Idleness is the enemy of the soul. therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading.
We believe that the times for both may be arranged as follows: From Easter to the first of October, they will spend their mornings after Prime till about the fourth hour at whatever work needs to be done. From the fourth hour until the time of Sext, they will devote themselves to reading. But after Sext and their meal, they may rest in their beds in complete silence; should a brother with to read privately, let him do so, but without disturbing the others. They should say None a little early, about midway through the eighth hour, and then until Vespers they are to return to whatever work is necessary. They must not become distressed if local conditions or their poverty should force them to do the harvesting themselves. When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks. Yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.
Idleness is the enemy of the soul. That is very true. Each of us can attest that nothing is quite so dangerous as a bored and idle mind. I am not talking about rest and relaxation, or vacation days, no, but the life that is spent with nothing to occupy the hours. The secular image of Trappists is that the pray all day and read the rest of the time. Since they no longer work in the fields there is no visible work. We know that is not true.
While it may appear the monks did not do much work back then, we have to remember that between None and Vespers was probably a considerably longer amount of time than from 2:30 to 5:30. They lived by the rising and setting of the sun. We live by the clock.
What Benedict teaches here, and not just to monks and nuns, but to us, the LCG, is that the day must include prayer, work, rest, and reading. Prayer frames the work day, reading feeds out ability to pray more completely, and rest refreshes the body so we can do the whole thing over again the next day. As member of the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani, we have our Rule of Life to guide us, and it just so happens to cover all four: prayer, work, rest and reading. It covers solitude as well, but each of us need that or we would not be involved with Trappists at all.
May God bring us altogether to everlasting life.
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