Holy Rule for May 28
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St. Mary's Monastery
May 27, 2026, 8:27:24 PM (2 days ago) May 27
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 27, May 28, September 27
Chapter 7: On Humility (13-18)
Let a man consider that God is always looking at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels. This is what the Prophet shows us when he represents God as ever present within our thoughts, in the words "Searcher of minds and hearts is God" (Ps. 7:10) and again in the words "The Lord knows the thoughts of men" (Ps. 93:11).
Again he says, "You have read my thoughts from afar" (Ps. 138:3) and "The thoughts of people will confess to You" (Ps. 75:11). In order that he may be careful about his wrongful thoughts, therefore, let the faithful brother say constantly in his heart, "Then shall I be spotless before Him, if I have kept myself from my iniquity" (Ps.17:24).
REFLECTION
Most of us try to keep our worst secrets and flaws hidden from others, it's only natural. Therein lies the problem: it's ONLY natural, and we are called to the supernatural. We LIKE to be liked, that's no secret, but in order to be liked we try to make a secret of our seamier sides.
We cannot fool God at all. Our false self is ashes before Him. If we think He sees only what we project, we have a long, long battle ahead of us. I hope it is true of all of us that at least some of that false self falls away when we are alone with God. The more we learn to see ourselves as truthfully and adequately as He sees us, the closer we come to genuine humility.
What the Holy Rule is telling us is that our false self is ashes EVERYWHERE, that the only truth, the only self is the one seen by God. God is infinite and omniscient and we are not. We must, however, strain our eyes to see every bit we can, seeing ever more and more of our truth until death calls us home for a complete view. Catholic that I am, I'll bet that when many get that complete view, they will be MOST relieved to jump into purgatory for a hopefully quick shower before the feast!
The false self might work sometimes. False things generally do for a while, it's Satan's way of fooling us. It might actually reach some truly out of touch people, or some who have only a fleeting exposure. It does not work, nor does any false thing, in the long run. Some people may be helped in spite of our efforts, but to be really effective, we must be really true, really transparent. We must stand before others as we stand before God if we deeply want to bear real fruit.
Nearly 1,500 years ago, St. Benedict called us all to humility, to the truth that St. Thomas Aquinas defined as: "the agreement of the mind with reality." Amen! That was the truth he wished us to present to ourselves and to the world, as best we could. The closer we get to extinguishing the false self in every arena, the closer we are to God. The closer we are to God, the greater good we can accomplish for His Body, His people.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 27, May 28, September 27
Chapter 7: On Humility (13-18)
Let a man consider that God is always looking at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels. This is what the Prophet shows us when he represents God as ever present within our thoughts, in the words "Searcher of minds and hearts is God" (Ps. 7:10) and again in the words "The Lord knows the thoughts of men" (Ps. 93:11).
Again he says, "You have read my thoughts from afar" (Ps. 138:3) and "The thoughts of people will confess to You" (Ps. 75:11). In order that he may be careful about his wrongful thoughts, therefore, let the faithful brother say constantly in his heart, "Then shall I be spotless before Him, if I have kept myself from my iniquity" (Ps.17:24).
REFLECTION
Most of us try to keep our worst secrets and flaws hidden from others, it's only natural. Therein lies the problem: it's ONLY natural, and we are called to the supernatural. We LIKE to be liked, that's no secret, but in order to be liked we try to make a secret of our seamier sides.
We cannot fool God at all. Our false self is ashes before Him. If we think He sees only what we project, we have a long, long battle ahead of us. I hope it is true of all of us that at least some of that false self falls away when we are alone with God. The more we learn to see ourselves as truthfully and adequately as He sees us, the closer we come to genuine humility.
What the Holy Rule is telling us is that our false self is ashes EVERYWHERE, that the only truth, the only self is the one seen by God. God is infinite and omniscient and we are not. We must, however, strain our eyes to see every bit we can, seeing ever more and more of our truth until death calls us home for a complete view. Catholic that I am, I'll bet that when many get that complete view, they will be MOST relieved to jump into purgatory for a hopefully quick shower before the feast!
The false self might work sometimes. False things generally do for a while, it's Satan's way of fooling us. It might actually reach some truly out of touch people, or some who have only a fleeting exposure. It does not work, nor does any false thing, in the long run. Some people may be helped in spite of our efforts, but to be really effective, we must be really true, really transparent. We must stand before others as we stand before God if we deeply want to bear real fruit.
Nearly 1,500 years ago, St. Benedict called us all to humility, to the truth that St. Thomas Aquinas defined as: "the agreement of the mind with reality." Amen! That was the truth he wished us to present to ourselves and to the world, as best we could. The closer we get to extinguishing the false self in every arena, the closer we are to God. The closer we are to God, the greater good we can accomplish for His Body, His people.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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