Holy Rule for January 2
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jan 1, 2026, 7:42:25 PMJan 1
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 2, May 3, September 2
Prologue (8-13)
Let us arise, then, at last, for the Scripture stirs us up, saying, "Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11). Let us open our eyes to the deifying light, let us hear with attentive ears the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us, "Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94 [95]:8). And again, "Whoever has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7). And what does He say? "Come, My children, listen to Me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps.33 [34]:12). "Run while you have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).
REFLECTION
Check out the similarities of this section, at the beginning of the Holy Rule, and the readings of early Lent, which stress that "now is the acceptable time." It brings to mind St. Benedict's later chapter which says that the monastic life ought always to have some semblance of Lent.
That perpetual Lent chapter is the source of a lot of grumbling about austerity from one camp and cheering about it from another. Both may have missed a salient point. Perhaps the greatest element of perpetual Lent has less to do with austerity - even the monastic fast did not last all year. What IS perpetually in style is wakefulness and self-examination.
Monastic life withers in either smugness or a rut. What St. Benedict wants us to do is always to try and stay at that serious moment of taking inventory that many of us feel at Lent's beginning. We need to always be checking what needs to be cleaned up and we need to be prepared, even a bit eager, to start working on it.
This is why a daily examination of conscience is so necessary. Compline, the traditional liturgical place for such examens, is a very apt place for same. As we prepare for sleep, which prefigures death, we prepare also for death, by examining our faults and asking forgiveness.
The Holy Rule, like Lent, is by no means the gateway to an easier life, but to a holier one. As we actually grow in holiness much of it will become easier, more natural to us. But until that time, it is a struggle and, in unconquered areas, it remains something of a struggle for all of our lives. What's hard about that struggle isn't fasting or penance, but changing ourselves. Austere practices are just a means to that end, not ends in themselves.
The whole idea of Lent and the Holy Rule is lasting change for the better. Lent is a seasonal construct to get us to begin anew, the Holy Rule says that beginning anew must be a daily thing. Lent is an attempt to get us to do for forty days what we ought to have been doing all year. The Holy Rule is a way to do what we ought to do all year, every day.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 2, May 3, September 2
Prologue (8-13)
Let us arise, then, at last, for the Scripture stirs us up, saying, "Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11). Let us open our eyes to the deifying light, let us hear with attentive ears the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us, "Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94 [95]:8). And again, "Whoever has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7). And what does He say? "Come, My children, listen to Me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps.33 [34]:12). "Run while you have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).
REFLECTION
Check out the similarities of this section, at the beginning of the Holy Rule, and the readings of early Lent, which stress that "now is the acceptable time." It brings to mind St. Benedict's later chapter which says that the monastic life ought always to have some semblance of Lent.
That perpetual Lent chapter is the source of a lot of grumbling about austerity from one camp and cheering about it from another. Both may have missed a salient point. Perhaps the greatest element of perpetual Lent has less to do with austerity - even the monastic fast did not last all year. What IS perpetually in style is wakefulness and self-examination.
Monastic life withers in either smugness or a rut. What St. Benedict wants us to do is always to try and stay at that serious moment of taking inventory that many of us feel at Lent's beginning. We need to always be checking what needs to be cleaned up and we need to be prepared, even a bit eager, to start working on it.
This is why a daily examination of conscience is so necessary. Compline, the traditional liturgical place for such examens, is a very apt place for same. As we prepare for sleep, which prefigures death, we prepare also for death, by examining our faults and asking forgiveness.
The Holy Rule, like Lent, is by no means the gateway to an easier life, but to a holier one. As we actually grow in holiness much of it will become easier, more natural to us. But until that time, it is a struggle and, in unconquered areas, it remains something of a struggle for all of our lives. What's hard about that struggle isn't fasting or penance, but changing ourselves. Austere practices are just a means to that end, not ends in themselves.
The whole idea of Lent and the Holy Rule is lasting change for the better. Lent is a seasonal construct to get us to begin anew, the Holy Rule says that beginning anew must be a daily thing. Lent is an attempt to get us to do for forty days what we ought to have been doing all year. The Holy Rule is a way to do what we ought to do all year, every day.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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