Holy Rule for July 20
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jul 19, 2024, 5:28:54 PM (8 days ago) Jul 19
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 20, July 20, November 19
Chapter 41: At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken
From Holy Easter until Pentecost let the brothers take dinner at the sixth hour and supper in the evening. From Pentecost throughout the summer, unless the monks have work in the fields let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the ninth hour; on the other days let them dine at the sixth hour. This dinner at the sixth hour shall be the daily schedule if they have work in the fields or the heat of summer is extreme; the Abbot's foresight shall decide on this. Thus it is that he should adapt and arrange everything in such a way that souls may be saved and that the brethren may do their work without just cause for murmuring. From the Ides of September until the beginning of Lent let them always take their dinner at the ninth hour. In Lent until Easter let them dine in the evening. But this evening hour shall be so determined that they will not need the light of a lamp while eating, Indeed at all seasons let the hour, whether for supper or for dinner, be so arranged that everything will be done by daylight.
REFLECTION
It's a fair guess that our attitude to food in the US has influenced our attitude to fasting negatively. Now we look on the least thing as a dreadful privation, when those of us Roman Catholics over fifty can clearly recall meatless Fridays every week, all year and fasting from midnight for Communion, even if you were only 7 years old!!
When the US Bishops addressed the issue of Friday abstinence, they did not abolish it. They merely said some other form of penance might be substituted. Whoops! That got lost in a big hurry. How many of us - me included - do something extra on Friday because we do not abstain from meat? Might be time to take a really hard look at that.
As always, Oblates in the world must find ways that they can fast or abstain without imposing monastic ways on their non-monastic families. However, it is worthy of note that Friday abstinence is of the Church, not the Holy Rule and might be safely re-instituted, with careful explanation as to WHY we do it, for whole families.
The meatless idea might be easiest for many, but what if something else was done to really set Friday apart? Skip one, just one half-hour TV show and you have a slot for a devotional family practice like the Scripture sharing or the Rosary. Could we imagine just 30 minutes once a week of TV gone? What if (horrors!) you chose to skip a show you like? Find something that works for you and then be faithful to it.
Our spirits are like our bodies in many respects. If we get soft, we get weak, if we get lazy, our energy actually diminishes while our total lives suffer from that inactivity. That's why Christian life itself, not just monastic life, is a life requiring a fair amount of discipline, of pushing oneself, of self-denial. Those values still exist in the secular world, but are usually only invoked for profit, power, athletics or sex. See what I mean? We need badly to get our acts together in affluent, developed nations.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 20, July 20, November 19
Chapter 41: At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken
From Holy Easter until Pentecost let the brothers take dinner at the sixth hour and supper in the evening. From Pentecost throughout the summer, unless the monks have work in the fields let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the ninth hour; on the other days let them dine at the sixth hour. This dinner at the sixth hour shall be the daily schedule if they have work in the fields or the heat of summer is extreme; the Abbot's foresight shall decide on this. Thus it is that he should adapt and arrange everything in such a way that souls may be saved and that the brethren may do their work without just cause for murmuring. From the Ides of September until the beginning of Lent let them always take their dinner at the ninth hour. In Lent until Easter let them dine in the evening. But this evening hour shall be so determined that they will not need the light of a lamp while eating, Indeed at all seasons let the hour, whether for supper or for dinner, be so arranged that everything will be done by daylight.
REFLECTION
It's a fair guess that our attitude to food in the US has influenced our attitude to fasting negatively. Now we look on the least thing as a dreadful privation, when those of us Roman Catholics over fifty can clearly recall meatless Fridays every week, all year and fasting from midnight for Communion, even if you were only 7 years old!!
When the US Bishops addressed the issue of Friday abstinence, they did not abolish it. They merely said some other form of penance might be substituted. Whoops! That got lost in a big hurry. How many of us - me included - do something extra on Friday because we do not abstain from meat? Might be time to take a really hard look at that.
As always, Oblates in the world must find ways that they can fast or abstain without imposing monastic ways on their non-monastic families. However, it is worthy of note that Friday abstinence is of the Church, not the Holy Rule and might be safely re-instituted, with careful explanation as to WHY we do it, for whole families.
The meatless idea might be easiest for many, but what if something else was done to really set Friday apart? Skip one, just one half-hour TV show and you have a slot for a devotional family practice like the Scripture sharing or the Rosary. Could we imagine just 30 minutes once a week of TV gone? What if (horrors!) you chose to skip a show you like? Find something that works for you and then be faithful to it.
Our spirits are like our bodies in many respects. If we get soft, we get weak, if we get lazy, our energy actually diminishes while our total lives suffer from that inactivity. That's why Christian life itself, not just monastic life, is a life requiring a fair amount of discipline, of pushing oneself, of self-denial. Those values still exist in the secular world, but are usually only invoked for profit, power, athletics or sex. See what I mean? We need badly to get our acts together in affluent, developed nations.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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