Sister Joan Chittister presents St. Benedict in the form of a year's worth of brief daily readings. Each month is a chapter and the chapters begin a story about the founder of the Benedictine order and continues with a short paragraph for each day of the month. I read it through and learned a bit about Benedict and the contemplative life. The importance of Benedict is that he was instrumental in establishing monasticism in Europe as the Roman empire fell and poverty and barbarians followed. The Benedictine practices of combining work, prayer and study have something valuable to offer. ( )

This is real Joan Chittister - or rather, I recognize her voice here in a way I did not while reading her book on aging. ( )