Breakfast with Benny: A Modern Adaptation of the Rule of Saint Benedict

What can a sixth-century monk teach us about life in the twenty-first century?

Quite a lot, it turns out.

In Breakfast with Benny, pastor and writer Steve Babbitt offers a fresh, accessible adaptation of The Rule of Saint Benedict—one of the most influential works in Christian history.

Written for monks more than fifteen hundred years ago, Benedict’s Rule speaks with surprising clarity about the things that still shape our lives today: prayer, work, rest, leadership, humility, hospitality, conflict, discipline, possessions, community, and care for the vulnerable.

This is not a literal translation or an attempt to recreate monastery life. Instead, each chapter preserves Benedict’s central wisdom while expressing it in clear modern English, explaining unfamiliar customs, and drawing out practical lessons for contemporary readers.

Along the way, Breakfast with Benny also provides historical context for the world Benedict knew, including the presence of children in monasteries, ancient practices of discipline, communal ownership, liturgical prayer, and the role monasteries later played in education, hospitality, scholarship, care for the sick, and the preservation of learning.

Benedict’s world was very different from ours.

Human nature was not.

People still get tired.

They still complain.

They still struggle with pride.

They still need meaningful work, honest correction, forgiveness, rest, friendship, structure, and grace.

Benedict understood that holiness is rarely built through dramatic moments. It is formed through ordinary habits practiced faithfully over time.

Breakfast with Benny invites modern readers to sit down with an ancient spiritual guide, listen carefully, and discover why his wisdom has endured for more than fifteen centuries.

Sometimes the oldest advice turns out to be remarkably current.