Holy Rule for May 17
8 views
Skip to first unread message
St. Mary's Monastery
May 16, 2026, 5:27:14 PM (14 days ago) May 16
to holyrule
+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 16, May 17, September 16
Chapter 3: On Calling the Brethren for Counsel (1-6)
Whenever any important business has to be done in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community and state the matter to be acted upon. Then, having heard the brethren's advice, let him turn the matter over in his own mind and do what he shall judge to be most expedient. The reason we have said that all should be called for counsel is that the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best.
Let the brethren give their advice with all the deference required by humility, and not presume stubbornly to defend their opinions; but let the decision rather depend on the Abbot's judgment, and all submit to whatever he shall decide for their welfare.
However, just as it is proper for the disciples to obey their master, so also it is his function to dispose all things with prudence and justice.
REFLECTION
We elect our abbots, which may make obedience a bit easier for us than living under an appointed superior, but we are not a pure democracy. This is so hard for Americans in particular to learn, let alone value! In terms of civil government comparisons, we may not be an absolute autocracy, but we are far from a constitutionally diluted monarchy! The abbot has a lot of power In fact, in most cases, he has, as this chapter indicates, the last word.
St. Benedict was far too wise to leave all power to an elective community. That would frustrate any abbot's efforts to upgrade the life of his flock. Monastics tend to resist change, let alone reform. They'd simply vote him down and be done with it. Communities, like St. Peter, must sometimes be girded by another and led where they would not go! Pure democracy would make that impossible.
Even though the abbot actually has the authority to ignore the community's suggestions, he is bidden to ask for input. He is asked to receive it with prudence and justice, neither swayed by every passing whim of the group nor by every passing whim of his own! The community, for their part, are to give their opinions humbly and with deference.
So, if you will, the concept of mutual obedience and fraternal love and respect is writ large over the whole of this chapter. Letting anyone have that much power is scary if the group as a whole is not constrained to virtue, but we are. Sure, the ideal can be failed, we are human, but the ideal is there and it is under the conditions of that ideal that so much is entrusted with faith to the abbot.
Though St. Benedict states we should never obey commands against God's law, every other instance demands our obedience and respect. We may think the Abbot is wrong and, humanly speaking, he might be, but we can never lose by obedience. Indeed, quite the reverse: we harm ourselves terribly by obstinately clinging to our own will and resisting.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 16, May 17, September 16
Chapter 3: On Calling the Brethren for Counsel (1-6)
Whenever any important business has to be done in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community and state the matter to be acted upon. Then, having heard the brethren's advice, let him turn the matter over in his own mind and do what he shall judge to be most expedient. The reason we have said that all should be called for counsel is that the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best.
Let the brethren give their advice with all the deference required by humility, and not presume stubbornly to defend their opinions; but let the decision rather depend on the Abbot's judgment, and all submit to whatever he shall decide for their welfare.
However, just as it is proper for the disciples to obey their master, so also it is his function to dispose all things with prudence and justice.
REFLECTION
We elect our abbots, which may make obedience a bit easier for us than living under an appointed superior, but we are not a pure democracy. This is so hard for Americans in particular to learn, let alone value! In terms of civil government comparisons, we may not be an absolute autocracy, but we are far from a constitutionally diluted monarchy! The abbot has a lot of power In fact, in most cases, he has, as this chapter indicates, the last word.
St. Benedict was far too wise to leave all power to an elective community. That would frustrate any abbot's efforts to upgrade the life of his flock. Monastics tend to resist change, let alone reform. They'd simply vote him down and be done with it. Communities, like St. Peter, must sometimes be girded by another and led where they would not go! Pure democracy would make that impossible.
Even though the abbot actually has the authority to ignore the community's suggestions, he is bidden to ask for input. He is asked to receive it with prudence and justice, neither swayed by every passing whim of the group nor by every passing whim of his own! The community, for their part, are to give their opinions humbly and with deference.
So, if you will, the concept of mutual obedience and fraternal love and respect is writ large over the whole of this chapter. Letting anyone have that much power is scary if the group as a whole is not constrained to virtue, but we are. Sure, the ideal can be failed, we are human, but the ideal is there and it is under the conditions of that ideal that so much is entrusted with faith to the abbot.
Though St. Benedict states we should never obey commands against God's law, every other instance demands our obedience and respect. We may think the Abbot is wrong and, humanly speaking, he might be, but we can never lose by obedience. Indeed, quite the reverse: we harm ourselves terribly by obstinately clinging to our own will and resisting.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages