Holy Rule for May 10
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St. Mary's Monastery
May 9, 2026, 4:57:22 PMMay 9
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 9, May 10, September 9
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be (1-5)
An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery should always remember what she is called, and live up to the name of Superior. For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, being called by a name of His, which is taken from the words of the Apostle: "You have received a Spirit of adoption ..., by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15).
Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command anything which is against the Lord's precepts; on the contrary, her commands and her teaching should be a leaven of divine justice kneaded into the minds of her disciples.
REFLECTION
It will no doubt come as a great relief to others like me to note that the leaven gently kneaded into the minds of certain disciples often seems to have a downright under-whelming effect. A hallmark of some us is impatience: we do not suffer others’ faults gladly, the miracle is that we endure them at all. Most of all, we want those things FIXED, right now, or yesterday at the latest! The tragedy of this is that, in assuming we can recognize others’ flaws so terribly well, we completely miss those at work in ourselves.
Much that will be said of the abbot in the Holy Rule requires tremendous faith, from both the superior and the monastics. The lofty things said require grace to bring them fruition. Grace is also necessary to see those fruits. This all boils down to a LOT of faith and trust on the part of all.
And what about that leaven that I couldn't notice having much effect? Well, neither I nor anyone else knows, save the person and God. Some die, some leave before the effect is seen. Leaven works. It may work slowly, it may work in a variety of ways, but leaven does something sooner or later if we let it!
Faith and trust in God's Divine Mercy require us to have a lot of patience, with bread cast on waters in tremendous hope! It is our vocation to scatter such bread, not necessarily to see its results. God judges our efforts, not our results. Often an apparent failure turns to triumphal joy and salvation in the very last instants of life, when the workings are known to God and the soul alone. This is comforting to recall when someone dies suddenly in an unforeseen way.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 9, May 10, September 9
Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be (1-5)
An Abbess who is worthy to be over a monastery should always remember what she is called, and live up to the name of Superior. For she is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, being called by a name of His, which is taken from the words of the Apostle: "You have received a Spirit of adoption ..., by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15).
Therefore the Abbess ought not to teach or ordain or command anything which is against the Lord's precepts; on the contrary, her commands and her teaching should be a leaven of divine justice kneaded into the minds of her disciples.
REFLECTION
It will no doubt come as a great relief to others like me to note that the leaven gently kneaded into the minds of certain disciples often seems to have a downright under-whelming effect. A hallmark of some us is impatience: we do not suffer others’ faults gladly, the miracle is that we endure them at all. Most of all, we want those things FIXED, right now, or yesterday at the latest! The tragedy of this is that, in assuming we can recognize others’ flaws so terribly well, we completely miss those at work in ourselves.
Much that will be said of the abbot in the Holy Rule requires tremendous faith, from both the superior and the monastics. The lofty things said require grace to bring them fruition. Grace is also necessary to see those fruits. This all boils down to a LOT of faith and trust on the part of all.
And what about that leaven that I couldn't notice having much effect? Well, neither I nor anyone else knows, save the person and God. Some die, some leave before the effect is seen. Leaven works. It may work slowly, it may work in a variety of ways, but leaven does something sooner or later if we let it!
Faith and trust in God's Divine Mercy require us to have a lot of patience, with bread cast on waters in tremendous hope! It is our vocation to scatter such bread, not necessarily to see its results. God judges our efforts, not our results. Often an apparent failure turns to triumphal joy and salvation in the very last instants of life, when the workings are known to God and the soul alone. This is comforting to recall when someone dies suddenly in an unforeseen way.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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