Holy Rule for March 30
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St. Mary's Monastery
Mar 29, 2026, 4:46:20 PM (6 days ago) Mar 29
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 30, July 30, November 29
Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor (22-25)
On Sundays, let all occupy themselves in reading, except those who have been appointed to various duties. But if anyone should be so negligent and shiftless that she will not or cannot study or read, let her be given some work to do so that she will not be idle. Weak or sickly sisters should be assigned a task or craft of such a nature as to keep them from idleness and at the same time not to overburden them or drive them away with excessive toil. Their weakness must be taken into consideration by the Abbess.
REFLECTION
The greatest mentor in my monastic life was Brother Patrick Creamer, OSB, of St. Leo Abbey in Florida. I learned so much from Brother Patrick. He had such a great influence on my life. He died September 14, 2004, two weeks short of his 90th birthday. Say a prayer for him. My debt to him is great and much of what I pass on to you I received from Patrick first. I have long hoped that even in the slightest and most occasional of ways, I could be a Patrick now and then to someone else.
Years ago, Brother Patrick told me: "Never judge yourself by others - there will always be people who will do more than you and people who do less." There's a very obvious corollary to that maxim: never judge others by yourself, either! I have struggled for years to learn both. I still have not succeeded, but I keep trying. Every time I remember those words I am shamed at how many more times I forget them. I hope and pray all of you are much better students of life than I am!
The Abbot is not the only one who has to see, really see weakness and allow for it. All of us do. That's what it means to bear one another's burdens as well as we can. If and when so-and-so finally gets their act together, it is highly unlikely that they will be an exact clone of someone so utterly perfect as ourselves! We can be so self-centered that we unwittingly actually expect that to happen. If we stop to look at how ludicrous such a thing is, we'll have to laugh, because if we didn't, we'd cry.
God made individuals, tons of them. Their optimal state is going to be just as individual, just as different , one from another. Hey, that's the beauty of the mosaic, which would, after all, have all the charm of a tiled floor if all the pieces were the same color and boring shape...
It is not just the weakness of others we have to see. We have to see our own, as well. There may be some who are thinking: "When Jerome gets his ducks in a row, he'll be just like me." Sorry, y'all. Ain't gonna happen, no more than you all are going to wind up (God forbid!) looking frighteningly like me. Strengths and weakness are the only tools we have to work with. If we don't see them, they won't be much good.
I confess that I do not know 10% of what my computer can do. I'll probably never know most of its ability. That's often the case with computers, but how tragic it is if we allow that to happen with ourselves. That's why the monastic struggle points us to even deeper self-examination, self-knowledge and humility.
Hey, a hard drive is neither here nor there in many senses, but a human soul needs a LOT of disk scanning and defragmentation. There'd better be a good anti-virus program, too, as well as lots of extra memory! Fortunately, these things cost nowhere near what software does. They were all bought for us at a tremendous price. Just ask the Guy Who did that and He'll give you all the free downloads you could ever need!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 30, July 30, November 29
Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor (22-25)
On Sundays, let all occupy themselves in reading, except those who have been appointed to various duties. But if anyone should be so negligent and shiftless that she will not or cannot study or read, let her be given some work to do so that she will not be idle. Weak or sickly sisters should be assigned a task or craft of such a nature as to keep them from idleness and at the same time not to overburden them or drive them away with excessive toil. Their weakness must be taken into consideration by the Abbess.
REFLECTION
The greatest mentor in my monastic life was Brother Patrick Creamer, OSB, of St. Leo Abbey in Florida. I learned so much from Brother Patrick. He had such a great influence on my life. He died September 14, 2004, two weeks short of his 90th birthday. Say a prayer for him. My debt to him is great and much of what I pass on to you I received from Patrick first. I have long hoped that even in the slightest and most occasional of ways, I could be a Patrick now and then to someone else.
Years ago, Brother Patrick told me: "Never judge yourself by others - there will always be people who will do more than you and people who do less." There's a very obvious corollary to that maxim: never judge others by yourself, either! I have struggled for years to learn both. I still have not succeeded, but I keep trying. Every time I remember those words I am shamed at how many more times I forget them. I hope and pray all of you are much better students of life than I am!
The Abbot is not the only one who has to see, really see weakness and allow for it. All of us do. That's what it means to bear one another's burdens as well as we can. If and when so-and-so finally gets their act together, it is highly unlikely that they will be an exact clone of someone so utterly perfect as ourselves! We can be so self-centered that we unwittingly actually expect that to happen. If we stop to look at how ludicrous such a thing is, we'll have to laugh, because if we didn't, we'd cry.
God made individuals, tons of them. Their optimal state is going to be just as individual, just as different , one from another. Hey, that's the beauty of the mosaic, which would, after all, have all the charm of a tiled floor if all the pieces were the same color and boring shape...
It is not just the weakness of others we have to see. We have to see our own, as well. There may be some who are thinking: "When Jerome gets his ducks in a row, he'll be just like me." Sorry, y'all. Ain't gonna happen, no more than you all are going to wind up (God forbid!) looking frighteningly like me. Strengths and weakness are the only tools we have to work with. If we don't see them, they won't be much good.
I confess that I do not know 10% of what my computer can do. I'll probably never know most of its ability. That's often the case with computers, but how tragic it is if we allow that to happen with ourselves. That's why the monastic struggle points us to even deeper self-examination, self-knowledge and humility.
Hey, a hard drive is neither here nor there in many senses, but a human soul needs a LOT of disk scanning and defragmentation. There'd better be a good anti-virus program, too, as well as lots of extra memory! Fortunately, these things cost nowhere near what software does. They were all bought for us at a tremendous price. Just ask the Guy Who did that and He'll give you all the free downloads you could ever need!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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