Holy Rule for September 9
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St. Mary's Monastery
Sep 8, 2024, 5:56:16 PM9/8/24
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 9, May 10, September 9
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be (1-5)
An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery should always remember what she is called, and live up to the name of Superior. For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, being called by a name of His, which is taken from the words of the Apostle: "You have received a Spirit of adoption ..., by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15).
Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command anything which is against the Lord's precepts; on the contrary, her commands and her teaching should be a leaven of divine justice kneaded into the minds of her disciples.
REFLECTION
[Re-reading this years later, I am painfully aware that some people had truly toxic and abusive parents and I didn’t mention that. There is evil in the world, and sometimes parents can be cooperative with evil. I am not saying God wills that, but He can bring it to good for those who love him.]
This surely applies to all parents! Substitute "parent" for "abbess" and "home " for "monastery" and you have the ideal picture of a Christian head of household. Of course, in another sense this applies to ANY Oblate living in the world as the head of their own, albeit perhaps single, household! Many of us, in monastery and out, are parents to nothing other than some beloved pets, but surely we must treat them with love as the Holy Rule requires, too!
It's a safe bet that any truly wise person would not think themselves worthy to be abbot, and perhaps equally unworthy (or at least unprepared!) to be a parent. In fact, conviction of one's unworthiness may be one of the best qualities. There's obviously some kind of humility going on there!
There's an old saying that holds that the community gets the Abbot it deserves (and the vocations it deserves, too!) Sometimes this may not hold literally true, but I do feel that we often get the Abbot (or parent,) that we most need. That doesn't mean that we will always be thrilled with the election or with our family tree. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect at all times from OUR point of view. Often this need goes unseen until years and wisdom get to work on the 20/20 of hindsight!
It means that God has given us great treasure in anything so important as His choice of an Abbot or a parent, no matter how hard that may sometimes be to fathom. Happy the day when one can look back and say: "Abbot X is exactly the man I needed at 18!" or "Without the parents I had, I would never be who I am today. Thank God it was not any different!"
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everything has to be rosy as a TV sit-com in the 1950's. It doesn't. It works anyhow, because of the miracle of God's love and infinite mercy! The miracle here is precisely that the imperfect (which includes all of us!) works, that all is made well by God's love and mercy and grace, if we but allow Him to do that for us.
All of us do not live under the same roof with an abbot or abbess, but all of us, even the abbatial ones, have had parents. Some of us ARE parents. Tough role, as any abbot could tell you! Take heart! God will use you both to His ends in ways that neither of you may ever suspect.
God will use the positive and the negative, if only we let Him. Parent and child inextricably build, change and shape each other. We often hear of grown children's baggage from their youth, but stop and think: there are also many parents who were changed irrevocably, for good or ill, by their children.
I needed exactly the parents I got to be who I am. We all do. It just takes time to see God's hand in that. He does love us, you know.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 9, May 10, September 9
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be (1-5)
An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery should always remember what she is called, and live up to the name of Superior. For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, being called by a name of His, which is taken from the words of the Apostle: "You have received a Spirit of adoption ..., by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15).
Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command anything which is against the Lord's precepts; on the contrary, her commands and her teaching should be a leaven of divine justice kneaded into the minds of her disciples.
REFLECTION
[Re-reading this years later, I am painfully aware that some people had truly toxic and abusive parents and I didn’t mention that. There is evil in the world, and sometimes parents can be cooperative with evil. I am not saying God wills that, but He can bring it to good for those who love him.]
This surely applies to all parents! Substitute "parent" for "abbess" and "home " for "monastery" and you have the ideal picture of a Christian head of household. Of course, in another sense this applies to ANY Oblate living in the world as the head of their own, albeit perhaps single, household! Many of us, in monastery and out, are parents to nothing other than some beloved pets, but surely we must treat them with love as the Holy Rule requires, too!
It's a safe bet that any truly wise person would not think themselves worthy to be abbot, and perhaps equally unworthy (or at least unprepared!) to be a parent. In fact, conviction of one's unworthiness may be one of the best qualities. There's obviously some kind of humility going on there!
There's an old saying that holds that the community gets the Abbot it deserves (and the vocations it deserves, too!) Sometimes this may not hold literally true, but I do feel that we often get the Abbot (or parent,) that we most need. That doesn't mean that we will always be thrilled with the election or with our family tree. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect at all times from OUR point of view. Often this need goes unseen until years and wisdom get to work on the 20/20 of hindsight!
It means that God has given us great treasure in anything so important as His choice of an Abbot or a parent, no matter how hard that may sometimes be to fathom. Happy the day when one can look back and say: "Abbot X is exactly the man I needed at 18!" or "Without the parents I had, I would never be who I am today. Thank God it was not any different!"
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everything has to be rosy as a TV sit-com in the 1950's. It doesn't. It works anyhow, because of the miracle of God's love and infinite mercy! The miracle here is precisely that the imperfect (which includes all of us!) works, that all is made well by God's love and mercy and grace, if we but allow Him to do that for us.
All of us do not live under the same roof with an abbot or abbess, but all of us, even the abbatial ones, have had parents. Some of us ARE parents. Tough role, as any abbot could tell you! Take heart! God will use you both to His ends in ways that neither of you may ever suspect.
God will use the positive and the negative, if only we let Him. Parent and child inextricably build, change and shape each other. We often hear of grown children's baggage from their youth, but stop and think: there are also many parents who were changed irrevocably, for good or ill, by their children.
I needed exactly the parents I got to be who I am. We all do. It just takes time to see God's hand in that. He does love us, you know.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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