Holy Rule for July 28
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jul 27, 2025, 5:54:20 PM7/27/25
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 28, July 28, November 27
Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor (1-9)
Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore the sisters should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in sacred reading. To that end we think that the times for each may be prescribed as follows. From Easter until the Calends of October, when they come out from Prime in the morning let them labor at whatever is necessary until about the fourth hour, and from the fourth hour until about the sixth let them apply themselves to reading. After the sixth hour, having left the table, let them rest on their beds in perfect silence; or if anyone may perhaps want to read, let her read to herself in such a way as not to disturb anyone else. Let None be said rather early, at the middle of the eighth hour, and let them again do what work has to be done until Vespers. And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles. Let all things be done with moderation, however, for the sake of the faint-hearted.
REFLECTION
I offer this as further proof of St. Benedict's tenderness and gentleness: take a nap. OK, say the siesta is Italian and cultural. Fine, but there were plenty of cultural elements he didn't let through the monastery gate. It was a LOT hotter in Egypt and one doesn't hear the Fathers telling people to lie down and rest, much less saying that those who cannot sleep dare not wake those who can with their noisiness! This is a gentle Father we have!
Surely moderation is one of the key elements woven throughout the Holy Rule, but isn't it at least worthy of note that it is stressed here, in the chapter on work? St. Benedict may not have had all the handy psychobabble terms that we use today to name things, but he had a piercingly clear perception of human nature.
He knew that some people were workaholics and that their contemplative focus would be shattered by that. He knew some people were obsessive about trivia that didn't matter. He knew that some people would be abused by their own kindness and inability to say "No," politely, by their doubt that anything is ever enough. All these things can harm not only prayer, but even our primary vocations themselves, marriage, parenthood, family or cloister!!
So, he counters all that by saying: "Take a nap!" Hey, what a great reality check! Wake up, y'all, the world has an axis already and there is no need for you to duplicate services: it isn't spinning around you or your hyper-efforts! Take a nap! God will manage fine without you for an hour or so!
St. Benedict certainly knows that many things are important, even essential and he is not at all shy about pointing them out. In the midst of all that, he says: "Take a nap!" If you can't nap, he doesn't even say "pray," he tells the insomniac to read quietly and not to wake the nappers!!
Look, we are known for our motto of pray and work, ora et labora. One might well assume that if you couldn't be working, you ought to at least be praying. Not so. Take a nap. Balance it out. Try pulling your arm out of a bucket of water and see what happens. Water closes right in, no problem. Much depends on us, but usually much less than we are prone to pridefully think! Take a nap!
Our world around us will gladly and readily tell us that we are worth nothing other than our productivity, our work, our profitability. St. Benedict wants to be sure that when we come to his monastery, we see those distorted values of human dignity for the falsehoods they really are. He wants us to work, yes, but to see work in the deep humility of truth. A consumerist society has taught us the exact opposite of that and we all need to patiently spend lots of time peeling those scales from our eyes with the help of God and St. Benedict.
Take a nap!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 28, July 28, November 27
Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor (1-9)
Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore the sisters should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in sacred reading. To that end we think that the times for each may be prescribed as follows. From Easter until the Calends of October, when they come out from Prime in the morning let them labor at whatever is necessary until about the fourth hour, and from the fourth hour until about the sixth let them apply themselves to reading. After the sixth hour, having left the table, let them rest on their beds in perfect silence; or if anyone may perhaps want to read, let her read to herself in such a way as not to disturb anyone else. Let None be said rather early, at the middle of the eighth hour, and let them again do what work has to be done until Vespers. And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles. Let all things be done with moderation, however, for the sake of the faint-hearted.
REFLECTION
I offer this as further proof of St. Benedict's tenderness and gentleness: take a nap. OK, say the siesta is Italian and cultural. Fine, but there were plenty of cultural elements he didn't let through the monastery gate. It was a LOT hotter in Egypt and one doesn't hear the Fathers telling people to lie down and rest, much less saying that those who cannot sleep dare not wake those who can with their noisiness! This is a gentle Father we have!
Surely moderation is one of the key elements woven throughout the Holy Rule, but isn't it at least worthy of note that it is stressed here, in the chapter on work? St. Benedict may not have had all the handy psychobabble terms that we use today to name things, but he had a piercingly clear perception of human nature.
He knew that some people were workaholics and that their contemplative focus would be shattered by that. He knew some people were obsessive about trivia that didn't matter. He knew that some people would be abused by their own kindness and inability to say "No," politely, by their doubt that anything is ever enough. All these things can harm not only prayer, but even our primary vocations themselves, marriage, parenthood, family or cloister!!
So, he counters all that by saying: "Take a nap!" Hey, what a great reality check! Wake up, y'all, the world has an axis already and there is no need for you to duplicate services: it isn't spinning around you or your hyper-efforts! Take a nap! God will manage fine without you for an hour or so!
St. Benedict certainly knows that many things are important, even essential and he is not at all shy about pointing them out. In the midst of all that, he says: "Take a nap!" If you can't nap, he doesn't even say "pray," he tells the insomniac to read quietly and not to wake the nappers!!
Look, we are known for our motto of pray and work, ora et labora. One might well assume that if you couldn't be working, you ought to at least be praying. Not so. Take a nap. Balance it out. Try pulling your arm out of a bucket of water and see what happens. Water closes right in, no problem. Much depends on us, but usually much less than we are prone to pridefully think! Take a nap!
Our world around us will gladly and readily tell us that we are worth nothing other than our productivity, our work, our profitability. St. Benedict wants to be sure that when we come to his monastery, we see those distorted values of human dignity for the falsehoods they really are. He wants us to work, yes, but to see work in the deep humility of truth. A consumerist society has taught us the exact opposite of that and we all need to patiently spend lots of time peeling those scales from our eyes with the help of God and St. Benedict.
Take a nap!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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