Episode Transcript  

One

Beginning 

Born in central Italy in 480, St. Benedict had a twin sister, St. Scholastica, who, like him, would become a great saint. As a young man, Benedict went to Rome around the year 500 to study literature and law. But what he saw there troubled him deeply. The city was filled with fear, anger, and unrest, with no clear sense of purpose or meaning. People were chasing pleasure but seemed profoundly unhappy. Disillusioned by the moral collapse of society, Benedict walked away from it all. He left Rome and withdrew to a cave near Subiaco, where he spent three years dedicated to prayer and work.

His holiness did not go unnoticed. When a nearby group of monks lost their abbot, they begged Benedict to lead them. He warned them that his way of life was balanced but disciplined and they wouldn’t like it, but eventually he agreed.

Their community was in chaos. Benedict knew they needed balance. So he introduced a structured life of prayer, work, spiritual reading, and community life. But the monks bristled at the change. They resented the discipline, and in their rebellion, they secretly tried to poison him. Before Benedict drank the cup of poisoned wine, as usual, he blessed it. Immediately, it shattered, spilling the poisoned wine harmlessly to the ground. The jig was up, but rather than retaliating, Benedict quietly left. 

He returned to Subiaco, free of resentment. But his witness of peace and inner order drew others. Soon, many came seeking his guidance. He founded twelve small monastic communities, each living a simple, balanced life of prayer and work. This was the beginning of the Benedictines, and one of their mottos is ora et labora, prayer and work.

Do you long for a simpler, more meaningful life?

Two

Ingredients for Happiness 

Everyone wants to be happy. How would you define happiness? Let me suggest that happiness is to possess the good things that fulfill our human nature. St. Benedict realized that in general, God designed the human person to need certain good things to be happy, fulfilled, and fully alive.

Let me ask you, what do you need to be happy? Union with God in Jesus Christ, receiving the life of Jesus by the frequent reception of the Sacraments. We need a deep friendship with God through daily mental prayer. We want good physical and emotional health that comes from sleep, nutrition and hydration, exercise, hygiene, shelter, clothing, stability and variety, order, and surprise. We want good relationships with family and friends. Meaningful work in which we do some good for others and for the world. Knowledge, our intellect needs to be fed by reality in the form of truth. And beauty, our emotions/passions need to be nourished by reality in the form of beauty. These are the ingredients for happiness.

Money, time, and power aren’t goals to pursue. We only value them because they help us get what really matters: God, family, meaningful work, love, health, truth, and beauty. But if we have those, we don’t need more money, time, or power. Chasing them as ends leads to slavery. Using them as a means leads to freedom.

Three

Recipe of Life 

We just looked at the basic ingredients for happiness; now we need the recipe. We need a way to organize our lives to reach happiness and holiness. St. Benedict called it a Rule of Life. We call it a Recipe of Life. We need the right ingredients in our life in the right order and in the right proportion.

Let me suggest a daily recipe for happiness.

Friendship with Christ 

30 min/day in Mental Prayer through the Rosary and Lectio Divina 

Frequent reception of the Eucharist and Reconciliation

1.5 hours

Physical and Emotional Needs

Sleep – 8 hours

Personal hygiene – 30 minutes 

Prep, eat and clean up meals – 3 Hours 

Exercise – 1 hour – like a good walk

Time for Relationship with your family and friends – best time for that is over meals or walking and talking

Meaningful Work - Inside the home or out – 8 Hours 

Knowledge - About God and the good world he created – 30 minutes to read or listen to something

Experience beauty in its many forms – 30 minutes 

That’s 23 hours which gives you a whole extra hour for friendship

You can get all that in in 24 hours!

Four

Order, Structure and Flexibility

These are the six ingredients to a recipe for happiness 

They fulfill the way God designed us

There needs to be an order to the way we pursue them. 

For example we are not much good at anything without sleep or at least rest, so we go to bed on time and get up on time; 

Then the most important ingredient is a relationship with God – so receiving Him in the Eucharist and spending time in prayer is the priority – so it should come first.

As C.S. Lewis writes: “put first things first and we get the second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”

But the recipe must be flexible—life isn’t always predictable  

Some days call for more work, others for caring for children or aging parents. Some days truth and beauty get a little less attention—and that’s okay. A rule keeps us grounded, but if the exceptions become the rule, our lives unravel. 

Do Good things together - By creatively combining good things, we make it easier to live the life that leads to happiness.  

Prepare a meal, eat and talk with your spouse, family or friends. 

Walk and talk with a friend. 

Take a walk outside, pray the Rosary with a friend and talk.

This gets you prayer, friendship, exercise and beauty! 

Five

Cut Out the Wrong Ingredients—And You'll Have Time for the Right Ones

Many people object: “There’s no way I can fit all of this into my day.” Or, “It’s too overwhelming to change everything at once.”

That’s okay. Start small. Start by tracking your time.

For one week, write down how you spend your time in 30-minute blocks. Then look at the results. You’ll likely find hours lost to scrolling, streaming, and distraction.

Now ask yourself: What needs to go?

Cut out the junk—unnecessary busyness, compulsive news-checking, endless entertainment, and phone addiction. These aren’t neutral. They clutter the soul, dull the mind, and train the heart to crave disorder and noise. They numb us to real life—and to God.

But here’s the good news: when you clear the clutter, space opens up.

Space for prayer.
For deep friendships and good books and exercise
For beauty, laughter, nature, music, creativity, restful meals.
These aren’t escapes from life—they are life.

When we remove disordered pleasures, we don’t lose joy—we recover it!

And then, our life—ordered, peaceful, and filled with goodness—becomes not just a recipe for happiness…but for holiness.

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