Values

As Holy Cross Associates, we are committed to centering our lives in the basic values of Benedictine spirituality. Among these are:

Community

This is not only a primary Benedictine value, but also an essential Christian virtue and a basic human need. As Associates, we will work to build, nurture and heal community in all the environments we are a part of.

Since we are all part of Christ's body, our parish or local church is an important community for each of us, demanding our care and our love. It needs to be a living presence in our lives.

We will seek, if possible, to support each other's lives as Associates by meeting in small groups or forming correspondence groups.

Hospitality

We take seriously Benedict's instruction to welcome all guests and receive them as Christ. As Associates, we are called to consider all whom we meet as guests whom God has sent to us, remembering that it is particularly in the stranger that Christ is to be encountered.

Humility

Benedict reminds us continually that humility is foundational to Christian living. Humility is not self-denigration; it is honest appraisal. We have gifts and deficiencies, as does everyone else.  We start from there, remembering that God loves each of us with a unique but equal love. It is that love which is the measure of our worth.

Balance

Our ordinary life is our spiritual life.  We plan for a balance between prayer, work, study and recreation, keeping an inner balance even in the face of life's contradictions and complications.

Mindfulness

Since all life is holy, we don't want to let it pass by unnoticed. We give our attention as fully as we can to what we are doing at the moment and to what is going on around us. Being present here and now helps us to be mindful of the continuing presence of God.

Disciplines

Each Associate will work out a Rule of Life that fits the day-to-day world of home and workplace where we are called to live out our vocation. In constructing our rule we try to be specific about what we actually intend to do in each of the core disciplines that support the principles and values we try to live by.

Holy Eucharist

We participate in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist every Sunday and on principal feasts and holy days if it is available.  Some may find that they also are fed by weekday celebrations.

Daily Office

For Benedict, the Daily Office is the work of God.  It roots our life in the Psalms and Scripture and helps us live into the seasons of the church. The recitation of the Daily Office marks the holiness of our days and teaches us to live with right faith, certain hope and perfect charity.

Associates may use one or more of the Daily Offices from the Book of Common Prayer, the Monastic Diurnal, or some other collection for daily worship. Or they may pray shorter offices or adopt some alternative form of regular reading of the Psalms and Scripture.  Consistency is key.

The Daily Office may provide the framework for personal prayer and self examination.

Personal Prayer

Finding time each day to spend alone with God in silence is central to our spiritual life. Our part is to be there, offering the time and listening with the ear of our heart for the Holy Spirit's leading. God may draw us to penitence, thanksgiving, intercession, meditation, adoration or other form of prayer, expressed either in words or in the inner silence of the heart. Lectio divina is the monastic tradition of slow and prayerful reading and pondering of Sacred Scripture or other holy texts to feed the heart as well as the mind, is especially to be recommended as an appropriate form of personal prayer.

Self examination

Regular self examination, confession and reconciliation are central to a loving relationship with God and our neighbors. This may include, but is not limited to, the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Study

An inquiring and enlightened heart and mind are fundamental to the transformation of our lives and the widening our horizons. All study, whether explicitly religious or not, can enrich our prayer.

Stewardship

We are called as Christians to appreciate and to use the gifts God provides us, but at the same time to nurture a certain degree of inner freedom with regard to them. We are called to be in the world, but not of the world.

We are to be faithful stewards of our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our goods and our natural environment in gratitude to God and to God's glory.

Mission

Jesus modeled for us a life of compassion where the call to love our neighbors is to be understood as a call to love and serve others, especially the poor and the afflicted.

Spiritual Tools

The following are traditional aids offered to us so that "as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we [can] run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love." RB, Prol., 49.

• A spiritual director or spiritual friend can assist in keeping us on the narrow way, challenging us when we attempt to domesticate God.
• A spiritual journal can mark our course and help us to see our way more clearly.
• Participation in a small faith sharing group can serve to support us and hold us accountable.