For some reason, modern English has grown enamored with the term center. One of the places this word now appears is in reference to worship center, meaning the place in a parish’s building where the community gathers for worship. An older term is sanctuary, which carries with it some resonant and tender associations. Another—perhaps still older—term is oratory. This is the term appearing in the Latin text of The Rule of Benedict. It refers to the place in the monastery where the brothers gather for prayer (ora).

But sometimes brothers will find themselves, in the course of their labors, at a distance from the oratory, so that they cannot make their way to the gathering for the Office, the opus Dei. Saint Benedict provides a chapter in his Rule that outlines the adaptation the brothers ought to make:

Brothers who are at work very far from the oratory and who cannot arrive at the oratory in time—the abbot judges whether that is really the case—should pray the Office where they are working. They must kneel out of fear of the Lord. Similarly, when they are sent on a journey, they should not miss praying at the proper hours. They should do so privately as they are able and not neglect to satisfy their measure of service (RB 50:1-4).

It’s interesting to me to learn how Saint Benedict works flexibility into his Rule, making it adaptable rather than rigid. He does not say that one may neglect praying when one cannot gather with the group in the customary place. Rather, he holds to the central place of prayer, but permits flexibility in the choice of place.

One of the steps I took to assist me in developing a dependable habit of praying the Office was to create a place in my study where I go whenever I am home and it is time for my devotions. It is a section of my desk where I have hung the olive wood crucifix I bought in Bethlehem on my trip to Israel in 1985. There is a candle that I light and a pottery bowl that I made filled with water for reminding myself of my Baptism. This, in a sense, is my oratory.

When I sit there, I turn away from the preoccupations and distractions of the rest of my life and turn to Christ. The crucifix is an icon of his presence, the candle symbolizes the light in him that no darkness can overcome, the water is a reminder of his Sacrament, and the Office brings to voice the Word of God.

But sometimes I have not been able to come to my little oratory, because Anne and I have been traveling. In those cases, my temporary oratories have been the places where I pray the Office. Lacking the prodigious memory cultivated by the oral culture of antiquity, I rely upon the seasonal volumes of The Liturgy of the Hours for my texts. That does not change when the location changes.

Over the past year, I can recall setting up temporary oratories in a variety of locations: hotel rooms across Italy and in Omaha (Nebraska), Livingston (New Jersey), and McPherson (Kansas); the train station in Firenze, Italy; the study at my Mom and Dad’s home; the corner of the living room at Tara and Dennis’s home; and the McDonald’s in Ord (Nebraska). It feels to me that the flexibility and adaptability of Saint Benedict’s Rule helps me to find a good answer to the question of how I might live according to the spirit of that Rule, even and especially when variety comes to my daily life.

Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus.