Pure Benedictine Bliss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I first visited a Benedictine Abbey when I was a first year theology student at Oxford. I went to Douai Abbey near Reading in Berkshire. I was immediately\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2012\/11\/pure-benedictine-bliss.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pure Benedictine Bliss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I first visited a Benedictine Abbey when I was a first year theology student at Oxford. I went to Douai Abbey near Reading in Berkshire. 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{"id":7250,"date":"2012-11-16T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=7250"},"modified":"2012-11-16T10:18:52","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T15:18:52","slug":"pure-benedictine-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2012\/11\/pure-benedictine-bliss.html","title":{"rendered":"Pure Benedictine Bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the joys of visiting a traditional Benedictine monastery or convent is the singing. The more traditional orders reverence their ancient customs and spend time perfecting their music. When I lived on the Isle of Wight the monks at Quarr Abbey and the nuns at St Cecilia\u2019s Abbey perfected their Gregorian chant, and to visit the monastery or convent for worship was to not only step back in time, but to step up to the doorstep of heaven.<\/p>\n

That was a long time ago, but to this day I keep the music of the monks of Quarr singing Compline close by. The beauty and mystery of Gregorian chant is not only ancient\u2013with it\u2019s simple repetitious tunes and constant quiet rhythm it aids meditation and prayer like nothing else can. Sacred music opens the heart and soul to the wonder of God because music is \u201cemotion expressed as sound\u201d. In the midst of a world where the \u201cmusic\u201d expresses the emotions of rage, lust, chaos, hatred and the demonic, the music of the monastery expresses the opposite. Here there is peace, love, beauty, order and harmony that leads to the ultimate music of silence.<\/p>\n

A relatively new community \u2013 Mary Queen of Apostles\u2013are following the Lord in the way of St Benedict. Originally based in Pennsylvania they have transferred to the Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph in Missouri. Check out this fresh air experience of the Benedictine life here at their website.<\/a>\u00a0You can watch a very nice video of the nuns, their singing and and their life here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sisters will have a special on EWTN. Check out the dates and times:\u00a0EWTN called \u201cAdvent at Ephesus\u201d at the following times in the US & Canada:\u00a0Dec. 2 \u2013 11:00am ET \u2013\u00a0Dec. 5 \u2013 4:00am & 10:00pm ET \u2013\u00a0Dec. 12 \u2013 6:00pm ET \u2013\u00a0Dec. 15 \u2013 9:00am ET<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve made a CD as well and you can order this disc of blissful Benedictine music\u00a0 here<\/a>\u00a0and step into a world of prayer and a world of peace.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"