Holy Rule for May 21
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St. Mary's Monastery
May 20, 2026, 5:31:50 PM (10 days ago) May 20
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 20, May 21, September 20
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (44-62)
To fear the Day of Judgment; to be in dread of hell; to desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit; to keep death daily before one's eyes; to keep constant guard over the actions of one's life; to know for certain that God sees one everywhere; when evil thoughts come into one's heart, to dash them against Christ immediately, and to manifest them to one's spiritual mother; to guard one's tongue against evil and depraved speech; not to love much talking; not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter; not to love much or boisterous laughter; to listen willingly to holy reading; to devote oneself frequently to prayer; daily in one's prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one's past sins to God, and to amend them for the future; not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one's own will; to obey in all things the commands of the Abbess, even though she herself (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord's precept, "Do what they say, but not what they do." Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so called.
REFLECTION
By the time he wrote this, St. Benedict had no doubt listened to a LOT of monastics confess their evil thoughts. He knew the carefree, breezy generalities of those who lacked depth and he also knew the excruciating details of the scrupulous, who had too much to tell. What he must have had to listen to in those years! Why on earth would he recommend a practice so difficult for both the father and the disciple?
Because it works, as AA and other Twelve Step members could readily tell you. It offers an outside, objective opinion, a more impartial estimation of one's progress or lack thereof and a chance to give pertinent advice in the struggle.
You can also get a fairly good barometer of where a person's struggles are focused by knowing where she is tempted. Satan does not waste time and effort, he does not duplicate services. If you are doing a wonderful job of running yourself to hell on a rail in a given area, you can be pretty sure he'll leave you alone. Remember, there are the world and the flesh to help him out.
Some of our evil thoughts DO come from us, and these may be very informative, but others do not, and these also, give a better picture of where we actually are. A handy rule of thumb is that if a thought distresses you, upsets you, you likely did not will it. Try to let it go and be done with it. The fact that we are upset often means the thought did not come from us, we wouldn't care otherwise. Offer a quick prayer, My Jesus, save me! Offer a prayer of praise for the Divine Mercy. St. Faustina said the devil flees at praise of the Divine Mercy, that he cannot stand it. I have found this to be very true.
Real assaults of Satan that are terribly noticeable often may come at a time when we are progressing. (Of course, there are subtle ones day in, day out, but the biggies usually mean we're doing SOMETHING right!) Hideous temptations can be a good sign, not a bad one: they can mean our progress has riled up the devil's anger. If we stop and look at some of those hideous temptations, to blasphemy, for instance, we can clearly see that they are not like us, not from us. Horrible thoughts that we would never dream of seriously thinking come from the Evil One.
AA knew they were offering a spiritual program of recovery to people from all faiths, as well as to people of no religious background. They knew some Churches had one-on-one confession, others did not, so they included it in the 12 steps, stating that each must make known to oneself, to God AND to another "the exact nature" of their wrongs. Heavy stuff, there, but why?
Because God, wonderful though He is, often seems not to talk back, or if He does, to speak indirectly in ways that many of us miss. Because we cannot tell from our own inventory what another person can tell us about ourselves: we're too close to the subject to be objective!
Our fears and shame are so terrible when they are horrible secrets to us alone. They paralyze us, wholly or partially, but they ALWAYS impede us. Break that panicky isolation, tell the worst and, finding that your listener has at least not dropped dead of shock, you are on the way to learning something wonderfully necessary. None of us are hopeless, none of us are unlovable (or unloved!)
For all of our Oblates who come from Christian traditions that do not practice individual confession, I recommend it- so does St. Benedict! Think what a regular dose of such reality could do for one!
Sacramental Confession, however, is an obligation for Catholics. Finding a regular confessor may take time, but one cannot hold off confessing in the meantime. Pray to the Holy Spirit to find the right priest for you. Ask God to use the priest's lips to speak to you. I can't tell you how many times I have made this last prayer and had it richly answered. God does use His priests. Go to Confession often, you will be glad you did! Go weekly or at least monthly.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 20, May 21, September 20
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works (44-62)
To fear the Day of Judgment; to be in dread of hell; to desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit; to keep death daily before one's eyes; to keep constant guard over the actions of one's life; to know for certain that God sees one everywhere; when evil thoughts come into one's heart, to dash them against Christ immediately, and to manifest them to one's spiritual mother; to guard one's tongue against evil and depraved speech; not to love much talking; not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter; not to love much or boisterous laughter; to listen willingly to holy reading; to devote oneself frequently to prayer; daily in one's prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one's past sins to God, and to amend them for the future; not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one's own will; to obey in all things the commands of the Abbess, even though she herself (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord's precept, "Do what they say, but not what they do." Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so called.
REFLECTION
By the time he wrote this, St. Benedict had no doubt listened to a LOT of monastics confess their evil thoughts. He knew the carefree, breezy generalities of those who lacked depth and he also knew the excruciating details of the scrupulous, who had too much to tell. What he must have had to listen to in those years! Why on earth would he recommend a practice so difficult for both the father and the disciple?
Because it works, as AA and other Twelve Step members could readily tell you. It offers an outside, objective opinion, a more impartial estimation of one's progress or lack thereof and a chance to give pertinent advice in the struggle.
You can also get a fairly good barometer of where a person's struggles are focused by knowing where she is tempted. Satan does not waste time and effort, he does not duplicate services. If you are doing a wonderful job of running yourself to hell on a rail in a given area, you can be pretty sure he'll leave you alone. Remember, there are the world and the flesh to help him out.
Some of our evil thoughts DO come from us, and these may be very informative, but others do not, and these also, give a better picture of where we actually are. A handy rule of thumb is that if a thought distresses you, upsets you, you likely did not will it. Try to let it go and be done with it. The fact that we are upset often means the thought did not come from us, we wouldn't care otherwise. Offer a quick prayer, My Jesus, save me! Offer a prayer of praise for the Divine Mercy. St. Faustina said the devil flees at praise of the Divine Mercy, that he cannot stand it. I have found this to be very true.
Real assaults of Satan that are terribly noticeable often may come at a time when we are progressing. (Of course, there are subtle ones day in, day out, but the biggies usually mean we're doing SOMETHING right!) Hideous temptations can be a good sign, not a bad one: they can mean our progress has riled up the devil's anger. If we stop and look at some of those hideous temptations, to blasphemy, for instance, we can clearly see that they are not like us, not from us. Horrible thoughts that we would never dream of seriously thinking come from the Evil One.
AA knew they were offering a spiritual program of recovery to people from all faiths, as well as to people of no religious background. They knew some Churches had one-on-one confession, others did not, so they included it in the 12 steps, stating that each must make known to oneself, to God AND to another "the exact nature" of their wrongs. Heavy stuff, there, but why?
Because God, wonderful though He is, often seems not to talk back, or if He does, to speak indirectly in ways that many of us miss. Because we cannot tell from our own inventory what another person can tell us about ourselves: we're too close to the subject to be objective!
Our fears and shame are so terrible when they are horrible secrets to us alone. They paralyze us, wholly or partially, but they ALWAYS impede us. Break that panicky isolation, tell the worst and, finding that your listener has at least not dropped dead of shock, you are on the way to learning something wonderfully necessary. None of us are hopeless, none of us are unlovable (or unloved!)
For all of our Oblates who come from Christian traditions that do not practice individual confession, I recommend it- so does St. Benedict! Think what a regular dose of such reality could do for one!
Sacramental Confession, however, is an obligation for Catholics. Finding a regular confessor may take time, but one cannot hold off confessing in the meantime. Pray to the Holy Spirit to find the right priest for you. Ask God to use the priest's lips to speak to you. I can't tell you how many times I have made this last prayer and had it richly answered. God does use His priests. Go to Confession often, you will be glad you did! Go weekly or at least monthly.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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