Holy Rule for January 23
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jan 22, 2026, 5:21:23 PMJan 22
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 23, May 24, September 23
Chapter 5: On Obedience (14-19)
But this very obedience will be acceptable to God and pleasing to all only if what is commanded is done without hesitation, delay, lukewarmness, grumbling, or objection. For the obedience given to Superiors is given to God, since He Himself has said, "He who hears you, hears Me" (Luke 10:16). And the disciples should offer their obedience with a good will, for "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).
For if the disciple obeys with an ill will and murmurs, not necessarily with his lips but simply in his heart, then even though he fulfill the command yet his work will not be acceptable to God, who sees that his heart is murmuring. And, far from gaining a reward for such work as this, he will incur the punishment due to murmurers, unless he amend and make satisfaction.
REFLECTION
It is our hearts that convict us in obedience. Not because of feelings or emotions, those can be mistaken, but because of the relationship between love and will. Many of us have loved someone and hated having to do something that the love required, but we did it anyway. Our feelings or repugnance were overruled by the will in our hearts to love. Face it, love does not always feel too good, which is a principal way it differs from mere feelings. But how different obedience done for love feels from that done from fear.
Jean Ronan, one of my favorite professors, used to tell me to always make all decisions "in the light of the death candle", that is, as if one were about to die. How hearing that annoyed me at 30, but how true it is, and the closer one gets to the possibility of that death candle, the truer it becomes. There's a handy rule of thumb here. Does our choice put God and our faith first, no matter what? If it does not, something is terribly wrong. (Say a prayer for Jean, please, she has died.)
There is also the trust of faith involved here. God is God and we must firmly believe He will do the best for us, no matter how unclear that may sometimes be. Jesus often told St. Faustina to ask her superiors for permissions, hard permissions, to do this or that extra prayer or mortification, that He KNEW they would refuse. Then, after the refusal, He would tell Faustina that her obedience meant more to Him than the thing denied.
He also said to her that all creatures do His will, whether they want to or not, whether they know it or not. Now there's a hefty order! Still when we look at St. Paul's remark that, "for those who love God, all things work together for good," this is not at all far-fetched. St. Paul did not say "all wise things", or "well-intentioned things", or "cooperative things". He said "all" and he was inspired to say that by the Holy Spirit.
"All things".....hmmmm. I think there is a mystical point where the will of God cannot be thwarted. This is evident in the lives of many saints. When Jesus told them nothing could harm them, He wasn't just kidding around! In spite of seemingly insuperable odds, His will for them would triumph again and again. But this is NOT just for saints: it is true for all of us! Obedience throws us into the vortex of that, but it gets easier as our faith (and experience of God's goodness!) deepens.
We have been too ready to think that obedience depends only on humans, who are flawed. It doesn't. All obedience is given to God. Our love and trust and His love and mercy are the deciding factors, not the universally flawed human weakness that plagues every human means of God's will in this world.
Want a little theological aside here? Look at what this concept of all doing His will does to the concept of sin. It makes it the ULTIMATE rip-off. If, even when we try to thwart God, we further His plans (and face it, He *IS* clever enough to pull that off,) then we are left with absolutely nothing but the bitter ashes of our own useless self- defeat. Whether we are with Him or against Him, His kingdom will nevertheless come. What a tragedy to have been nothing but a futile obstacle to that!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 23, May 24, September 23
Chapter 5: On Obedience (14-19)
But this very obedience will be acceptable to God and pleasing to all only if what is commanded is done without hesitation, delay, lukewarmness, grumbling, or objection. For the obedience given to Superiors is given to God, since He Himself has said, "He who hears you, hears Me" (Luke 10:16). And the disciples should offer their obedience with a good will, for "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).
For if the disciple obeys with an ill will and murmurs, not necessarily with his lips but simply in his heart, then even though he fulfill the command yet his work will not be acceptable to God, who sees that his heart is murmuring. And, far from gaining a reward for such work as this, he will incur the punishment due to murmurers, unless he amend and make satisfaction.
REFLECTION
It is our hearts that convict us in obedience. Not because of feelings or emotions, those can be mistaken, but because of the relationship between love and will. Many of us have loved someone and hated having to do something that the love required, but we did it anyway. Our feelings or repugnance were overruled by the will in our hearts to love. Face it, love does not always feel too good, which is a principal way it differs from mere feelings. But how different obedience done for love feels from that done from fear.
Jean Ronan, one of my favorite professors, used to tell me to always make all decisions "in the light of the death candle", that is, as if one were about to die. How hearing that annoyed me at 30, but how true it is, and the closer one gets to the possibility of that death candle, the truer it becomes. There's a handy rule of thumb here. Does our choice put God and our faith first, no matter what? If it does not, something is terribly wrong. (Say a prayer for Jean, please, she has died.)
There is also the trust of faith involved here. God is God and we must firmly believe He will do the best for us, no matter how unclear that may sometimes be. Jesus often told St. Faustina to ask her superiors for permissions, hard permissions, to do this or that extra prayer or mortification, that He KNEW they would refuse. Then, after the refusal, He would tell Faustina that her obedience meant more to Him than the thing denied.
He also said to her that all creatures do His will, whether they want to or not, whether they know it or not. Now there's a hefty order! Still when we look at St. Paul's remark that, "for those who love God, all things work together for good," this is not at all far-fetched. St. Paul did not say "all wise things", or "well-intentioned things", or "cooperative things". He said "all" and he was inspired to say that by the Holy Spirit.
"All things".....hmmmm. I think there is a mystical point where the will of God cannot be thwarted. This is evident in the lives of many saints. When Jesus told them nothing could harm them, He wasn't just kidding around! In spite of seemingly insuperable odds, His will for them would triumph again and again. But this is NOT just for saints: it is true for all of us! Obedience throws us into the vortex of that, but it gets easier as our faith (and experience of God's goodness!) deepens.
We have been too ready to think that obedience depends only on humans, who are flawed. It doesn't. All obedience is given to God. Our love and trust and His love and mercy are the deciding factors, not the universally flawed human weakness that plagues every human means of God's will in this world.
Want a little theological aside here? Look at what this concept of all doing His will does to the concept of sin. It makes it the ULTIMATE rip-off. If, even when we try to thwart God, we further His plans (and face it, He *IS* clever enough to pull that off,) then we are left with absolutely nothing but the bitter ashes of our own useless self- defeat. Whether we are with Him or against Him, His kingdom will nevertheless come. What a tragedy to have been nothing but a futile obstacle to that!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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