Holy Rule for March 19

[St. Mary's Monastery]

+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule

March 19, July 19, November 18
Chapter 40: On the Measure of Drink

"Everyone has her own gift from God, one in this way and another in that" (1 Cor. 7:7). It is therefore with some misgiving that we regulate the measure of others' sustenance. Nevertheless, keeping in view the needs of the weak, we believe that a hemina of wine a day is sufficient for each. But those to whom God gives the strength to abstain should know that they will receive a special reward.

If the circumstances of the place, or the work or the heat of summer require a greater measure, the superior shall use her judgment in the matter, taking care always that there be no occasion for surfeit or drunkenness. We read it is true, that wine is by no means a drink for monastics; but since the monastics of our day cannot be persuaded of this let us at least agree to drink sparingly and not to satiety, because "wine makes even the wise fall away" (Eccles. 19:2).

But where the circumstances of the place are such that not even the measure prescribed above can be supplied, but much less or none at all, let those who live there bless God and not murmur. Above all things do we give this admonition, that they abstain from murmuring.

REFLECTION

Two things stand out here: the gentleness of St. Benedict and the necessity of praising God in every circumstance.

St. Benedict admits he is hesitant to set forth a principle of how much others he will never know might need for their sustenance. He may not have seen just how many other people and lands and times he was writing for, but he did see enough to be uneasy. This is not the voice or tone of a relentless dictator whose undue hunger for control finds his finger in every pie. Gentleness and humility are two of the finest gems in any crown of authority.

Every bit as important, but hidden and even lost amidst worries about how much a hemina is in metric, is the wonderful injunction that those who lack must praise. However much we have of any good thing, it is from God, not ourselves. How little we have may very well have nothing to do with God at all.

Even if it does, even if He wills straitened times and tightened belts for our good and growth, we must bless Him and not murmur or gripe. I can assure you that, if I had all I wanted at earlier periods in my life, there is very little chance I would be a monk and no chance at all that I would be the person I am today. God used all those "lacks" as riches, as tools of most exquisite precision. He knew what He was doing, I did not!

Look back at the Instruments of Good Works in Chapter 4 and the Steps of Humility in Chapter 7 and you will find in both a statement of this same principle. The monastic is not to complain or murmur, but to be happy- even thankful!- for whatever is received. That gratitude and joy is essential because everything that is received is a gift from God. Everything. Realizing that is a tremendously important piece of the puzzle in our monastic searching and striving.

Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)