rev. Robert Hale, O.S.B.Cam, is a Roman Catholic Camaldolese Benedictine monk.