Holy Rule for January 19
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jan 18, 2026, 4:59:08 PM (12 hours ago) Jan 18
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 19, May 20, September 19
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (22-43)
Not to give way to anger. Not to nurse a grudge. Not to entertain deceit in one's heart. Not to give a false peace. Not to forsake charity. Not to swear, for fear of perjuring oneself. To utter truth from heart and mouth. Not to return evil for evil. To do no wrong to anyone, and to bear patiently wrongs done to oneself. To love one's enemies. Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them. To bear persecution for justice' sake. Not to be proud. Not addicted to wine. Not a great eater. Not drowsy. Not lazy. Not a grumbler. Not a detractor. To put one's hope in God. To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself. But to recognize always that the evil is one's own doing, and to impute it to oneself.
REFLECTION
A beginning warning as we read these instruments of good works: don't focus on the few you already can more or less manage! Lots of people do that, carefully skimming over the ones they can't dream of doing or fathoming, patting themselves on the back for the stray one here and there they keep. (E.g., "Hey, I don't murder anybody...") None of us could do any of these things at all without grace and mercy. It is all God's gift that allows us to do good. The most important instruments of good works are the ones we HAVEN'T mastered yet!
Just a quickie on one of these: "Not to forsake charity." St. Paul tells us that love never gives up. There is a similarity here to the vow of conversion of manners: one never gives up striving for holiness or the vow is broken. So it is with love: if we give up, it is broken.
If we deny that a person can ever change, we deny an important truth: all people can change, even those who annoy or hurt us the most. Insisting that a person will never be any better is clinging to a falsehood. The person MIGHT never change, sure, but to insist that we KNOW someone never will improve is a lie. We know nothing of the sort. Every lie diminishes our sharing in truth. Since Jesus said He is the Truth, we must grasp and gather every bit of truth that we can. To cling to a false (and uncharitable,) conviction of a person's perpetual inability to become better is to work against ourselves. We should be gathering truth, not lies.
One of the Dominican applications of their motto, "Veritas", Truth, to spirituality is to justify study by Jesus' statement that He is the Truth. Hence, every bit and fragment of real truth that Dominicans gain in their learning is like one more piece of the puzzle, one more shard of the shattered mirror of human consciousness that reflects Christ. The more we learn of truth, the more familiar His face will be to us when we finally see Him.
Jesus said He was the Truth, St. John tells us God is love. The two are intertwined in the essence of God. They must also be wound together tightly in our ways of loving, forgiving and knowing each other.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 19, May 20, September 19
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (22-43)
Not to give way to anger. Not to nurse a grudge. Not to entertain deceit in one's heart. Not to give a false peace. Not to forsake charity. Not to swear, for fear of perjuring oneself. To utter truth from heart and mouth. Not to return evil for evil. To do no wrong to anyone, and to bear patiently wrongs done to oneself. To love one's enemies. Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them. To bear persecution for justice' sake. Not to be proud. Not addicted to wine. Not a great eater. Not drowsy. Not lazy. Not a grumbler. Not a detractor. To put one's hope in God. To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself. But to recognize always that the evil is one's own doing, and to impute it to oneself.
REFLECTION
A beginning warning as we read these instruments of good works: don't focus on the few you already can more or less manage! Lots of people do that, carefully skimming over the ones they can't dream of doing or fathoming, patting themselves on the back for the stray one here and there they keep. (E.g., "Hey, I don't murder anybody...") None of us could do any of these things at all without grace and mercy. It is all God's gift that allows us to do good. The most important instruments of good works are the ones we HAVEN'T mastered yet!
Just a quickie on one of these: "Not to forsake charity." St. Paul tells us that love never gives up. There is a similarity here to the vow of conversion of manners: one never gives up striving for holiness or the vow is broken. So it is with love: if we give up, it is broken.
If we deny that a person can ever change, we deny an important truth: all people can change, even those who annoy or hurt us the most. Insisting that a person will never be any better is clinging to a falsehood. The person MIGHT never change, sure, but to insist that we KNOW someone never will improve is a lie. We know nothing of the sort. Every lie diminishes our sharing in truth. Since Jesus said He is the Truth, we must grasp and gather every bit of truth that we can. To cling to a false (and uncharitable,) conviction of a person's perpetual inability to become better is to work against ourselves. We should be gathering truth, not lies.
One of the Dominican applications of their motto, "Veritas", Truth, to spirituality is to justify study by Jesus' statement that He is the Truth. Hence, every bit and fragment of real truth that Dominicans gain in their learning is like one more piece of the puzzle, one more shard of the shattered mirror of human consciousness that reflects Christ. The more we learn of truth, the more familiar His face will be to us when we finally see Him.
Jesus said He was the Truth, St. John tells us God is love. The two are intertwined in the essence of God. They must also be wound together tightly in our ways of loving, forgiving and knowing each other.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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