"The Instruments Of Good Works" By Saint Benedict-CHRISTIAN GUIDE TO LIVING A HOLY LIFE

[Dawn Marie]

CHRISTIAN GUIDE TO LIVING A HOLY LIFE.
The instruments of good works.

"The Instruments Of Good Works" By Saint Benedict

1. First of all, love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5)

2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

3. Do not kill (Luke 18:20)

4. Do not commit adultery (Matthew 19:18)

5. Do not steal (Exodus 20:15)

6. Do not covet (Romans 13:9)

7. Do not bear false witness (Mark 10:19)

8. Honor all men (1 Peter 2:17)

9. Do unto others as you would have done to yourself (Tobias 4:15)

10. Deny yourself, in order to follow Christ (Luke 9:23)

11. Chastise the body (1 Corinthians 9:27)

12. Do not seek after delights (2 Peter 2:13)

13. Love fasting

14. Relieve the poor (Tobias 4:7)

15. Cloth the naked (Isaiah 58:7)

16. Visit the sick (Matthew 25:36)

17. Bury the dead

18. Help and console the sorrowing (Isaiah 1:17)

19. Comfort the sad. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

20. Withdraw yourself from worldly ways

21. Prefer nothing to the love of Christ (Matthew 10:37-38)

22. Do not give way to anger. (Matthew 5:22)

23. Do not harbor revenge in your mind (Ephesians 4:26)

24. Do not foster guile or deceit in your heart.

25. Do not make an artificial peace (Romans 12:18)

26. Do not forsake charity (1 Peter 4:8)

27. Do not swear at all, lest your swear proves false

28. Speak your truth with heart and mouth (Psalms 14:3 or 15:3)

29. Do not return evil for evil (1 Thessalonians 5:15 & 1 Peter 3:9)

30. Do not do any injury; but rather patiently bear an injury done to you.

31. Love your enemies (Luke 6:27)

32. Do not speak ill of those who speak ill of you, but rather speak well of them (1 Peter 3:9)

33. Suffer persecution for justice sake (Matthew 5:10)

34. Do not be proud

35. Do not drink too much (1 Timothy 3:3)

36. Do not eat too much (Ecclesiasticus 31:17)

37. Do not be drowsy (Proverbs 20:13)

38. Do not be slothful (Romans 12:11)

39. Do not be a grumbler (1 Corinthians 10:10 & Wisdom 1:11)

40. Do not speak badly of others (Wisdom 1:11)

41. Put your trust in God (Psalms 72:38 or 73:28)

42. When we see any good in yourself attribute it to God and not to yourself. (1 Corinthians 4:7)

43. Always know that evil is done by yourself, therefore attribute it to yourself.

44. Fear the day of judgement (Job 31:14)

45. Be afraid of hell (Matthew 10:28)

46. Desire life everlasting with spiritual thirst (Philippians 1:23)

47. Have death always before your eyes. (Matthew 24:42)

48. Observe at every hour the actions of your life (Deuteronomy 4:9)

49. Know for certain that God holds you in every place

(Proverbs 5:21)

50. Dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts that rise in the mind

51. Reveal all such things to your spiritual father

52. Keep your mouth from evil and wicked words.

53. Do not talk too much (Proverbs 10:19)

54. Do not speak vain words, nor laugh too much (Matthew 12:36-37)

55. Do not love immoderate or boisterous laughter (Ecclesiasticus 21:23)

56. Willingly listen to holy readings (Luke 11:28)

57. Pray often devoutly (Colossians 4:2)

58. With tears and sighs, daily confess your past evils to God in prayer and to amend them for the time to come (Psalms 5:7-8 or Psalms 6:7-8 )

59. Do not fulfill the desires of the flesh, and hate self-will (Galatians 5:16-17)

60. Obey the abbot in all things, though he himself(which God forbid) should do otherwise, being mindful of that precept of our Lord who says: " do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example" (Matthew 23:3)

61. Do not desire to be called holy before you are, but first, be holy, so that you may truly be called so. (Matthew 6:1)

62. Daily, fulfill in deeds the commandments of God (Ecclesiasticus 6:37)

63. Love chastity (1 Timothy 5:22)

64. Hate no man (Leviticus 19:17)

65. Flee envy and emulation

66. Do not love contention (2 Timothy 2:24)

67. Shun arrogance

68. Reverence the elders (Leviticus 19:32)

69. Love inferiors (1 Timothy 5:1)

70. For Christ's sake, pray for your enemies. (Matthew 5:44)

71. Make peace with adversaries before the setting of the sun. (Ephesians 4:26)

72. And never lose hope in God’s mercy.

These, then, are the tools or instruments of our spiritual profession. If we constantly employ them day and night, and have them signed with approval in the day of judgement, our wages will be given to us by our Lord as our reward: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him”(1 Corinthians 2:9). The workshop where all these things are to be done is the cloister of the monastery, and stability in the Congregation.