The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550), Abbot of Monte Cassino, Father of Western Monasticism (source):
O eternal God,
who made Benedict a wise master
in the school of thy service,
and a guide to many called into the common life
to follow the rule of Christ:
grant that we may put thy love above all things,
and seek with joy the way of thy commandments;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Lesson: Proverbs 2:1-9
The Gospel: St. Luke 14:27-33
Artwork: Jean Baptiste de Champaigne (attrib.), St. Benedict and St. Scholastica and Two Companions in a Landscape, between 1651 and 1681. Oil on canvas, Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, UK.