St. Mary's Monastery
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 26 (or 27), June 28, October 28
Chapter 21: On the Deans of
the Monastery
If
the community is a large one, let there be chosen out of it brethren of good
repute and holy life, and let them be appointed deans. These shall take charge
of their deaneries in all things, observing the commandments of God and the
instructions of their Abbot.
Let men of such character be chosen deans that the Abbot may with confidence
share his burdens among them. Let them be chosen not by rank but according to
their worthiness of life and the wisdom of their doctrine.
If any of these deans should become inflated with pride and found deserving of
censure, let him be corrected once, and again, and a third time. If he will not
amend, then let him be deposed and another be put in his place who is worthy of
it.
And we order the same to be done in the case of the Prior.
REFLECTION
This
chapter repeats another important consideration in St. Benedict's plan: people are
not to be overburdened. This theme is less noticeable than the more important
ones of
moderation and the like, but it is there. Again and again, the Holy Rule
says that people should have help with their charges, certain officials
should even be exempted from serving in the refectory.
Two things
are going on here, both very important. Surely the first is kindness,
gentle consideration for human frailty. The second, however, is every
bit as defining and important: we are not our work, we are not our jobs, our
vocation and worth is only connected to such things tangentially at best.
Our motto is Prayer AND Work. The message is that neither of these should make the
other impossible.
This
message is equally important for both choir monastics and Oblates. If your
work is so much that your prayer suffers, something is wrong. However,
especially true for those of us in the secular world, if your prayer is so
much that your job or children or marriage suffers, something is REALLY wrong. If
your work deprives your family or spouse, it might be time to look at changing it, time
to rearrange goals and priorities a bit.
One of the
occasional problems of modern life everywhere is not just that we are
too busy, but that we FOCUS too much attachment and will on stuff that really
doesn't matter. Change that focus. Picture your job today if you had died yesterday.
The important stuff would still get done by someone else. The rest, your
own agenda,
would go merrily down the tubes.
Well, learn
from that! A LOT of our own agendas are worth little more than that:
going down the tubes. So why waste so much time and spiritual and
emotional energy on them? As it does so frequently, the Holy Rule and
Benedictine life tell us: "Get real!"
Train
yourself to learn what NOT to care about at all, what does not, and should not
matter one bit. That is the detachment that is truly holy. It is not all that
hard to learn, either, if one keeps at it and asks God for His grace and mercy,
without which we can do nothing good.
Br.
Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)