Holy Rule for February 12
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St. Mary's Monastery
Feb 11, 2026, 5:04:01 PM (9 days ago) Feb 11
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 12, June 13, October 13
Chapter 10: How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time
From Easter until the Calends of November let the same number of Psalms be kept as prescribed above; but no lessons are to be read from the book, on account of the shortness of the nights. Instead of those three lessons let one lesson from the Old Testament be said by heart and followed by a short responsory. But all the rest should be done as has been said; that is to say that never fewer than twelve Psalms should be said at the Night Office, not counting Psalm 3 and Psalm 94.
REFLECTION
Put another spin on this and you will find, especially if you are an Oblate, that St. Benedict intends at least some aspects of his monastic program to adapt themselves to the environment in which the monastic lives. Do not wear yourself out trying to make the very square peg of a relentless monastic life fit into the intractably round hole of a life in the world. Don't try to make your kids (or spouse!) understand that you are going to be monastic, no matter what they are or aren't. For one thing, if you in any way diminish your primary vocation, like marriage or parenthood, you are not going to be monastic at all! The key to our struggle is obedience and humility, not control of others.
There is a tremendous (and very beneficial!) humility in truthfully admitting that an Oblate's life often doesn't allow saying the whole Office. I have no doubt at all that, in some cases, there is vastly more merit in that humbling truth than there would be in psalmody without end. In fact, if our primary vocation, like marriage or parenthood demands otherwise, I can easily see where it could sometimes be quite wrong, indeed, to try to say the whole Office. St. Benedict foresaw just such situations in chapters like this one, where the inescapable changes in season moderated things.
In an Oblate's life, there are many things other than merely seasonal which may often be every bit as compelling.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 12, June 13, October 13
Chapter 10: How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time
From Easter until the Calends of November let the same number of Psalms be kept as prescribed above; but no lessons are to be read from the book, on account of the shortness of the nights. Instead of those three lessons let one lesson from the Old Testament be said by heart and followed by a short responsory. But all the rest should be done as has been said; that is to say that never fewer than twelve Psalms should be said at the Night Office, not counting Psalm 3 and Psalm 94.
REFLECTION
Put another spin on this and you will find, especially if you are an Oblate, that St. Benedict intends at least some aspects of his monastic program to adapt themselves to the environment in which the monastic lives. Do not wear yourself out trying to make the very square peg of a relentless monastic life fit into the intractably round hole of a life in the world. Don't try to make your kids (or spouse!) understand that you are going to be monastic, no matter what they are or aren't. For one thing, if you in any way diminish your primary vocation, like marriage or parenthood, you are not going to be monastic at all! The key to our struggle is obedience and humility, not control of others.
There is a tremendous (and very beneficial!) humility in truthfully admitting that an Oblate's life often doesn't allow saying the whole Office. I have no doubt at all that, in some cases, there is vastly more merit in that humbling truth than there would be in psalmody without end. In fact, if our primary vocation, like marriage or parenthood demands otherwise, I can easily see where it could sometimes be quite wrong, indeed, to try to say the whole Office. St. Benedict foresaw just such situations in chapters like this one, where the inescapable changes in season moderated things.
In an Oblate's life, there are many things other than merely seasonal which may often be every bit as compelling.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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