Feb 21 – By the Labor of Their Hands

Today we had our annual financial update and tax-form signing community meeting. Our accountant reviewed the 2016 financial report for the monastery and Trappist Caskets with trends relative to past years. We all signed our IRS tax forms. Although by our monastic vows we renounce individual ownership and income, our particular IRS tax structure requires us to file the requisite tax forms each year.

from The Rule of St. Benedict
Chapter 33. Monks and Private Ownership

No one may presume to give, receive or retain anything as his own, nothing at all . . . For their needs, they are to look to the father of the monastery.

Chapter 48. The Daily Manual Labor

When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks.