Holy Rule for July 27
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jul 26, 2025, 5:47:13 PM7/26/25
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 27, July 27, November 26
Chapter 47: On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God
The indicating of the hour for the Work of God by day and by night shall devolve upon the Abbot either to give the signal himself or to assign this duty to such a careful brother that everything will take place at the proper hours. Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned by those who are appointed for it, in their order after the Abbot. And no one shall presume to sing or read unless he can fulfill that office in such a way as to edify the hearers. Let this function be performed with humility, gravity and reverence, and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.
REFLECTION
A quickie here that applies to all, in monastery or out. It sometimes happens that we desire a job we ought not to have. It sometimes happens that we get a job that is too much for us and realize that in the midst of things. These are times for the great truthfulness of humility, to either stop seeking the task in question or to frankly admit that we cannot do it as it should be done.
Such honesty is hard, to be sure. Our hearts get in the way. We are attached to things which are in themselves good, but which would not be good for us. Not everyone would make a great parent, but there are plenty of people who want to be badly, whether in fact they would be good at it or not! Whoops! Tough on the kid there! There are also people who would be superb parents who cannot be, yet another thing to be accepted truthfully.
Anyone who has ever seen karaoke or open mike night or a piano bar knows that MANY who would love to be cabaret singers are far from that! What our hearts call us to is not always true, alas! Perhaps most of us have also known people who would have been fantastic spouses who are quite inexplicably alone.
A big part of discerning here is careful, frank self-examination and self-knowledge. Another huge piece of the puzzle is looking at where we REALLY are and where God has presumably placed us. Not everything is open to every age, place or time. Were I to decide that I absolutely HAD to become a flamingo farmer in central New England, the flamingoes would be MOST unhappy by next December or so, and most likely all dead well before February! See what I mean?
Because our hearts are involved, there is pain when the thing desired is not for us. That is hard, beloveds, but pain need not be futile or useless. Unite your pains to those of Christ and His Mystical Body, to those of His Passion that all of us help bear throughout the rest of time. Then the Father will see only His beloved Son when He looks at us. Then the world will be somehow better and helped by our suffering, mute and unknown. Nothing is wasted with God and His Divine Mercy. Nothing! Nothing at all!
A very significant postscript to all this: it is ourselves we should be looking at. Rarely, if ever, should we feel called upon to deliver such a message of being out of place to another. There are superiors and bosses for that in most instances, and self-appointed arbiters of anything and everything are quite frequently a pitiable lot.
Love and prayers and don't waste suffering, y'all!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 27, July 27, November 26
Chapter 47: On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God
The indicating of the hour for the Work of God by day and by night shall devolve upon the Abbot either to give the signal himself or to assign this duty to such a careful brother that everything will take place at the proper hours. Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned by those who are appointed for it, in their order after the Abbot. And no one shall presume to sing or read unless he can fulfill that office in such a way as to edify the hearers. Let this function be performed with humility, gravity and reverence, and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.
REFLECTION
A quickie here that applies to all, in monastery or out. It sometimes happens that we desire a job we ought not to have. It sometimes happens that we get a job that is too much for us and realize that in the midst of things. These are times for the great truthfulness of humility, to either stop seeking the task in question or to frankly admit that we cannot do it as it should be done.
Such honesty is hard, to be sure. Our hearts get in the way. We are attached to things which are in themselves good, but which would not be good for us. Not everyone would make a great parent, but there are plenty of people who want to be badly, whether in fact they would be good at it or not! Whoops! Tough on the kid there! There are also people who would be superb parents who cannot be, yet another thing to be accepted truthfully.
Anyone who has ever seen karaoke or open mike night or a piano bar knows that MANY who would love to be cabaret singers are far from that! What our hearts call us to is not always true, alas! Perhaps most of us have also known people who would have been fantastic spouses who are quite inexplicably alone.
A big part of discerning here is careful, frank self-examination and self-knowledge. Another huge piece of the puzzle is looking at where we REALLY are and where God has presumably placed us. Not everything is open to every age, place or time. Were I to decide that I absolutely HAD to become a flamingo farmer in central New England, the flamingoes would be MOST unhappy by next December or so, and most likely all dead well before February! See what I mean?
Because our hearts are involved, there is pain when the thing desired is not for us. That is hard, beloveds, but pain need not be futile or useless. Unite your pains to those of Christ and His Mystical Body, to those of His Passion that all of us help bear throughout the rest of time. Then the Father will see only His beloved Son when He looks at us. Then the world will be somehow better and helped by our suffering, mute and unknown. Nothing is wasted with God and His Divine Mercy. Nothing! Nothing at all!
A very significant postscript to all this: it is ourselves we should be looking at. Rarely, if ever, should we feel called upon to deliver such a message of being out of place to another. There are superiors and bosses for that in most instances, and self-appointed arbiters of anything and everything are quite frequently a pitiable lot.
Love and prayers and don't waste suffering, y'all!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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