Holy Rule for April 27
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St. Mary's Monastery
Apr 26, 2026, 5:55:09 PM (4 days ago) Apr 26
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 27, August 27, December 27
Chapter 69: That the Monks Presume Not to Defend One Another
Care must be taken that no monk presume on any ground to defend another monk in the monastery, or as it were to take him under his protection, even though they be united by some tie of blood-relationship. Let not the monks dare to do this in any way whatsoever, because it may give rise to most serious scandals. But if anyone breaks this rule, let him be severely punished.
REFLECTION
We are all supposed to bear one another's burdens. That should be more than enough help for anyone, if we actually keep that principle.
A big problem with becoming the protector of another, self-appointed or otherwise, is that it destroys one's peace needlessly. When I was a novice, there was one other novice I really did not want to lose. He was not the brightest bulb on the tree and I went out of my way to protect him from himself. In time, he came to resent this and I was so busy worrying about covering or preventing his foibles all the time that I spent little time focusing on my own novitiate. Of course, he left. Perhaps he was supposed to leave. I, however, could not see that at the time.
This isn't just about monasteries, it's about any human group. Taking someone under our wing can result in all sorts of false assumptions. It can fool us into thinking we can really control events more than we can. It can lead us, a la Mother Hen, to seek to control the one under wing in very unnecessary and unhealthy ways. Its most common error is also one of its most dangerous ones: it leads us to think in terms of "us-and-them." There is no "them" in a healthy monastery, only an "us".
A further problem is that God wills or permits things for a person's good that may seem awful to us. Whatever befalls us, God can and does use it to our ultimate salvation, our greatest good. When our own limited and false view of things decides to protect another from such workings as are truly of God, we have placed ourselves in a downright horrible position. What galling nerve on our part to assume that we know better than God, that it is our "providence" and not His that ought to triumph.
As usual, what the Holy Rule insists we avoid is an extreme. This chapter is NOT saying we should not look out for one another, just that no one should presume that the job is hers or his alone. Good families protect all their members, but it is a corporate activity, something in which all participate. Destroy that balance and others will notice quickly. It upsets the inner peace, both of the individual and the group.
Part of any monastic's struggle, in cloister or in the world, is the painful facing up to ourselves, that confrontation with our own flaws. This difficult self-knowledge is essential to the monastic way. Trying to protect someone from this process is counter to the very reason they came. It not only harms them, it harms us, by keeping us so busy with another's affairs that we can avoid looking within at our own failings.
Merton once told his junior monk students that there is an existential place of loneliness in every monk that no one can touch, and that this is the way it's supposed to be, that no one should try to reach it. That's where the struggle goes on, that's where there is only God and the self. That's the arena in which the action happens.
Every person, every employee, every spouse and child has a similar place: it is the place of potential learning and growth. Our deep respect for one another must stand away from that space. Becoming self-appointed guardians of another violates that space.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 27, August 27, December 27
Chapter 69: That the Monks Presume Not to Defend One Another
Care must be taken that no monk presume on any ground to defend another monk in the monastery, or as it were to take him under his protection, even though they be united by some tie of blood-relationship. Let not the monks dare to do this in any way whatsoever, because it may give rise to most serious scandals. But if anyone breaks this rule, let him be severely punished.
REFLECTION
We are all supposed to bear one another's burdens. That should be more than enough help for anyone, if we actually keep that principle.
A big problem with becoming the protector of another, self-appointed or otherwise, is that it destroys one's peace needlessly. When I was a novice, there was one other novice I really did not want to lose. He was not the brightest bulb on the tree and I went out of my way to protect him from himself. In time, he came to resent this and I was so busy worrying about covering or preventing his foibles all the time that I spent little time focusing on my own novitiate. Of course, he left. Perhaps he was supposed to leave. I, however, could not see that at the time.
This isn't just about monasteries, it's about any human group. Taking someone under our wing can result in all sorts of false assumptions. It can fool us into thinking we can really control events more than we can. It can lead us, a la Mother Hen, to seek to control the one under wing in very unnecessary and unhealthy ways. Its most common error is also one of its most dangerous ones: it leads us to think in terms of "us-and-them." There is no "them" in a healthy monastery, only an "us".
A further problem is that God wills or permits things for a person's good that may seem awful to us. Whatever befalls us, God can and does use it to our ultimate salvation, our greatest good. When our own limited and false view of things decides to protect another from such workings as are truly of God, we have placed ourselves in a downright horrible position. What galling nerve on our part to assume that we know better than God, that it is our "providence" and not His that ought to triumph.
As usual, what the Holy Rule insists we avoid is an extreme. This chapter is NOT saying we should not look out for one another, just that no one should presume that the job is hers or his alone. Good families protect all their members, but it is a corporate activity, something in which all participate. Destroy that balance and others will notice quickly. It upsets the inner peace, both of the individual and the group.
Part of any monastic's struggle, in cloister or in the world, is the painful facing up to ourselves, that confrontation with our own flaws. This difficult self-knowledge is essential to the monastic way. Trying to protect someone from this process is counter to the very reason they came. It not only harms them, it harms us, by keeping us so busy with another's affairs that we can avoid looking within at our own failings.
Merton once told his junior monk students that there is an existential place of loneliness in every monk that no one can touch, and that this is the way it's supposed to be, that no one should try to reach it. That's where the struggle goes on, that's where there is only God and the self. That's the arena in which the action happens.
Every person, every employee, every spouse and child has a similar place: it is the place of potential learning and growth. Our deep respect for one another must stand away from that space. Becoming self-appointed guardians of another violates that space.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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