Holy Rule for February 9
8 views
Skip to first unread message
St. Mary's Monastery
Feb 8, 2026, 5:56:24 PM (12 days ago) Feb 8
to holyrule
+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 9, June 10, October 10
Chapter 7: On Humility (62-70)
The twelfth degree of humility is that a monk not only have humility in his heart but also by his very appearance make it always manifest to those who see him. That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields or anywhere else, and whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always have his head bowed and his eyes toward the ground. Feeling the guilt of his sins at every moment, he should consider himself already present at the dread Judgment and constantly say in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said with his eyes fixed on the earth: "Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven" (Luke 18:13; Matt. 8:8); and again with the Prophet: "I am bowed down and humbled everywhere" (Ps. 37[38][38]:7,9; 118:107).
Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.
REFLECTION
Alcoholics Anonymous jokes about what they call "Two-steppers," that is, people who decide to jump right from Step 1, acknowledging their problem, to Step 12, carrying the message to others, with nothing in between! Wrong! Doesn't work that way. Sometimes beginners make a similar mistake with humility. Bingo, they go right to the twelfth degree with nothing to build their external humility on but the images of popular fiction and such.
Genuine humility is not affected or showy, it is quite the reverse! People who learn that have a chance to stay, people who don't often leave because no monastery fits their model, though they may keep looking for one that does!
The second section of today’s reading is crucially important and why none of those two-steppers quite make it AND why the first section is spared from Jansenism. (Jansenism, you may recall, was a heresy which held that we could NEVER be worthy, NEVER do enough penance and so forth. In its sad extremes, it harked to a sort of Pelagian attitude, implying that we might be able to do something to save ourselves if we did a lot of harsh stuff! But, of course, even that would never be enough. It was a terribly mean idea of God.)
Humility is NOT affected, not presupposing, hence efforts to LOOK humble when one is not so will fall woefully short of the mark. No Academy Awards for this one! When they call for the envelope, it will be empty!
Genuine humility is the most unself-conscious thing in the world. It produces the external demeanor without any further ado, because the person actually (and usually unwittingly!) BECOMES the truth they are striving to live. Humility shows up in the face, in everything, just as years of bitterness or years of love often do.
You couldn't hide humility if you wanted to, but you don't need to, because the true humility is rarely even noticed and those who are less humble tend to discount the really humble as nobodies. In one sense, they are quite right! Both would agree on that!
If one never gets to the joy and love of the end of this passage, there will be no reason not to look artificially rather glum over sins that one probably doesn't believe at heart are great anyhow. This is where some monastics miss the mark. They can stop at the perpetual gloom and dread point, without realizing the contemplative joy and love beyond that.
Monasticism is true, but the Gospel is more so. Neither Jansenism nor perpetual gloom would play very well with Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. That means they wouldn't play well with St. Benedict, either, as his second portion surely guarantees. Love and joy and humility are an inseparable trio! When fear is cast out, gloom goes right along with it!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 9, June 10, October 10
Chapter 7: On Humility (62-70)
The twelfth degree of humility is that a monk not only have humility in his heart but also by his very appearance make it always manifest to those who see him. That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields or anywhere else, and whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always have his head bowed and his eyes toward the ground. Feeling the guilt of his sins at every moment, he should consider himself already present at the dread Judgment and constantly say in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said with his eyes fixed on the earth: "Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven" (Luke 18:13; Matt. 8:8); and again with the Prophet: "I am bowed down and humbled everywhere" (Ps. 37[38][38]:7,9; 118:107).
Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.
REFLECTION
Alcoholics Anonymous jokes about what they call "Two-steppers," that is, people who decide to jump right from Step 1, acknowledging their problem, to Step 12, carrying the message to others, with nothing in between! Wrong! Doesn't work that way. Sometimes beginners make a similar mistake with humility. Bingo, they go right to the twelfth degree with nothing to build their external humility on but the images of popular fiction and such.
Genuine humility is not affected or showy, it is quite the reverse! People who learn that have a chance to stay, people who don't often leave because no monastery fits their model, though they may keep looking for one that does!
The second section of today’s reading is crucially important and why none of those two-steppers quite make it AND why the first section is spared from Jansenism. (Jansenism, you may recall, was a heresy which held that we could NEVER be worthy, NEVER do enough penance and so forth. In its sad extremes, it harked to a sort of Pelagian attitude, implying that we might be able to do something to save ourselves if we did a lot of harsh stuff! But, of course, even that would never be enough. It was a terribly mean idea of God.)
Humility is NOT affected, not presupposing, hence efforts to LOOK humble when one is not so will fall woefully short of the mark. No Academy Awards for this one! When they call for the envelope, it will be empty!
Genuine humility is the most unself-conscious thing in the world. It produces the external demeanor without any further ado, because the person actually (and usually unwittingly!) BECOMES the truth they are striving to live. Humility shows up in the face, in everything, just as years of bitterness or years of love often do.
You couldn't hide humility if you wanted to, but you don't need to, because the true humility is rarely even noticed and those who are less humble tend to discount the really humble as nobodies. In one sense, they are quite right! Both would agree on that!
If one never gets to the joy and love of the end of this passage, there will be no reason not to look artificially rather glum over sins that one probably doesn't believe at heart are great anyhow. This is where some monastics miss the mark. They can stop at the perpetual gloom and dread point, without realizing the contemplative joy and love beyond that.
Monasticism is true, but the Gospel is more so. Neither Jansenism nor perpetual gloom would play very well with Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. That means they wouldn't play well with St. Benedict, either, as his second portion surely guarantees. Love and joy and humility are an inseparable trio! When fear is cast out, gloom goes right along with it!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages