Ora et Labora - A Beautiful Balance

For thirty years of my life, I was given the immense gift by the monks of Worth Abbey to be able take some part in their daily routine of prayer, work and study. Singing the Office alongside the monks transported me into a space where God was ever present. But then so too was God there in the rest of the day, in the holy space that was Worth Abbey.

Juggling work and prayer was far more difficult at the time in my everyday life. A job and family commitments pushed prayer out. Without a daily structure which incorporated prayer, it was all too easy to be engaged in labora to the exclusion of ora.

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In the monastery, work and prayer are just two of a number of activities undertaken by the monks. In fact, the phrase ‘ora et labora’ is not found in the Rule of St Benedict. It’s first known use was in a book about monasticism written in Germany in the 19th century. In the Rule, the day of the monk is described in chapter 48 entitled ‘The daily manual labour’.

Apart from work and prayer, the monks are very importantly engaged in study and reading which includes Lectio Divina; then there are times set aside for eating and for sleeping. It this combination of activities which allow the monks to live a balanced life, something which has eluded so many Christians down the centuries.

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Today, I have two great blessings which enable me to live a more balanced life than before. One is that I am retired, which has liberated me from the excessive demands of paid work. The second is that the Lay Community of St Benedict provides a daily rhythm of prayer online.

I could never be a hermit, because I would never have the motivation to lead the sort of balanced life that St Benedict created for his monks. However, in the Lay Community, I can just turn up four times a day to find a group of people who want to pray. With the support of that community, I have rebalanced my life in a way which I could never have done on my own. Of course, online Office is not the same experience as the Office at Worth – a computer screen is not quite the same as sitting in the choir in a large, beautiful church. But it is prayer.

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  I am thankful to God for those two great blessings. I am also aware, though, that if there had been online prayer within the Lay Community twenty years ago when I was in paid work, my life would have been more balanced. This is because I would have found the time to come to at least some offices. Monasteries provide structure to help monks get their priorities in life right. For those who want it, the Lay Community can provide some of that structure too. That is the reason why the Lay Community of St Benedict is such a blessing to us all.

Alain Anderton

2024