Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers

by Dwight Longenecker

Listen, My Son (the opening words of Benedict's Rule) breaks the Rule into small daily portions and provides commentary specifically geared to help men be better husbands and parents. Without underestimating the emotional, spiritual, and physical demands of fatherhood, Longenecker also holds up the joys of developing a strong bond with God -- one that nurtures the individual man, and that provides him with the ability to grow himself and his family in faithfulness, service, and love.

Genres: Catholic, Spirituality

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Dwight Longenecker was brought up an Evangelical, studied at the fundamentalist Bob Jones University, and later was ordained an Anglican priest in England. After ten years in the Anglican ministry as a curate, a chaplain at Cambridge, and a country parson, in 1995 Dwight was received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He has published in numerous religious magazines and papers in the UK, Ireland, and the USA, writing on film and theology, apologetics, Biblical commentary and Catholic culture.

Reviews

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of daily meditations, a style I usually don't like because of the daily commitment and the typical brevity of the reflections in such books. I'm not good with finding a regular time in the day for the reading (which is a little ridiculous since it takes no more than five minutes) and in other books I've found the reflections either too vague or too insipid. Someone recommended this book to me, so I am giving it a go. I'm about a month into it and find it delightful and edifying.

The author uses the Rule of St. Benedict, a 1500 year old book written by the founder of western monasticism, to draw a parallel between being the head of a monastery and the head of a family. Each day, he quotes a paragraph or two of St. Benedict and then comments on the writing and how it applies to fathers of families today. The content is refreshingly concrete and inspiring.

For example, early on Benedict discusses the four types of monks: those who live in community in a monastery under an abbot, those who live alone as a hermit after preparation in a monastery, those who live on their own under their own spiritual direction (really bad), and those who wander from monastery to monastery submitting to no rule but their own will (even worse). The author applies this to a father's life by looking at how most people need to be part of a community that nurtures them in faith, even when it might seem boring or rote. He also discusses how "church shopping" is really destructive of genuine faith, because one's own judgment becomes the measure of what's best and the form of worship becomes more important than the content.

The meditations last for about four months, with recommended starting dates of May 2, September 1 or January 1. I'll probably complete this review in September.

UPDATE:

Finally done, on time per the reading plan recommended by the author. I highly recommend this book. Check out my review on my blog.

[Nicholas Scocozzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wonderful Devotional for Fathers

I am not to delve deep into the classic theological books, so I thought this book for a blogger that I appreciate would be a good introduction to the St Benedict. I got that and more.

The author breaks down the entire rule of St Benedict over the course of about four months, discusses the thoughts behind it and the application of it to being a father. While the language is framed towards biological fathers, the learnings are useful to those that are father figures and also mothers as well. I specifically liked that each reflection flowed from the rule to application in family life without being chopped up into subsections.

I would highly recommend this book to any parent looking to instill order, stability, and conversion of life in their life and that of their children.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect book to give to new moms and dads. Weird, but Fr. Dwight is able to take the spirituality and Rule of St. Benedict, and give short lessons for fathers, (moms, too) on how to teach our children well. You can follow each Rule day by day, and get a history lesson in how monasticism saved the world during the Dark Ages, and how maybe it can help fathers and mothers raise good, responsible children.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the privilege of taking the class for this by the author of the book. Great for meditation.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although his introduction sets out his view that he is trying not to be patronising, this is a book which exists in the ideal rather than the real world. Although to be fair he is more grounded than most authors of this sort of work would be!
He uses the rule of Benedict to draw out lessons of how we should run Christian families - actually in quite a good, sensible way. The pastoral care evidenced in Benedict's rule transfers across fairly easily to the care of children within the home.
It's set out as a series of daily meditations for one third of the year. I think this really breaks up the flow and that a similar commentary on the rule not in meditation format would be much better.
Whilst I doubt that I'm ever going to try and practically implement anything that is written in this book, it does allow you to stop and think for a moment about reflecting the ideal within the humdrum of daily routine.
A fair book but with some significant drawbacks in it's formatting.

[Shannon Van Gerpen]

I read this book daily to reflect on the daily reading from the Rule of St Benedict.

[Trever · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best daily reading/commentaries on the Rule I have used.