Rule of Life
A Rule helps us order our lives and develop a habit of engaging the Christian Spiritual Disciplines. One of the more positive aspects of living a Rule within a monastic community is that there are brothers and sisters who encourage and help us live the Rule consistently. The life of the community is built around fulfilling the Rule. Not many of us, however, have the calling or ability to take the life-long vows of a monk or nun. There are many different and good Rules that already exist. What we do does not attempt to "recreate the wheel," but to find new ways of living into a Rule of Life in our times and contexts.
In our increasingly busy and chaotic world, attempting to commit to a Rule of Life on our own is more than difficult, it is nearly impossible. Too much within our culture and society work against attempting a pattern of life that encourages persistent times of quiet stillness — essential to listening for and hearing the "still, small voice of God."
Part of the problem with living into a Rule is that it must become a habit. What the Imago Dei Society strives to do in our Communities and Residences is provide opportunities for the rest of us who are not monks or nuns to live into a Rule of Life. To be the image of God to all the people we encounter in our daily lives, we need to give ourselves with intention, with persistence, in humility and simplicity to the Christian Spiritual Disciplines. In and through them, we will be re-formed or transformed (because that is what the Holy Spirit does when we give ourselves to God for good purposes). We are re-formed out of the cultural proclivities that have embedded themselves in the patterns of life we often unconsciously follow.