Each Day …
[… of this new year]
At the beginning of each day,
after we open our eyes
to receive the light
of that day,
As we listen to the voices
and sounds
that surround us,
We must resolve to treat each hour
as the rarest of gifts,
and be grateful
for the consciousness
that allows us to experience it,
recalling in thanks
that our awareness is a present
from we know not where,
or how, or why.
When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy
of the true Work that we will be about
this day,
and considerately cheer one another on.
Life will always provide matters for concern.
Yet each day brings with it reasons for
joy.
Each day carries the potential
to bring the experience of heaven:
have the courage to expect good from it.
Be gentle with this life,
and use the light of life
to live fully in your time.
Always We Begin Again, The Rule of Saint Benedict,
A Contemporary Interpretation, John McQuiston II.
Benedict of Nursia wrote The Rule in the sixth century.