Holy Rule for April 12
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St. Mary's Monastery
Apr 11, 2026, 5:12:20 PMApr 11
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 12, August 12, December 12
Chapter 58: On the Manner of Receiving Sisters (17-29)
When she is to be received she promises before all in the oratory stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience. This promise she shall make before God and His Saints, so that if she should ever act otherwise, she may know that she will be condemned by Him whom she mocks. Of this promise of hers let her draw up a document in the name of the Saints whose relics are there and of the Abbess who is present. Let her write this document with her own hand; or if she is illiterate, let another write it at her request, and let the novice put her mark to it. Then let her place it with her own hand upon the altar; and when she has placed it there, let the novice at once intone this verse: "Receive me, O Lord, according to Your word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my hope" (Ps. 118 [119]:116).
Let the whole community answer this verse three times and add the "Glory be to the Father." Then let the novice prostrate herself at each one's feet that they may pray for her. And from that day forward let her be counted as one of the community. If she has any property, let her either give it beforehand to the poor or by solemn donation bestow it on the monastery, reserving nothing at all for herself, as indeed she knows that from that day forward she will no longer have power even over her own body. At once, therefore, in the oratory, let her be divested of her own clothes which she is wearing and dressed in the clothes of the monastery. But let the clothes of which she was divested be put aside in the wardrobe and kept there. Then if she should ever listen to the persuasions of the devil and decide to leave the monastery (which God forbid), she may be divested of the monastic clothes and cast out. Her document, however, which the Abbess has taken from the altar, shall not be returned to her, but shall be kept in the monastery.
REFLECTION
It is thrilling to me to know that, more than 1500 years later, we are still doing professions in the way St. Benedict did. A few things added, but the elements are there: writing and signing the document, placing it on the altar, the Suscipe ("Receive me, O Lord...") are all tremendously ancient and holy rites. What a privilege we have to belong to such a family.
The Church approves religious rules. This and the fact that canonized Saints have lived under our Holy Rule are the basis for asserting that our Holy Rule is inspired by the Holy Spirit, because the Church gave its seal of approval. The Church, however, is indubitably older and often wiser than monastic life. It predates every form of optional religious commitment. It is the blessing of the Church which makes official monastic life possible for any and all of us.
This is just a prelude to saying that the wisdom of the Church long ago stopped people from making solemn vows, a life-long commitment difficult to break, right out of novitiate. Not only does this longer program protect people, to a certain extent, from making a mistake, it also spares the monastery from having a lot of misfits with chapter votes running the show. There are many I have known who left in simple vows that I remain eternally grateful for the fact that they were never chapter members!
A year may well have been enough in St. Benedict's time. People had vastly shorter life spans, it was a bigger chunk of their lives. They also had to grow up more quickly and their options were fewer by far than those of our own day.
Oblates, therefore, can garner a few kernels of truth in this chapter about commitment, that bugbear of the post-World War II generation and beyond. Modern people find it terribly hard to commit, some never manage it at all. As such, a bit of wisdom older than our own age may be very useful in our everyday lives.
Whether it's a marriage or engagement or job or volunteer chairperson position, don't jump at things. Read the Rule, so to speak, three times at least! Look, look, look as mindfully as you can at the truth and reality of the situation.
Benedictines are not people afraid of commitment, but we live in a world where many are. Our witness here must be care and balance. We must resolutely walk BETWEEN the extremes of foolhardy haste and crippling fear. In the world of today, that is no small witness and no easy task. Pull this one off, and you have a done a service to many, not just to yourself!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 12, August 12, December 12
Chapter 58: On the Manner of Receiving Sisters (17-29)
When she is to be received she promises before all in the oratory stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience. This promise she shall make before God and His Saints, so that if she should ever act otherwise, she may know that she will be condemned by Him whom she mocks. Of this promise of hers let her draw up a document in the name of the Saints whose relics are there and of the Abbess who is present. Let her write this document with her own hand; or if she is illiterate, let another write it at her request, and let the novice put her mark to it. Then let her place it with her own hand upon the altar; and when she has placed it there, let the novice at once intone this verse: "Receive me, O Lord, according to Your word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my hope" (Ps. 118 [119]:116).
Let the whole community answer this verse three times and add the "Glory be to the Father." Then let the novice prostrate herself at each one's feet that they may pray for her. And from that day forward let her be counted as one of the community. If she has any property, let her either give it beforehand to the poor or by solemn donation bestow it on the monastery, reserving nothing at all for herself, as indeed she knows that from that day forward she will no longer have power even over her own body. At once, therefore, in the oratory, let her be divested of her own clothes which she is wearing and dressed in the clothes of the monastery. But let the clothes of which she was divested be put aside in the wardrobe and kept there. Then if she should ever listen to the persuasions of the devil and decide to leave the monastery (which God forbid), she may be divested of the monastic clothes and cast out. Her document, however, which the Abbess has taken from the altar, shall not be returned to her, but shall be kept in the monastery.
REFLECTION
It is thrilling to me to know that, more than 1500 years later, we are still doing professions in the way St. Benedict did. A few things added, but the elements are there: writing and signing the document, placing it on the altar, the Suscipe ("Receive me, O Lord...") are all tremendously ancient and holy rites. What a privilege we have to belong to such a family.
The Church approves religious rules. This and the fact that canonized Saints have lived under our Holy Rule are the basis for asserting that our Holy Rule is inspired by the Holy Spirit, because the Church gave its seal of approval. The Church, however, is indubitably older and often wiser than monastic life. It predates every form of optional religious commitment. It is the blessing of the Church which makes official monastic life possible for any and all of us.
This is just a prelude to saying that the wisdom of the Church long ago stopped people from making solemn vows, a life-long commitment difficult to break, right out of novitiate. Not only does this longer program protect people, to a certain extent, from making a mistake, it also spares the monastery from having a lot of misfits with chapter votes running the show. There are many I have known who left in simple vows that I remain eternally grateful for the fact that they were never chapter members!
A year may well have been enough in St. Benedict's time. People had vastly shorter life spans, it was a bigger chunk of their lives. They also had to grow up more quickly and their options were fewer by far than those of our own day.
Oblates, therefore, can garner a few kernels of truth in this chapter about commitment, that bugbear of the post-World War II generation and beyond. Modern people find it terribly hard to commit, some never manage it at all. As such, a bit of wisdom older than our own age may be very useful in our everyday lives.
Whether it's a marriage or engagement or job or volunteer chairperson position, don't jump at things. Read the Rule, so to speak, three times at least! Look, look, look as mindfully as you can at the truth and reality of the situation.
Benedictines are not people afraid of commitment, but we live in a world where many are. Our witness here must be care and balance. We must resolutely walk BETWEEN the extremes of foolhardy haste and crippling fear. In the world of today, that is no small witness and no easy task. Pull this one off, and you have a done a service to many, not just to yourself!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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