We came upon these archival images of monks at work from our founding monastery of Our Lady of the Valley in Rhode Island. In our own ordinary daily tasks we are encouraged by the example of our holy forebears. And we pray that we, like them, may be faithful in all things.
And
if the circumstances of the place or their poverty
should
require that they themselves
do
the work of gathering the harvest,
let
them not be discontented;
for
then are they truly monastics
when
they live by the labor of their hands,
as
did our Fathers and the Apostles.
Let
all things be done with moderation, however,
for
the sake of the faint-hearted.
from the Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 48.
