Holy Rule for May 22
6 views
Skip to first unread message
St. Mary's Monastery
May 21, 2026, 5:15:30 PM (9 days ago) May 21
to holyrule
+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 21, May 22, September 21
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (63-78)
To fulfill God's commandments daily in one's deeds; To love chastity; to hate no one; not to be jealous, not to harbor envy; not to love contention; to beware of haughtiness; and to respect the seniors; to love the juniors; to pray for one's enemies in the love of Christ; to make peace with one's adversary before the sun sets; and never to despair of God's mercy.
These, then, are the tools of the spiritual craft. If we employ them unceasingly day and night, and return them on the Day of Judgment, our compensation from the Lord will be that wage He has promised: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9).
Now the workshop in which we shall diligently execute all these tasks is the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community.
REFLECTION
Employ them ALL? "Unceasingly, day and night,"??? Give me a break! You have GOT to be kidding. There are lots of these I couldn't pull off if I spent a year working on each one alone - and I do NOT have 72 years left, especially if some are going to take way longer than a year a piece. This is beyond me.
You bet it is, folks! It's beyond all of us, but He isn't kidding, and neither is St. Benedict. Both know something that our egocentric eyes can miss - it ain't about us or our strength, it is ALL about our total weakness and the complete triumph of grace. The effective use of these tools is grace and gift. Any successes besides that are nothing but clever gymnastics.
In fact, it is really all about our own wretchedness being lifted up and out by the saving act of Jesus Christ: His grace, His help, His salvation. Our own efforts without Him are nada, zilch, absolute zero. The closer we come to seeing and knowing Christ, the clearer this fact becomes.
One very quick little thought: even the tools we do manage to pull off using are not our own, we are to return them on the Day of Judgment!!! Hey, before we fall all over ourselves, patting our own backs for this or that, we are doing it all with borrowed tools! Humbling thought there and a further confirmation of the paragraph above!
We need to ask God for His help and grace to become saints, we need to ask Him for the loan of those tools of good works from His workshop. The ability to become holy comes from God, from grace. No one at all can do it without that. We must cooperate with His grace and mercy and gifts. He is not stingy with His grace, but we must ask for all we can use!
We dare not say we are unable to be holy. Holy is not linked to our ability, but to our receptivity to God's grace and His mercy and will. He makes up for what is lacking in us, for lacks that we could never supply. That's the wonder of all this! God uses our weakness to triumph, God uses us to demonstrate His own omnipotence. Our frailty becomes His praise. Wow!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 21, May 22, September 21
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (63-78)
To fulfill God's commandments daily in one's deeds; To love chastity; to hate no one; not to be jealous, not to harbor envy; not to love contention; to beware of haughtiness; and to respect the seniors; to love the juniors; to pray for one's enemies in the love of Christ; to make peace with one's adversary before the sun sets; and never to despair of God's mercy.
These, then, are the tools of the spiritual craft. If we employ them unceasingly day and night, and return them on the Day of Judgment, our compensation from the Lord will be that wage He has promised: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9).
Now the workshop in which we shall diligently execute all these tasks is the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community.
REFLECTION
Employ them ALL? "Unceasingly, day and night,"??? Give me a break! You have GOT to be kidding. There are lots of these I couldn't pull off if I spent a year working on each one alone - and I do NOT have 72 years left, especially if some are going to take way longer than a year a piece. This is beyond me.
You bet it is, folks! It's beyond all of us, but He isn't kidding, and neither is St. Benedict. Both know something that our egocentric eyes can miss - it ain't about us or our strength, it is ALL about our total weakness and the complete triumph of grace. The effective use of these tools is grace and gift. Any successes besides that are nothing but clever gymnastics.
In fact, it is really all about our own wretchedness being lifted up and out by the saving act of Jesus Christ: His grace, His help, His salvation. Our own efforts without Him are nada, zilch, absolute zero. The closer we come to seeing and knowing Christ, the clearer this fact becomes.
One very quick little thought: even the tools we do manage to pull off using are not our own, we are to return them on the Day of Judgment!!! Hey, before we fall all over ourselves, patting our own backs for this or that, we are doing it all with borrowed tools! Humbling thought there and a further confirmation of the paragraph above!
We need to ask God for His help and grace to become saints, we need to ask Him for the loan of those tools of good works from His workshop. The ability to become holy comes from God, from grace. No one at all can do it without that. We must cooperate with His grace and mercy and gifts. He is not stingy with His grace, but we must ask for all we can use!
We dare not say we are unable to be holy. Holy is not linked to our ability, but to our receptivity to God's grace and His mercy and will. He makes up for what is lacking in us, for lacks that we could never supply. That's the wonder of all this! God uses our weakness to triumph, God uses us to demonstrate His own omnipotence. Our frailty becomes His praise. Wow!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages