Holy Rule for August 13
10 views
Skip to first unread message
St. Mary's Monastery
Aug 12, 2026, 4:23:42 PMAug 12
to holyrule
+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 13, August 13, December 13
Chapter 59: On the Sons of Nobles and of the Poor Who Are Offered
If anyone of the nobility offers his son to God in the monastery and the boy is very young, let his parents draw up the document which we mentioned above; and at the oblation let them wrap the document itself and the boy's hand in the altar cloth. That is how they offer him. As regards their property, they shall promise in the same petition under oath that they will never of themselves, or through an intermediary, or in any way whatever, give him anything or provide him with the opportunity of owning anything. Or else, if they are unwilling to do this, and if they want to offer something as an alms to the monastery for their advantage, let them make a donation of the property they wish to give to the monastery, reserving the income to themselves if they wish. And in this way let everything be barred, so that the boy may have no expectations whereby (which God forbid) he might be deceived and ruined, as we have learned by experience. Let those who are less well-to-do make a similar offering. But those who have nothing at all shall simply draw up the document and offer their son before witnesses at the oblation.
REFLECTION
It is so like St. Benedict to have a sliding scale, and he lets us know in the very title of this chapter that both nobles and the poor may offer their children or in our own days, themselves to the monastery as Oblates. Yes, the gift of a feudal lord was bound to be more complicated, so he spends most of his time clearing up matters there, but he returns to his sliding scale theme at the end, with special provisions for the not-so rich and the totally not rich at all!
Money given properly with the right intention can be a very connecting thing. When I had a salary, I tithed to some nuns in Peru. I'll likely never go to Peru, but I still feel connected to them and pray for them every single day. Money is OK when no other means of physically present participation is possible. Not shabby! But everyone, as St. Benedict knew so well, does not have money. What then?
Notice what I did above? I connected, as I did in real life, the monetary gifts to prayer. Can't be absolutely certain that the Sechura Tyburn nuns went into my morning offering the very first day I sent the first gift, but it was close. The checks stopped coming years ago, but the prayers go on and on and will continue as long as I live.
If you are one who can give money, always, always be very careful to make sure it is not the only thing you give. Money, for all its pragmatic usefulness, is not the monastery's greatest treasure. Prayers, penance and good works are. It is to the latter bank that everyone must make hefty deposits!
Every Christian in the world, not just Oblates, has a vast treasury of prayer, of fasting, of works of charity and mercy that they not only can, but must share with others. That's the principal gift that anyone can give, because, unlike money, it truly is eternal. Love, merit and grace are all, literally all that we get to take with us into heaven; as true of a monastery or a family as it is of any individual. When all of us are facing God and eternity, the pragmatic side of financial benefactions will be worth nothing, only the heart which gave and the heart which received will last and be with us.
Monasteries and families have to be emphatically equal in their gratitude. If one grandson made it through medical school with honors and can now buy Grandma a new color TV, fine, wonderful! But his cousin who is still in drug rehab for the third try in as many years has to feel just as loved. In fact, the troubled one probably needs to feel more loved, since his cousin's success may well add to his defeatist self-loathing.
Hey, a new TV for Granny or a new library for the college. It's not that different at all. Families and monasteries need to show others and the world what we value most. Sure, it's a wonderful thing to give or receive huge benefactions, but the greatest treasures for any of us, monastic, spouse, parent or child, are spiritual, non-rotting, non-rusting, but NOT non-stick. No Teflon there! Those gifts are going with us to God, whether we gave or received them!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 13, August 13, December 13
Chapter 59: On the Sons of Nobles and of the Poor Who Are Offered
If anyone of the nobility offers his son to God in the monastery and the boy is very young, let his parents draw up the document which we mentioned above; and at the oblation let them wrap the document itself and the boy's hand in the altar cloth. That is how they offer him. As regards their property, they shall promise in the same petition under oath that they will never of themselves, or through an intermediary, or in any way whatever, give him anything or provide him with the opportunity of owning anything. Or else, if they are unwilling to do this, and if they want to offer something as an alms to the monastery for their advantage, let them make a donation of the property they wish to give to the monastery, reserving the income to themselves if they wish. And in this way let everything be barred, so that the boy may have no expectations whereby (which God forbid) he might be deceived and ruined, as we have learned by experience. Let those who are less well-to-do make a similar offering. But those who have nothing at all shall simply draw up the document and offer their son before witnesses at the oblation.
REFLECTION
It is so like St. Benedict to have a sliding scale, and he lets us know in the very title of this chapter that both nobles and the poor may offer their children or in our own days, themselves to the monastery as Oblates. Yes, the gift of a feudal lord was bound to be more complicated, so he spends most of his time clearing up matters there, but he returns to his sliding scale theme at the end, with special provisions for the not-so rich and the totally not rich at all!
Money given properly with the right intention can be a very connecting thing. When I had a salary, I tithed to some nuns in Peru. I'll likely never go to Peru, but I still feel connected to them and pray for them every single day. Money is OK when no other means of physically present participation is possible. Not shabby! But everyone, as St. Benedict knew so well, does not have money. What then?
Notice what I did above? I connected, as I did in real life, the monetary gifts to prayer. Can't be absolutely certain that the Sechura Tyburn nuns went into my morning offering the very first day I sent the first gift, but it was close. The checks stopped coming years ago, but the prayers go on and on and will continue as long as I live.
If you are one who can give money, always, always be very careful to make sure it is not the only thing you give. Money, for all its pragmatic usefulness, is not the monastery's greatest treasure. Prayers, penance and good works are. It is to the latter bank that everyone must make hefty deposits!
Every Christian in the world, not just Oblates, has a vast treasury of prayer, of fasting, of works of charity and mercy that they not only can, but must share with others. That's the principal gift that anyone can give, because, unlike money, it truly is eternal. Love, merit and grace are all, literally all that we get to take with us into heaven; as true of a monastery or a family as it is of any individual. When all of us are facing God and eternity, the pragmatic side of financial benefactions will be worth nothing, only the heart which gave and the heart which received will last and be with us.
Monasteries and families have to be emphatically equal in their gratitude. If one grandson made it through medical school with honors and can now buy Grandma a new color TV, fine, wonderful! But his cousin who is still in drug rehab for the third try in as many years has to feel just as loved. In fact, the troubled one probably needs to feel more loved, since his cousin's success may well add to his defeatist self-loathing.
Hey, a new TV for Granny or a new library for the college. It's not that different at all. Families and monasteries need to show others and the world what we value most. Sure, it's a wonderful thing to give or receive huge benefactions, but the greatest treasures for any of us, monastic, spouse, parent or child, are spiritual, non-rotting, non-rusting, but NOT non-stick. No Teflon there! Those gifts are going with us to God, whether we gave or received them!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages