+PAX

Prayers, please, for Linda, in drug-induced coma for 10 days after surgery to
repair a deep brain aneurysm. How the surgery affected her functions will not be
known until they bring her out of the coma. For Trish and a colleague who is
threatened by Trish's return to work; bridge-building and peace needed badly.
For Keara, who needs good employment and income, especially in the next two
months, and that she be able to get out of her current job which poses health
hazards for her. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All
is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much! JL

March 1, July 1, October 31
Chapter 24: What the Measure of Excommunication Should Be

The measure of excommunication or of chastisement
should correspond to the degree of fault,
which degree is estimated by the judgment of the Abbess.


If a sister is found guilty of lighter faults,
let her be excluded from the common table.
Now the program for one deprived of the company of the table
shall be as follows:
In the oratory she shall intone neither Psalm nor antiphon
nor shall she recite a lesson
until she has made satisfaction;
in the refectory she shall take her food alone
after the community meal,
so that if they eat at the sixth hour, for instance,
that sister shall eat at the ninth,
while if they eat at the ninth hour
she shall eat in the evening,
until by a suitable satisfaction she obtains pardon.

REFLECTION

Ever run over something unintentionally with a lawnmower? Most of us
have, and if you personally have never done such a thing, it would be
far less upsetting to me if you never said so... LOL! Think about it.
Who, in their right mind, would deliberately take a mower that is
costly to repair or replace and aim for an obstacle in the grass?
Face it, while there could be malevolence here, it is very unlikely.
Headline: "Yet Another Wave of Lawnmower Vandalism Cuts Through
Suburbia: Authorities Alerted to Suspects By Mowers' Noisy Sound."
Real sneaky one there!

Yet the only case of this lighter excommunication of which I have
personal knowledge was just this dumb. In the mid-1960's, a junior
monk I knew ran over a water sprinkler while mowing in the Grotto at
Saint Leo. (I have been visiting St. Leo since 1957, the Grotto is
one of my favorite places and I STILL could not tell you where all
the water sprinklers are. It is a wooded and confusing area.) The guy
didn't mean to do it and, as far as I know, admitted his guilt,
turned himself in. Sigh... he got this light excommunication for a
while as punishment.

That was one of the problems with "excommunication" (which, by the
way, refers only to communal life, not to the Church or its
Sacraments.) It was often used for silly, innocent mistakes,
unintentional accidents. In cases like the one I noted, it often
stressed the material above the personal. Obviously, the greatest
treasure of the monastery was the monastic, not the water sprinkler!
It could, as such, lack mercy and fall far short of the Gospel,
something the Holy Rule, rightly interpreted, will never call us to
do. Also, since it can be quite irrational punishment, it is hardly
constructive of healthy family bonds!

As so often happens, we abandon one lunacy only to flee madly to its
opposite extreme. We went from too much to too little, sometimes
nothing at all. In the last 35 years or so, I have heard of only one
threat of excommunication and it did not have to be carried out,
thank heavens. Still, we have abandoned the good that was in the
practice: a clear, codified way to let someone know they were out of
line, that something was wrong, that they needed help or reform or
both.

We replaced this (allegedly,) with talking to the individual, a sane
enough response, except that some superiors find this hard, almost
impossible to do well. That's not surprising, given the monastic
aversion to conflict and confrontation. But it is CONFLICT we should
avoid, not confrontation. We're called to a lot of the latter. It is
the stuff of which reform and conversion is often generated. The
Rule's system, for all its faults, gave a "language" and idiom to a
superior who may not have been able to "say" it any other way. It
eased the road for the timid.

Take that away, and you have no means of correction in some settings.
Both these extremes are founded on the same false assumption. Both
ascribe to offenders more control over their actions than may
actually be the case. Small wonder neither extreme works terribly
well.

Just talking to someone is fine as an alternative, but one HAS to
actually do it. Some problems in people will neither identify nor
repair themselves. It is folly to think that they will, to presume
that all people have a level of clairvoyance or maturity that many,
in fact, do not. Not only that, but as the Rule itself points out,
some people cannot understand or "hear" a verbal correction. Things
have not changed as much in the intervening 15 centuries as we might
like to think they have. Some still can't hear. We still need a
humane middle point between nothing and something very extreme.

Parents take warning. Embrace either of these extremes and your
children will be talking about you many, many years later, to
therapists or in bars, or both! Ditto bosses and superiors. Your job
is the exact and complete opposite of ignoring major flaws, of
letting things like that go. If your head is in the sand on any
significant count, everyone in the family suffers including,
eventually, yourself.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

The adoptive parents and grandmother for whom we have prayed anonymously several
times- and who want to remain anonymous- have successfully adopted a baby boy
from Russia. Deo gratias for all! Parents and baby are on their way home!!!

Prayers, please, for David, a big-time drug dealer for years, family does not
even know his whereabouts or whether he's alive or dead. Equally big-time
prayers needed here! Prayers for Violet, terminal lung cancer, for her happy
death and for all her family and friends. Prayers for Teresa, some deep
problems, not least of which is an absolutely hateful and vengeful destruction
financially of the husband she divorced, who did his best to keep the marriage
going and is a really nice man. She harms him, her child, and herself. Prayers
for them all and all the family. How sad when love turns to such an ardently
"evil zeal" of  hatred and how needless. Lord, help them as You know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!
Thanks so much.  JL

March 2, July 2, November 1
Chapter 25: On Weightier Faults

Let the brother who is guilty of a weightier fault
be excluded both from the table and from the oratory.
Let none of the brethren join him
either for company or for conversation.
Let him be alone at the work assigned him,
abiding in penitential sorrow
and pondering that terrible sentence of the Apostle
where he says that a man of that kind is handed over
for the destruction of the flesh,
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Cor. 5:5).
Let him take his meals alone
in the measure and at the hour
which the Abbot shall consider suitable for him.
He shall not be blessed by those who pass by,
nor shall the food that is given him be blessed.

REFLECTION

The world's concept of punishment is alien to Benedictine values. The
world often sees punishment as nothing other than retribution. Few
today would think of prisons (at least in my country,) as places of
reform or moral rehabilitation. Quite the reverse!

We want offenders to pay and we want them removed from our view
and out of harm's way. We often even want them dead, but we do not much
care whether or not they reform. In fact, we have little faith that they will
and even less hope of that given the prisons we have warehoused them in.
The world wants problems removed, not solved, not converted.

With St. Benedict, there is no reason for punishment other than
correction and hope of conversion. Only when the hope of those are
gone does he demand expulsion. The familial nature of Benedictine
life means that we have to hold on as long as a possibility of cure
seems to exist. Like any family, we are committed to one another
through a lot of thick or thin and there is no shortage of either!!

However, and some families sadly know this, too, sometimes that hope
is dashed by the offender, the only one who has ultimate power in
this process. Once a monastic is corrected or punished, the real
outcome lies pretty much in the monastic's control. One can profit
from the correction and grow, or one can stubbornly rebel and wither.

Sometimes punishment may seem mean, but, believe me, it is really the
most necessary form of love at times. Charity could not leave such
wounds undressed. If it did, one would have a lot to answer for to
God one day. Real love does not ignore, real love does not take the
easiest route. Real love is often forced, even bravely willing, to name the
horse
on the dining room table that other diners ignore.This is as perfectly true of
families
and workplaces as it is of monasteries. There is a lot of wisdom here for all!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I realize, from having reminded folks about the Morning Offering at least a
couple of times a year in the Holy Rule reflections that a) all making it are
not Roman Catholic and b) some of those would have great reservations in praying
for the Pope's intentions. However, I think none could find any stumbling block
in these intentions for the month of July. I hasten to add that those who DO add
the Pope's intentions may do so without knowing them- I did for years, and so do
many others. However, I shall try to be better about sending them out to all
each month when I get them from ZENIT news service in Rome. Thanks!  JL

VATICAN CITY, JULY 1, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's general prayer intention
for July is that Christians be sensitive to the needs of others without losing
their identity in a relativistic world.

The Pope's general intention for July states: "That Christians be sensitive to
the needs of everyone, without ever hiding the radical requirements of the
Gospel message."

The Apostleship of Prayer, which announced the general intention, also reported
the Pope's missionary prayer intention for July: "That all the baptized be
committed, each in their own state of life, to transforming society by
permeating the mentality and structures of the world with the light of the
Gospel."
ZE05070106

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+PAX

Prayers, please, for all those travelling for the holiday weekend in the US and
Canada. Canadian and UK readers will please note the British spelling of
travelling!! Safe trips for all.

George, one of our readers, has asked me to remind all of the many local
children available for adoption, many of them not infants and therefore less
likely to find parents to adopt them. Catholic Charities or another local agency
is a good place to start looking. Prayers for all those older children wanting
parents but not being adopted! There is nothing wrong with seeking to adopt an
infant, or with going abroad to do so, but there are plenty available here, too.

Prayers, please for Lil, extensive, inoperable  abdominal cancer. Her friends
(the same prayer community which lost Andy, for whom we recently prayed,) are
making a novena to the Divine Mercy that, by the intercession of Pope John Paul
II, a miracle may be granted her. Prayers, please, for Ione, a missionary to
indigenous people in Brazil. She has a lot of very basic needs that are
difficult to fill, given her location. Friends want to help, but getting the
help there is another matter.

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanks for Kaitlyn, the preemie baby for whom we
prayed. She is home with her parents and doing well, also for Barry and Bev,
feeling much more positive about Barry's prognosis, which looks better,  and
beginning his chemo. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best.
All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much. JL

March 3, July 3, November 2
Chapter 26: On Those Who Without an Order Associate with the
Excommunicated

If any sister presumes
without an order from the Abbess
to associate in any way with an excommunicated sister,
or to speak with her,
or to send her a message,
let her incur a similar punishment of excommunication.

REFLECTION

When punishment is necessary, the community should support it, at
least passively. This united front should be far different from the
human tendency we often see to abandon those in trouble. Quite the
reverse, like everything in the Holy Rule, this must be fueled by the
concern born of great love.

Common life can often leave one with a slew of relationships which
are polite and civil, even cordial, but frankly no deeper than a lot
of people at work have with each other. That's sad, but it does
happen. Times of crisis like this should awaken us to the necessary
depth of love for all.

Hard though it may sometimes be, we may not rejoice at the downfall
of another. We must participate in common punishments because they
are for the good of all, but also because they are primarily for the
good of the offender, whom we must love. Admittedly, sometimes the
only way one can express that concern is prayer, but we must pray!

Sometimes, both superiors and communities can have an inordinate fear
of giving punishment. What if she leaves? Yeah, what if....? Maybe
she is supposed to leave, maybe this is God's way of telling her
something about herself that she cannot see. Some people who really,
truly do NOT belong in monastic life cannot be convinced of this.
Some people who are terrible at a given job will not wake up to that
fact in any other way. Toxic spouses must sometimes be told
explicitly that, if they insist on continuing to harm themselves,
they'll have to do it elsewhere, without destroying the rest of the
family any longer.

Some find the Rule harsh in this respect, but there is a great love
and mercy here. The Holy Rule forbids what most people in groups will
do: passive aggression. We cannot just wordlessly force the person
out without a clue as to why. Punishment must be named and specific,
the offender must know and those around her must care. It may in fact
force a monk out, but he will know why when he leaves. This is vastly
different from the ordinary human means of exclusion and expulsion.
It include grace. It includes love.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@... St. Mary's Monastery
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanks for Maureen Tynan, a faithful Oblate of ours
and a Mass and Vespers regular, on her birthday. Ad multos annos!! I think she
turns 39 this year!

Prayers, please, for Jim, seeking tech support employment, also for a return to
the faith for J.S. and Tom. Prayers for someone hoping to found an Oblate
community. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent. Thanks so much! JL

March 4, July 4, November 3
Chapter 27: How Solicitous the Abbot Should Be for the Excommunicated


Let the Abbot be most solicitous
in his concern for delinquent brethren,
for "it is not the healthy but the sick who need a physician" (Matt
9:12)
And therefore he ought to use every means
that a wise physician would use.
Let him send senpectae,
that is, brethren of mature years and wisdom,
who may as it were secretly console the wavering brother
and induce him to make humble satisfaction;
comforting him
that he may not "be overwhelmed by excessive grief" (2 Cor. 2:7),
but that, as the Apostle says,
charity may be strengthened in him (2 Cor. 2:8).
And let everyone pray for him.

For the Abbot must have the utmost solicitude
and exercise all prudence and diligence
lest he lose any of the sheep entrusted to him.
Let him know
that what he has undertaken is the care of weak souls
and not a tyranny over strong ones;
and let him fear the Prophet's warning
through which God says,
"What you saw to be fat you took to yourselves,
and what was feeble you cast away" (Ezec. 34:3,4).
Let him rather imitate the loving example of the Good Shepherd
who left the ninety-nine sheep in the mountains
and went to look for the one sheep that had gone astray,
on whose weakness He had such compassion
that He deigned to place it on His own sacred shoulders
and thus carry it back to the flock (Luke 15:4-5).


REFLECTION

The Abbess is clearly expected to go the extra mile and a bit beyond
for the erring monastic. Hope of reform is held for the longest
possible time. However, remember balance, that Benedictine hallmark?
Hope to the extreme would turn to damage. The balance, the moderator
of reality demands that, at some point, if literally all else has
failed, the situation be faced for what it is and the monastic expelled.

This is so important for families. How many of us know adults who are
carrying baggage all their lives from a parent's mistake in this
regard? All attention is focused on one child (or parent!) to the
detriment of the rest of the family. Or all attention is focused on a
child and it ruins the marriage. St. Benedict is very orthodox here:
he calls us to heroic efforts, but not to stupidity, which would
damage the rest of the family.

OK, usually you cannot permanently "excommunicate" one of your
children, that doesn't apply. But what does apply is that you can
(even must, for the good of the rest of the group,) stop making
that child or spouse or sibling or co-worker the determining, pivotal
point in a dysfunctional three ring circus.

Bosses, superiors, teachers and parents, anyone in authority can make
the WHOLE group suffer by mismanaging a troubled person. The untreated
problem harries everyone and much of the blame for that rests with the one
in a position to intervene. This is one of the very hard things the Holy Rule
asks,
to truly balance relationships that are often charged with all kinds of intense
emotions.

There are limits to our love for each sheep. Why? Because there are
other sheep to be loved, too. The responsibility is spread over all.
Yes, the shepherd may leave the 99 *for a while* to hunt for the lost
one, but the rest of the flock may never be abandoned wholesale. A
very hard saying, but, as St. Benedict so often is, right on the
money!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers, please, for Ben, going for military service in South Korea, and for his
parents, Gerry and Eva, and all his family. Prayers, too, for Matty, suffering a
romantic breakup, that all involved do God's will. Lord, help them as You know
and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 5, July 5, November 4
Chapter 28: On Those Who Will Not Amend after Repeated Corrections

If a sister who has been frequently corrected for some fault,
and even excommunicated,
does not amend,
let a harsher correction be applied,
that is, let the punishment of the rod be administered.


But if she still does not reform
or perhaps (which God forbid)
even rises up in pride and wants to defend her conduct,
then let the Abbess do what a wise physician would do.
Having used applications,
the ointments of exhortation,
the medicines of the Holy Scriptures,
finally the cautery of excommunication
and of the strokes of the rod,
if she sees that her efforts are of no avail,
let her apply a still greater remedy,
her own prayers and those of all the others,
that the Lord, who can do all things
may restore health to the sister who is sick.


But if she is not healed even in this way,
then let the Abbess use the knife of amputation,
according to the Apostle's words,
"Expel the evil one from your midst" (1 Cor. 5:13),
and again,
"If the faithless one departs, let her depart" (1 Cor. 7:15)
lest one diseased sheep contaminate the whole flock.

REFLECTION

Not everyone should be a monastic. Of those who should, not everyone
belongs in this or that given monastery. Failing to realize either
point can lead to a lot of trouble. We hear a lot about the mistaken
notions of many physicians, that death is a failure of their skill,
that therefore the terminal patients sometimes suffer from the
doctor's avoidance, in one form or another, of their impending death.

Hey, it's not about the doctor, and, frankly, it's not about death,
either! It's about life, all of life, full of contradiction and
paradox. Death means that a given chronology on earth has run out,
not that the doctor failed. (Of course, viewing things otherwise does
require a certain level of egocentricity, something no doctor or
superior or has ever had, as we all know...)

I clearly remember an older RN whose incompetence was so bad that she
was made a supervisor. Because she was older, no one had the heart to
tell her that it wasn't a great idea to have her risking lives
anymore, so they kicked her upstairs, at a farther remove from
bedside. Women 30 years younger quickly learned to humor her. They
had to. I once saw her initiate cardiac massage on a conscious,
reacting visitor on the floor. Her pounding on his sternum actually
made the poor guy gasp....

See what I mean? Not everyone belongs everywhere. To keep someone
somewhere at any price is dumb beyond words. It probably even does the
one protected a great disservice and it is NOT always "charitable".
At bottom, we should worry only about salvation. Well, no one's
salvation depends ultimately on being in any given spot. It may be
harder elsewhere, or it may be easier, but no human condition is such
that one will be lost if one is not there. Salvation does not depend
totally on us: it was effected by Someone else, Whose ways are a
mystery we often do not understand.

Just as some people insist on getting married, no matter what, to the
wrong person at the wrong time, just so they're married, there are
others who insist on the wrong job or the wrong monastery. When this
happens, whoever is in charge has a wonderful, loving opportunity to set
things aright and really ought to do so.

St. Benedict insists that we try everything, but not that we go on
trying it forever, a fact sometimes perilously missed.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers, please, for Dick, difficult recovery from a heart attack and open heart
surgery, also for Sue, personality disorder, and for Florence and Randy,
mentally ill. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much.  JL

March 6, July 6, November 5
Chapter 29: Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Should Be
Received Again

If a brother
who through his own fault leaves the monastery
should wish to return,
let him first promise full reparation for his having gone away;
and then let him be received in the lowest place,
as a test of his humility.
And if he should leave again,
let him be taken back again,
and so a third time;
but he should understand that after this
all way of return is denied him.

REFLECTION

There are variant readings of the first line of this chapter among
manuscripts. Some authorities accept the additional phrase "or is
expelled", though the RB1980 translation does not. As with so many
things this ancient, it is hard to tell who is right (and sometimes,
if that matters!) I checked in the library downstairs, but I can't
find our autographed first edition of the Holy Rule anywhere... LOL!

However, let's err on the side of mercy if we are to err at all.
Since most modern translations omit the phrase, let's take a look at
the other possibility: what if it really was what St. Benedict had in
mind?

If so, it reveals a mercy and love and tenderness beyond anything we
have ever seen in the Holy Rule. If, even after all the hassle that
can occur before one actually gets thrown out, one could STILL be
forgiven, and up to three times, that is very great mercy to say the least.

Still, it is a very consistent reading with the penal
code that precedes it. If the only reason for Benedictine punishment
is reform and conversion, then even the ultimate punishment of
expulsion could have a hook of possible conversion to it.

From this perspective, let us look at ourselves for a moment. How do
we "punish" people or banish them from our lives and hearts? I use
quotes around "punish" to stress the lunacy that very often
such "punishments" harm no one but ourselves. We decide, once and for
all that this or that person has had it. End of story. Well, if one
reads the Holy Rule carefully, there MAY be an "end of story" point
for Benedictines, but it does not come as often or as early or as
readily as some of us might think!

Face it, a lot of us think of punishment as about US, not the
offender. It is OUR "justice" that gets fed, that makes demands, that says
  we are totally done with the person. Whoa! If God's ideas are
anything like that (and we daily ask Him to use our standards of
mercy in the Our Father,) we are in deep, deep trouble.

Our punishments must have an eye to reform, not revenge, to conversion,
not conclusion. Permanent rifts, as even the Rule allows, may
sometimes occur, but then our attitude should be sadness, not joy.
Even when something becomes so toxic that separation is necessary,
we are always bound to prayer for that person.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

The rest of the Holy Rule and prayer intentions will be sent when I get back
from Mass. For now, please pray for all the victims of the London terrorist
bombings. Those devoted to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, say it for the dying,
now at least 40 are dead. Prayers for the pathetically deluded souls who carried
out these horrors in the name of religion, too.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB

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Prayers, please,  for all the dead and injured in the London terror attacks and
their families and dear ones. Prayers, too, for the deluded souls who
perpetrated such violence in the name of religion.

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanks for two of those for whom we prayed have gone
to God: Bryan and Clancy have both passed on. May they enjoy eternal rest.
Prayers for their family and friends, especially Jill, Bryan's fiance. Prayers,
too, for Peg, who passed away quickly and quietly this morning, for her happy
death and for her daughter, Jane, and all who mourn her. Prayers for Dave and
his four children. His wife has moved in with another man and the children are
devastated. Prayers for John, 92, in hospital for tests and for Elaine, his
daughter. Prayers, too, for Bob, whose wife left him and now his Dad has had a
massive heart attack. A lot on his plate! Lord, help them as You know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!
Thanks so much. JL

March 7, July 7, November 6
Chapter 30: How Boys Are to Be Corrected

Every age and degree of understanding
should have its proper measure of discipline.
With regard to boys and adolescents, therefore,
or those who cannot understand the seriousness
of the penalty of excommunication,
whenever such as these are delinquent
let them be subjected to severe fasts
or brought to terms by harsh beatings,
that they may be cured.

REFLECTION

While I often suffer from the loneliness of being single, I never,
ever regret the fact that I am childless. Quite the reverse! I always
find myself deeply grateful that I have not had to face the challenge
of raising children. I have the deepest respect for those who do.
Having taught for a while, I know all too well how daunting it can
be, even just part-time in the classroom.

I can assure you that, just as there are deeply toxic adults, there are, alas,
toxic children, too. I know. I have taught them. I don't mean that we should
stoop to
violence, but how does one reach such a child? I have never been able
to answer that. Prayer is the only answer.

We are social primates. We have a cross and burden to bear for our
elevation above the rest of the primate world, a responsibility. For
a baboon troop, this is a no-brainer: drive the loser out of the
troop. After that, the next stop is the Lions' Pride Cafe and one
becomes an entree. Tempting as that kind of abdication may be, it is
something to which we can never resort.

I think we need to cling to the Benedictine model in such situations:
punish only to reform, not for revenge, not to destroy; punish
appropriately, in ways that will be understood and that fit the
offense justly. When all that fails (and even before, while we're
watching it fail slowly!) PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! To pray is NOT to do
nothing. And it is often the only tool we have.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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In the prayer requests a few days ago, I referred to the parents of a newly
adopted child as "adoptive parents." Matt D., one of our readers, sent me a
beautiful post which gently reminded me of my insensitivity in terming them
such. My giving offense was unintentional, but I am glad to have been shown the
mistaken language I had used. Here is an excerpt:

"Please prayerfully consider the wording in the above statement.  They are the
parents, not adoptive parents of their child.  The fact that they are adopting
the baby boy from Russia will show how this blessing is working in their family.
As the parent of three children, soon to be four, from India, I am my children's
father, not their adoptive father. "

Prayers, please, for Jane, her Dad and sisters as they prepare to bury the
mother of the family, Peg. Grieving is always a time when people need such
strong prayers. Prayers for Bob, we prayed for him and his Dad (massive heart
attack,) yesterday. His Dad is now brain dead, being kept on life support until
his brother can arrive. For his Dad's happy death and all the family.

Special prayers for all in the UK, reeling from the terrorist attacks yesterday,
for their safety and strength, for the healing of the injured and the happy
death of those lost. Prayers that no further attacks happen during the summit in
Scotland. What a tragedy! Prayers, too, for whoever is responsible. What an
awful thing to have to face God with. Lord, help them as You know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!
Thanks so much!  JL

March 8, July 8, November 7
Chapter 31: What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be

As cellarer of the monastery
let there be chosen from the community
one who is wise, of mature character, sober,
not a great eater, not haughty, not excitable,
not offensive, not slow, not wasteful,
but a God-fearing man
who may be like a father to the whole community.


Let him have charge of everything.
He shall do nothing without the Abbot's orders,
but keep to his instructions.
Let him not vex the brethren.
If any brother
happens to make some unreasonable demand of him,
instead of vexing the brother with a contemptuous refusal
he should humbly give the reason
for denying the improper request.

Let him keep guard over his own soul,
mindful always of the Apostle's saying
that "he who has ministered well
will acquire for himself a good standing" (1 Tim. 3:13).


Let him take the greatest care
of the sick, of children, of guests and of the poor,
knowing without doubt
that he will have to render an account for all these
on the Day of Judgment.


Let him regard all the utensils of the monastery
and its whole property
as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar.
Let him not think that he may neglect anything.
He should be neither a miser
nor a prodigal and squanderer of the monastery's substance,
but should do all things with measure
and in accordance with the Abbot's instructions.

REFLECTION

The Abbot is father to the family, in all respects. Some of those,
however, are delegated to others, so that no one, not even the Abbot,
may be overburdened. In one sense, the Abbot may be said to be the
father in things spiritual and the cellarer in things material. It is
interesting that St. Benedict requires very similar qualities in both.

What lies beneath that requirement is the Benedictine view of
property, of goods, of the earth itself. We scorn excess, in either
direction, but we do not scorn the material world, we reverence it as
if it were one of the vessels of the altar! This is very different
from a Buddhist or Hindu view, where all creation might be looked
upon as "maya," illusion. We see creation for what it truly is: a
stupendous and free gift of God to all.

While we always place people before things, we demand that both
people and things be the objects of downright exquisite care. We love
both because they ARE God's gifts, because they are both the means of
sustaining our lives for God's ends. As such, the Holy Rule's view
does not permit that things be loved in and of themselves, for
themselves alone. That's an attachment we have to be careful to
avoid. That false love, however, can lead to all kinds of erroneous
ideas about the good we administer: stinginess, hoarding,
acquisitiveness.

All of these traits translate very easily into the family sphere.
Parents need to achieve a sane balance in regards to material things.
They need not to be career-driven workaholics, but they must also
avoid being poor providers through lack of concern. The key to the
middle way is love, as usual. Love the family members more than
anything worldly and the rest falls more or less into place. If
children know that they come before things, they have learned a
lesson that they will pass on for the rest of their lives.

Face it, many a rich, spoiled child, immersed in privilege, feels
unloved. Things are never an adequate substitute for our HEARTS,
which is what God, St. Benedict and the Holy Rule ask us to give
without reserve. It is the love, the genuine love, that a child (or
anyone else, for that matter!) will remember. All the rest is dust
and ashes.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers for Abbot Anselm, flying home today from London and a long absence on
visitations in the Province, that all of us arrive home safe and sound from
Boston and hopefully at least somewhat on time! Continued prayers for all in the
UK after the terrorist attacks. Continued prayers for Abbot Laurence, still
recuperating in Rome from his accident, but hoping to return to Ramsgate soon.

Prayers for all Benedictines preparing to celebrate the Solemnity of our Holy
Father Benedict on Monday: may it be a feast of great graces for all. We should
always remember to pray for graces BEFORE a great feast, to prepare ourselves
better than usual so that we may profit as much as possible from the day at
hand! It is very true that the more one puts into a feast, the more one gets out
of it. It is also true that, as Abbot Francis of St. Leo used to say: "The
bigger the feast, the harder the devil works." Protecting ourselves and our
communities with some prayers against that can only be a great idea! Lord, help
them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is
never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

March 9, July 9, November 8
Chapter 31: What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be

Above all things let him have humility;
and if he has nothing else to give
let him give a good word in answer
for it is written,
"A good word is above the best gift" (Eccles. 18:17).


