Holy Rule for December 31

[St. Mary's Monastery]

+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule

May 1, August 31, December 31
Chapter 73: On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule

Now we have written this Rule in order that by its observance in monasteries we may show that we have attained some degree of virtue and the rudiments of the religious life. But for those who would hasten to the perfection of that life there are the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the observance of which leads to the height of perfection. For what page or what utterance of the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is not a most unerring rule for human life? Or what book of the Holy Catholic Fathers does not loudly proclaim how we may come by a straight course to our Creator? Then the Conferences and the Institutes and the Lives of the Fathers, as also the Rule of our Holy Father Basil - what else are they but tools of virtue for right-living and obedient monks? But for us who are lazy and ill-living and negligent they are a source of shame and confusion.

Whoever you are, therefore, who are hastening to the heavenly homeland, fulfill with the help of Christ this minimum Rule which we have written for beginners; and then at length under God's protection you will attain to the loftier heights of doctrine and virtue which we have mentioned above.

REFLECTION

"Whoever you are, therefore, who are hastening to the heavenly homeland..." That "whoever" is the true object all this heartfelt tenderness of Saint Benedict, the one for whom he wrote! He only made one qualifier, that of "hastening to the heavenly homeland." It seems that some of our decisions about who matters and who does not have employed a somewhat more restrictive standard than that of our Holy Father Benedict.

"Whoever you are..." I don't care who you are or how much I disagree with you, whether I nearly hate your positions or love them blindly, it is you I am called to love, to honor to respect, to cherish as a fellow monastic traveler. You matter to me. You do. You have to, because this is the Holy Rule I have embraced, that we all have.

In the United States, through much of our history, Catholics and Jews shared a roughly equal amount of contempt. Great camaraderie could flourish between the two and still quite often does. Having said that, it has always amused me that many Jews I know get along MUCH better with Catholics than they do with Jews who disagree with them! How like ourselves!

When disagreement happens within our family, we hurt more: it is more important to us. The differing opinion of a stranger on the subway would hardly matter at all! Maybe the fact that we CAN get hurt and angry is a good sign, maybe it means we are at least beginning to love, but it is HOW we get hurt or angry that we have to examine very, very closely.

The important thing is not opinion or observance or concepts. The important thing is you, whoever you are. Every time I fail that, I have to get up, apologize and start over. Maybe not right from square one each time, but again each time.

If I ever stop doing those things, I have stopped being a Benedictine. Whoever you are- but it's not just me that has to embrace that, you do, too. We all do. I am the only one I can insist upon, however, the only one I can make change, and that might be good to keep in mind, whoever you are.

Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)