As we journey into Lent, here are a few ideas we might apply from St. Benedict to nurture reading in the home. They apply to general reading habits. If you want to read books that are more specifically Lenten in nature, see this post.
Practice table reading. Keeping things light hearted as always, try silent (or mostly quiet) dinners using hand signs for communication. Decide who will be the reader each night. Maybe take turns. Select a book that will keep everyone interested to some degree. Play around with how long and how much to read. Be the wise abbot.
Go on a book date. (Inspired by Cal Newport’s How to be a High School Superstar.) There are a few different ways to go about a book date with your child or spouse. The main idea is to wander the book store freely and pick up books that look interesting. Then sit down and review them together. What looks like something we want to take home? A place like Barnes & Noble has the advantage of an attached coffee area. Of course you can achieve something similar with going to Half-Price books or the library, and going to coffee afterward. Again, the goal is to find books that look interesting and motivating to read.
Refresh your picture books from the library. If you have early elementary or pre-readers, the magic of picture books should not be withheld. Bring home a dozen or so from the library to always have on hand. Few children will resist snuggling with mom or dad to read a picture book instead of watching YouTube.
Read a book all the way through. If you’ve done #2 (book date) or #3 (library stack), #4 may be easier. Or, look through your own book shelves at what’s been gathering dust. Try as a family to each read a book all the way through by the end of Lent. Still need book suggestions? Stay positive. The spirit of Benedict is to encourage the faint, never to crush the bruised.
Make reading a default activity. To accomplish #4 (reading a book all the way through), you may need #5. Let a book be the thing you find in your hand more than a phone or a remote control. Play audiobooks when driving or cleaning the house. (Turn off alerts on e-books.) Think of times and places you would normally whip out a phone to ease boredom. Visualize reading a book instead. Then do it.
Drop everything and read. Despite being a cheesy line from 1980s schooling, the idea (as we see from St. Benedict) is a good one. Figure out where in the family schedule, whether homeschooling or in school, that everyone reads and not for school. Maybe someone has to read aloud to the pre-readers for some portion of the time. That’s ok. The children who don’t want to read can do independent work (not homework)–if not a chore per se (because it should not come off as punishment), quiet legos or drawing suffice. If needed, add tea and biscuits. It goes without saying that reading may be done in a tree as well as in a chair. Or on the floor. Avoid the bed to prevent unintentional napping.
Pay your library fines as a Lenten mortification.
Read on Holy Reading from the Rule of St. Benedict. Let the master himself instruct you in the ways of the wise.
- Jarin Schiavolin
Holy Reading
From the Rule of Saint Benedict
Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading.
We believe that the times for both may be arranged as follows: From Easter to the first of October, they will spend their mornings after Prime till about the fourth hour at whatever work needs to be done. From the fourth hour until the time of Sext, they will devote themselves to reading. But after Sext and their meal, they may rest on their beds in complete silence; should a brother wish to read privately, let him do so, but without disturbing the others. They should say None a little early, about midway through the eighth hour, and then until Vespers they are to return to whatever work is necessary. They must not become distressed if local conditions or their poverty should force them to do the harvesting themselves. When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks. Yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.
From the first of October to the beginning of Lent, the brothers ought to devote themselves to reading until the end of the second hour. At this time Terce is said, and they are to work at their assigned tasks until None. At the first signal for the hour of None, all put aside their work to be ready for the second signal. Then after their meal they will devote themselves to their reading or to the psalms.
During the days of Lent, they should be free in the morning to read until the third hour, after which they will work at their assigned tasks until the end of the tenth hour. During this time of Lent, each one is to receive a book from the library, and is to read the whole of it straight through. These books are to be distributed at the beginning of Lent.
Above all, one or two seniors must surely be deputed to make the rounds of the monastery while the brothers are reading. Their duty is to see that no brother is so apathetic as to waste time or engage in idle talk to the neglect of his reading, and so not only harm himself but also distract others. If such a monk is found—God forbid—he should be reproved a first and a second time. If he does not amend, he must be subjected to the punishment of the rule as a warning to others. Further, brothers ought not to associate with one another at inappropriate times.
On Sunday all are to be engaged in reading except those who have been assigned various duties. If anyone is so remiss and indolent that he is unwilling or unable to study or to read, he is to be given some work in order that he may not be idle.
Brothers who are sick or weak should be given a type of work or craft that will keep them busy without overwhelming them or driving them away. The abbot must take their infirmities into account.
Reading will always accompany the meals of the brothers. The reader should not be the one who just happens to pick up the book, but someone who will read for a whole week, beginning on Sunday. After Mass and Communion, let the incoming reader ask all to pray for him so that God may shield him from the spirit of vanity. Let him begin this verse in the oratory: Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise (Ps 50[51]:17), and let all say it three times. When he has received a blessing, he will begin his week of reading.
Let there be complete silence. No whispering, no speaking — only the reader’s voice should be heard there. The brothers should by turn serve one another’s needs as they eat and drink, so that no one need ask for anything. If, however, anything is required, it should be requested by an audible signal of some kind rather than by speech. No one should presume to ask a question about the reading or about anything else, lest occasion be given [to the devil] (Eph 4:27; 1 Tim 5:14). The superior, however, may wish to say a few words of instruction.
Because of holy Communion and because the fast may be too hard for him to bear, the brother who is reader for the week is to receive some diluted wine before he begins to read. Afterward he will take his meal with the weekly kitchen servers and the attendants.
Brothers will read and sing, not according to rank, but according to their ability to benefit their hearers.