Lenten Reading
Each year, as Lent begins, we return to a practice rooted in Chapter 48 of the Holy Rule. There, Saint Benedict of Nursia instructs:
“During the days of Lent they shall each receive a book from the library, which they shall read straight through from beginning to end.”
On the First Sunday of Lent, after an exhortation from the Abbess in the Chapter Room, the books are distributed in a simple but solemn ritual. The chantresses receive the books beforehand, each one wrapped in white paper. Then, beginning with the most senior Sister and proceeding in order to the most recently entrant, they distribute the books in silence.
As the book is placed in her hands, the chantress bows to the Sister who receives the book—a small but concrete act of obedience and commitment at the beginning of Lent.
Many Sisters keep their books covered in the mysterious white paper! The hiddenness itself becoming part of the observance, and a reminder that this reading is different: it is an act of perseverance and prayer.
Each day in Lent, extra time is set aside for this reading, taken from our manual labour in fidelity to the Rule. It is a quiet, steady practice: to read from beginning to end, and to allow the Word to shape the heart.
