Holy Rule for August 2
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St. Mary's Monastery
Aug 2, 2025, 7:45:10 AM8/2/25
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 2, August 2, December 2
Chapter 51: On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away
A Brother who is sent out on some business and is expected to return to the monastery that same day shall not presume to eat while he is out, even if he is urgently requested to do so by any person whomsoever, unless he has permission from his Abbot. And if he acts otherwise, let him be excommunicated.
REFLECTION
Remember that cloistered paradise of the heart I have written about before? All Benedictines, monks, nuns and oblates, must cultivate that monastic heart. Today's chapter is an excellent example.
Like our Christianity itself, our Benedictinism must become part of us, rooted in our hearts, carried with us everywhere because it is inseparable from us. While the issue in this chapter is keeping the monastic who goes outside the cloister vigilant, mindful and observant, there is a particular application to oblates here. This concept of carrying the monastery with us becomes a principal means of evangelization, of being leaven in the dough of the world, of being a catalyst for peace.
Remember that the Holy Rule teaches us that the observance of some things becomes easier with time. Happy the day when one wakes to find that even the smallest part of one's Benedictine struggle has become one's very self, an integral part of who one is. This realization will likely sneak up on one and catch us quite unawares, surprised by joy, as it were, to steal C. S. Lewis' phrase.
With God's mercy and grace, those areas will increase over time. More and more we actually become the monastic we have been striving to be. That, beloveds, is an awesome feeling of joy, to say nothing of considerable relief!! Truly, m ‘dears, we shall one day, with God's help, "run in the way of His commandments with hearts enlarged."
What St. Benedict is doing is pointing out that monasticism is not merely a job, a burden one doffs and dons. Monastic life is a becoming, not a set of standards one only follows when one is closely watched. The goal of monastic discipline is to make the disciple a monastic more or less by nature.
In this respect, it closely resembles any training: nursing school is designed to make people nurses, law school to make attorneys, and so forth. The difference is that monasticism is not a set number of hours per week; it's all the week, all the life. Just as any nurse in a disaster instantly can shift into nursing mode, whether on duty or not, the spiritually trained monastic is operative everywhere, not just in the cloister.
This is a fine and consoling point for Oblates who must live abroad. Lovely though our monasteries may be, they are not what makes us monastics. That is something deep within, a cloister of our hearts that we must learn to carry with us everywhere. Lots of people who must live in crowded and noisy cities actually do a better job of this than many monastics who live in rural peace. Take heart! It is not all about place. It is about heart, always heart. Train and fix your heart and you will always be fine!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 2, August 2, December 2
Chapter 51: On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away
A Brother who is sent out on some business and is expected to return to the monastery that same day shall not presume to eat while he is out, even if he is urgently requested to do so by any person whomsoever, unless he has permission from his Abbot. And if he acts otherwise, let him be excommunicated.
REFLECTION
Remember that cloistered paradise of the heart I have written about before? All Benedictines, monks, nuns and oblates, must cultivate that monastic heart. Today's chapter is an excellent example.
Like our Christianity itself, our Benedictinism must become part of us, rooted in our hearts, carried with us everywhere because it is inseparable from us. While the issue in this chapter is keeping the monastic who goes outside the cloister vigilant, mindful and observant, there is a particular application to oblates here. This concept of carrying the monastery with us becomes a principal means of evangelization, of being leaven in the dough of the world, of being a catalyst for peace.
Remember that the Holy Rule teaches us that the observance of some things becomes easier with time. Happy the day when one wakes to find that even the smallest part of one's Benedictine struggle has become one's very self, an integral part of who one is. This realization will likely sneak up on one and catch us quite unawares, surprised by joy, as it were, to steal C. S. Lewis' phrase.
With God's mercy and grace, those areas will increase over time. More and more we actually become the monastic we have been striving to be. That, beloveds, is an awesome feeling of joy, to say nothing of considerable relief!! Truly, m ‘dears, we shall one day, with God's help, "run in the way of His commandments with hearts enlarged."
What St. Benedict is doing is pointing out that monasticism is not merely a job, a burden one doffs and dons. Monastic life is a becoming, not a set of standards one only follows when one is closely watched. The goal of monastic discipline is to make the disciple a monastic more or less by nature.
In this respect, it closely resembles any training: nursing school is designed to make people nurses, law school to make attorneys, and so forth. The difference is that monasticism is not a set number of hours per week; it's all the week, all the life. Just as any nurse in a disaster instantly can shift into nursing mode, whether on duty or not, the spiritually trained monastic is operative everywhere, not just in the cloister.
This is a fine and consoling point for Oblates who must live abroad. Lovely though our monasteries may be, they are not what makes us monastics. That is something deep within, a cloister of our hearts that we must learn to carry with us everywhere. Lots of people who must live in crowded and noisy cities actually do a better job of this than many monastics who live in rural peace. Take heart! It is not all about place. It is about heart, always heart. Train and fix your heart and you will always be fine!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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