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From Saint Antony to Saint Benedict to the Book of Common Prayer

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Now that I have the basics of an horarium established (see The Twelve Gates ), and I am seven days into my Lent 2026 retreat, I want to start reading an introduction to Western Christian monasticism when I don't have anything more pressing to attend to during my daily 3-6 PM "Watch of the Steward" time block.  There are several introductory pathways to choose between: https://share.google/aimode/fwGUMirl8VrDBLmm7 After a bit of research on Gemini and Amazon, it looks like my best next step is  The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality  by Greg Peters. His background fits perfectly with my interest in the Book of Common Prayer : https://share.google/aimode/ocrnjczYTJSnKvWge I am also thinking about starting a daily deep dive into   The Rule of Benedict with Reflections from Christian Meditators  on Saturday, 2 May 2026. It's a course of study that will take four months to complete. We will see if I am really call...

The Twelve Gates

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Here is a summary of today's session: https://share.google/aimode/iQ5GAvaCFCBtghkIG For reference, this is  Hebrews 13 :9-14 (BSB): "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat. Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come."

Evolving Divine Office: Calendar, Horarium, Horologion

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4:10 PM Thursday. Alright, heavenly Father, it looks like you are calling me to view Tuesday's  Lent 2026 Horologion Capstone  as a constructive rough step in the right direction. Now I need to clarify that my "Stewardship of the Gates" watch from 3 PM to 6 PM every day is the calendar, mail, filing, and checkbook component of an emergent new monastic Divine Office. I should further clarify that secular use of a Microsoft Outlook calendar as part of my annual Office 365 subscription seems to be turning into the religious management of a horarium (the temporal structure, or "trellis") and a horologion (the prayerful contents of the calendar structure, or the "vine" that grows on the trellis and produces "fruits"). Despite Tuesday's "capstone" accomplishment, it would be totally wrong for me to suggest that I have put a final Lent 2026 Horologion into place. Rather, what I mean to say is that I will be working out the structure of...

Lent 2026 Horologion Capstone

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Tuesday, 4:46 PM EST. Earlier today, I posted Jonathan's Lent 2026 Horologion on my new ancillary blog, Jesus with Jonathan . This horologion feels a bit overwhelming at the moment, but it's important that I answer God's call as best I can and learn from my charisms and my shortcomings along the way. I've been chipping away at this old blog for almost eleven months now. My Lent 2026 Horologion is in some ways a capstone synthesis of everything I have learned since I posted A Simple Spring Beginning back on 28 March 2025. In other ways, it feels like the foundation stone of the next phase of my discernment journey. Let's call it a rung in the ladder of my new monastic ascent. Let's call it rung five, taking 2022 as the first celibate chaste rung in my climb.  The key point for me to remember is that February 2026 was a turning point in my monastic journey, highlighted by the Leo Full Moon at 5:09 PM EST here in Albany on Saint Brigid's Eve, with Jupiter in ...

Office Chaos to Daily Liturgical Order?

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Well, I got at least a couple of things wrong last Thursday with  Order of the Vegan Heart?  I don't need Sister Laurel to tell me to focus on my personal horarium first, and this particular blog will not work as a monthly update. It needs to be published every 2-3 days, and it needs to cover everything I focus on between 3:15 PM and 5:45 PM during my hermitage office hours. Right now, I am busy putting together my Lent 2026 Horologion. I should have a working draft together by Ash Wednesday. Sorry for any confusion created by my previous entry.