Stressful current events and unforeseen setbacks can sometimes make life at home feel downright chaotic. Fortunately, families can look to our Catholic faith for ways to create calm and stability in the home.
Find practical ways to bring peace and balance to your home life. Learn to apply basic practices from St. Benedict’s proven rule of life to cultivate stability, balance, and peace at home for families of all sizes and ages.
Want Finding Calm updates? Sign up below to receive updates, or click here to send us an email.
The Benedictine monastic traditions were based on the Rule of St. Benedict, a book of precepts written by St. Benedict of Nursia in the year 516. Benedict wrote this book to help guide the monks who were living in community during his time. It has been used by the Benedictine community for centuries, but its values continue to be relevant today.
Benedict lived in Italy during a time of great chaos. The Roman Empire had disintegrated. Rome fell to barbarians in the year 410 and was sacked again in 455. Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor, was deposed in 476. Theodoric of the Ostrogoths maintained peace during a long reign (493-526) but upon his death the Eastern Emperor Justinian tried to regain Rome, and for the rest of the 6th century there was constant war as other barbarian tribes invaded the Italian peninsula.
Through those years of strife, the Rule of St. Benedict helped create communities where monks lived harmoniously among one another. The monasteries became places where monks could live in fellowship with others and grow in their own faith. Because of its benefits, the Rule of St. Benedict became a foundation for monastic life through the centuries. And now during modern times, it can also provide a foundation for a peaceful, faith-filled home life.