Happy New year!

Rule of St Benedict
Codex Sangallensis

I'd like to wish all readers a happy and holy new year - and a reminder to join in the public recitation of the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the year on December 31, and the Veni Creator on January 1 to gain the plenary indulgences attached to them (partial if said privately).

I'd also like to let you know about a couple of projects that I've already started on, but will hopefully push along further in the new year, and am posting elsewhere, that may be of interest.

Matins readings

First, over at my Lectio Divina blog I'm in the process of compiling lists of all the Matins readings for the Benedictine Office, grouped by liturgical season (and there will be a separate post for major feasts of saints).

I'll put indexes of links (masterposts) in the sidebar for future reference, though at the moment I'm also posting weekly lists that also show the readings for any feasts that interrupt the normal seasonal cycle (you can subscribe to these by email through the link on the blog).

In the past over there I've posted English translations of most of the Sunday Gospels, and Third Nocturn readings on them; links to past posts can be found in the masterposts.  Over the course of 2016 I'll try to fill in the gpas, as well as go back and fill in the first and second nocturn readings for the Sunday cycle (where I can find an online version of them).

Lectio divina around the liturgical cycle of readings

I've also previously posted notes over at the Lectio Divina blog on each of the Gospels, spread over a three month cycle (so you can read all of them in a year).  I've put up a masterpost for the notes on St Matthew, and plan to fill out gaps in them over the next quarter.  I'll also try and make the notes on the other Gospels more accessible in the same way, as well as provide brief notes on the books of the Bible being read in the Office (at Matins).

Reading the Rule of St Benedict

Thirdly, I'm planning a series, starting in the new year, offering some reading notes on the Rule of St Benedict, and you find these over at my new Lectio Regula blog (it is easier to keep topics separate rather than clog up this one I think).

Each day I'll provide both the English and the Latin, divided up over four months in the traditional arrangement.  I'll also try and provide some notes of my own on it (though no guarantees that I'll comment on every part of the Rule, though I will certainly do my best).

I'm not planning to provide a complete or polished commentary on the Rule, but rather to focus in on some particular aspects of it, mostly around the way that St Benedict uses Scripture, and the links between the Rule and the shape of the Benedictine Office.  I've written a post that sets out some of the main themes I plan to focus on that you can read here.