Holy Rule for April 3
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St. Mary's Monastery
Apr 2, 2026, 5:16:20 PM (2 days ago) Apr 2
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 3, August 3, December 3
Chapter 52: On the Oratory of the Monastery
Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer; and let nothing else be done there or kept there. When the Work of God is ended, let all go out in perfect silence, and let reverence for God be observed, so that any sister who may wish to pray privately will not be hindered by another's misconduct. And at other times also, if anyone should want to pray by herself, let her go in simply and pray, not in a loud voice but with tears and fervor of heart. She who does not say her prayers in this way, therefore, shall not be permitted to remain in the oratory when the Work of God is ended, lest another be hindered, as we have said.
REFLECTION
Would to God that the oratories of our hearts were as easy to keep clean as those of our monasteries! Having been sacristan, in my youth, of the large and lovely Abbey Church at St. Leo, Florida, I can assure you that Benedictines tend to be very good about this part of the Holy Rule. One usually gets a Church in good condition and it is not too hard to keep it that way. In fact, doing so was only one of my several charges at the time!
Ah, but those cardiac oratories! How easily they can get cluttered and more or less stay that way! God alone knows how many times I have written books or articles, essays or posts in mid-prayer, how many times I have "capably and completely" reformed Order or monastery, Church, liturgy or world! I certainly hope He isn't counting too closely, and I have a fair certainty that He isn't. One of the Desert Fathers said that, if God counts distractions in psalmody, no one would be saved!
The aim is good, beloveds, but about the time I envision my heart dancing in pure prayer like Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the moonlit park, Jerome's Jezebel of a heart petulantly clumps out in a sleazy mini-skirt, fishnet stockings and stiletto heels. My jaded streetwalker of a heart is the easy and willing prey of a wide field of distractions and infidelities! Jerome's Jezebel is a harlot floozy, indeed!
But, m'dears, and hopefully to lesser degree than my own, ALL of our hearts have that Jezebel lurking within, dying to be asked to dance, dancing alone, if need be! No smooth sophistication of a fox trot to Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter for us. Nope! Many times, the best we can do is stumble about disorientedly to a musically barren gangsta rap, whose harsh dissonance and strident attacks of percussion all too closely mirror our chaotic world.
Calm down! The Divine Aim of our poor hearts is their Author and Maker. Better than anyone and FAR better than ourselves, He knows the limitations of His creations! How often God must be like a tender and loving and delighted mother who tries with all her might to keep from laughing at a child's graceless attempts at being exquisite grace.
Truly, in many a stumbling child there is GREAT poetry in motion, but not at all in the way that the child THINKS there is! So it is with God and ourselves. Relax, therefore, and rejoice! Again I say, rejoice! Our great and merciful God flat out delights in our efforts and knows from the start that we shall be far more like funny home videos than the best and most tasteful films ever produced. Funny how we often lack the humility to see that ourselves! If we seek to gain it, Satan, who loves to see us despondent and discouraged, will be trounced but good.
It is our efforts which delight God, not our results. He knows that the results we seek are far beyond many of us. The more clearly we come to know that, the more adequate our sense of our own abject poverty of skills, the greater our peace shall be. And in that peace we shall find God, the loving Parent on Whose long-suffering insteps we tiptoe and dance, in Whose tender arms we swoon like children dreaming of a grand ballroom with mirrors! Oh, yeah, especially the mirrors part!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
April 3, August 3, December 3
Chapter 52: On the Oratory of the Monastery
Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer; and let nothing else be done there or kept there. When the Work of God is ended, let all go out in perfect silence, and let reverence for God be observed, so that any sister who may wish to pray privately will not be hindered by another's misconduct. And at other times also, if anyone should want to pray by herself, let her go in simply and pray, not in a loud voice but with tears and fervor of heart. She who does not say her prayers in this way, therefore, shall not be permitted to remain in the oratory when the Work of God is ended, lest another be hindered, as we have said.
REFLECTION
Would to God that the oratories of our hearts were as easy to keep clean as those of our monasteries! Having been sacristan, in my youth, of the large and lovely Abbey Church at St. Leo, Florida, I can assure you that Benedictines tend to be very good about this part of the Holy Rule. One usually gets a Church in good condition and it is not too hard to keep it that way. In fact, doing so was only one of my several charges at the time!
Ah, but those cardiac oratories! How easily they can get cluttered and more or less stay that way! God alone knows how many times I have written books or articles, essays or posts in mid-prayer, how many times I have "capably and completely" reformed Order or monastery, Church, liturgy or world! I certainly hope He isn't counting too closely, and I have a fair certainty that He isn't. One of the Desert Fathers said that, if God counts distractions in psalmody, no one would be saved!
The aim is good, beloveds, but about the time I envision my heart dancing in pure prayer like Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the moonlit park, Jerome's Jezebel of a heart petulantly clumps out in a sleazy mini-skirt, fishnet stockings and stiletto heels. My jaded streetwalker of a heart is the easy and willing prey of a wide field of distractions and infidelities! Jerome's Jezebel is a harlot floozy, indeed!
But, m'dears, and hopefully to lesser degree than my own, ALL of our hearts have that Jezebel lurking within, dying to be asked to dance, dancing alone, if need be! No smooth sophistication of a fox trot to Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter for us. Nope! Many times, the best we can do is stumble about disorientedly to a musically barren gangsta rap, whose harsh dissonance and strident attacks of percussion all too closely mirror our chaotic world.
Calm down! The Divine Aim of our poor hearts is their Author and Maker. Better than anyone and FAR better than ourselves, He knows the limitations of His creations! How often God must be like a tender and loving and delighted mother who tries with all her might to keep from laughing at a child's graceless attempts at being exquisite grace.
Truly, in many a stumbling child there is GREAT poetry in motion, but not at all in the way that the child THINKS there is! So it is with God and ourselves. Relax, therefore, and rejoice! Again I say, rejoice! Our great and merciful God flat out delights in our efforts and knows from the start that we shall be far more like funny home videos than the best and most tasteful films ever produced. Funny how we often lack the humility to see that ourselves! If we seek to gain it, Satan, who loves to see us despondent and discouraged, will be trounced but good.
It is our efforts which delight God, not our results. He knows that the results we seek are far beyond many of us. The more clearly we come to know that, the more adequate our sense of our own abject poverty of skills, the greater our peace shall be. And in that peace we shall find God, the loving Parent on Whose long-suffering insteps we tiptoe and dance, in Whose tender arms we swoon like children dreaming of a grand ballroom with mirrors! Oh, yeah, especially the mirrors part!
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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