Holy Rule for January 1
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St. Mary's Monastery
Dec 31, 2025, 4:34:28 PM12/31/25
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 1, May 2, September 1
Prologue (1-7)
L I S T E N carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20). Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.
To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.
And first of all, whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it, that He who has now deigned to count us among His children may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions, deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.
REFLECTION
The Prologue is the most tender and loving of beginnings. Always, always, always keep this loving Father that writes here in mind as you read the rest of the Holy Rule. This and the epilogue are the key to it all, and the key to the saintly personality and tenderness of our holy Father Benedict.
The Holy Rule can seem so lofty that it sometimes turns people away. They think: "This is for those really holy people, not for me. I'll bet it's easy for saints like them, but I couldn't even dream of trying." Wrong on both counts and St. Benedict makes that clear. We return "by the labor of obedience" and if we are not one of those who has "to do battle" against our own will, he makes it abundantly certain that he is not talking to us.
If, in fact, there is anyone for whom the Rule is a cinch, and I doubt that very much, then it was not written for them. It was written for us who struggle, for us for whom it is NOT easy, to help us in a battle that sometimes wears us out.
St. Benedict also makes his point that our distance from God is due to our "sloth of disobedience." Yet he doesn't tell the slothful to quit because they are worthless, he tells them they are the very ones for whom he is writing this Rule! This is the Rule for the fallen and beginners, this is an entry level position which can advance us to great sanctity, but it *IS* an entry level position!
This is the door and gate for all. This is most decidedly NOT a Rule just for monks and nuns in monasteries. Were that so, no provision for Oblates would ever have been made. No, this is a Rule for all who wish to try to become better and because they have made that intention, God "has deigned to count us among His children." There is no more us-and-them here. Just by beginning, we become part of the whole.
How many who were not in the advanced reading group as children secretly got the suspicion that the whole class was really for the wonder kids, not for them, that they were somehow extraneous and just tagging along to whatever was REALLY going on? Well, the Holy Rule is quite direct about stating that this time, it is not about wonder kids: the center of its focus is the rest of us! Now there's a refreshingly upside down and all too rare world view!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
January 1, May 2, September 1
Prologue (1-7)
L I S T E N carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20). Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.
To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.
And first of all, whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it, that He who has now deigned to count us among His children may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions, deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.
REFLECTION
The Prologue is the most tender and loving of beginnings. Always, always, always keep this loving Father that writes here in mind as you read the rest of the Holy Rule. This and the epilogue are the key to it all, and the key to the saintly personality and tenderness of our holy Father Benedict.
The Holy Rule can seem so lofty that it sometimes turns people away. They think: "This is for those really holy people, not for me. I'll bet it's easy for saints like them, but I couldn't even dream of trying." Wrong on both counts and St. Benedict makes that clear. We return "by the labor of obedience" and if we are not one of those who has "to do battle" against our own will, he makes it abundantly certain that he is not talking to us.
If, in fact, there is anyone for whom the Rule is a cinch, and I doubt that very much, then it was not written for them. It was written for us who struggle, for us for whom it is NOT easy, to help us in a battle that sometimes wears us out.
St. Benedict also makes his point that our distance from God is due to our "sloth of disobedience." Yet he doesn't tell the slothful to quit because they are worthless, he tells them they are the very ones for whom he is writing this Rule! This is the Rule for the fallen and beginners, this is an entry level position which can advance us to great sanctity, but it *IS* an entry level position!
This is the door and gate for all. This is most decidedly NOT a Rule just for monks and nuns in monasteries. Were that so, no provision for Oblates would ever have been made. No, this is a Rule for all who wish to try to become better and because they have made that intention, God "has deigned to count us among His children." There is no more us-and-them here. Just by beginning, we become part of the whole.
How many who were not in the advanced reading group as children secretly got the suspicion that the whole class was really for the wonder kids, not for them, that they were somehow extraneous and just tagging along to whatever was REALLY going on? Well, the Holy Rule is quite direct about stating that this time, it is not about wonder kids: the center of its focus is the rest of us! Now there's a refreshingly upside down and all too rare world view!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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