Let him have under his care
all that the Abbot has assigned to him,
but not presume to deal with what he has forbidden him.


Let him give the brethren their appointed allowance of food
without any arrogance or delay,
that they may not be scandalized,
mindful of the Word of God as to what he deserves
"who shall scandalize one of the little ones" (Matt 18:6).


If the community is a large one,
let helpers be given him,
that by their assistance
he may fulfill with a quiet mind the office committed to him.
The proper times should be observed
in giving the things that have to be given
and asking for the things that have to be asked for,
that no one may be troubled or vexed in the house of God.

REFLECTION

Many would shrug at a chapter like this saying: "I'm not cellarer.
What has that to do with me?" Everything, everything. This chapter,
like those on the Abbot, is a masterful view of Benedictine authority
and stewardship in any capacity. We should never presume to usurp
roles that are not our own, but in covering those roles, the Holy
Rule again and again gives models to ALL.

I am guestmaster, not cellarer, but this chapter reminds me that no
job is an empire, a turf, a personal fiefdom that one administers
temperamentally and without love. Jobs, for Benedictines in world or
monastery, are stewardships, not power trips. (At least that OUGHT to
be true. God save us, it is often otherwise...) If people have to
become so careful of a given official, wearing kid gloves at every
possible turn, something is very, very wrong. Now the community is
reduced to serving the official, when it is supposed to be the other
way around!

Of course, the needs of those who come to us at work or at home can
be overwhelming, even oppressive at times, but we are told not to
react to those buttons pushed, but to react with love and humility.
Whatever your job is, the reality is that if there were none with
needs, you would likely be unemployed. Always remember that. We
serve, we do not rule. Our call is to forget ourselves in service,
not to present our intransigent selves to be served.

Our motto is Peace, because St. Benedict knew how completely
essential to a fruitful monastic life inner peace was and is. That's
why he gives this really rather astounding principle: "...no one may
be troubled or vexed in the house of God." It's God's house, not
ours. Wake up, folks, if the maid is giving orders tyrannically,
something's wrong at the manor! It's not her house. It's His.

A certain amount of vexation is inevitable, and part of the monastic
struggle and very useful. A chronic, ulcerating source of repeated
vexation is not. If that comes through an official, something must be
done. If the numbers are too few to remove the official, then that's
what the penal code chapters are all about. Cancers, real, malignant
tumors on our peace are meant to be removed. If they are retained by
a superior's blindness, the superior can become as harmful as the
growth itself.

We may have to endure that, circumstances being what they may,
but it is helpful to at least know its dysfunctionality. Even that dysfunction
can
be used by God to bring good. God and God alone can bring good out
of ANYTHING, even you and me! We are not in the hands of bad situations,
we are in the hands of God, loving hands that never fail, if only we trust Him!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers for all Benedictines, that we may have a grace-filled and holy
celebration of the Solemnity of our holy Father Benedict tomorrow. May his
spirit fill all his sons and daughters and inspire us to greater holiness and
zeal!

Prayers of thanks and Deo gratias for Catherine, whose MRI's we prayed for. She
is being wonderfully cared for and has a very positive outlook. She thanks all
for their prayers!

Prayers for Susan and Margaret, mental illness, prayers, too, for Matt, unable
to come to grips with his brother's death, angry at God and lapsed from the
Church. Prayers, too, for a young father of twins, his wife and their loving
family. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent. Thanks so much!  JL

March 10, July 10, November 9
Chapter 32: On the Tools and Property of the Monastery

For the care of the monastery's property
in tools, clothing and other articles
let the Abbess appoint sisters
on whose manner of life and character she can rely;
and let her, as she shall judge to be expedient,
consign the various articles to them,
to be looked after and to be collected again.
The Abbess shall keep a list of these articles,
so that as the sisters succeed one another in their assignments
she may know what she gives and what she receives back.


If anyone treats the monastery's property
in a slovenly or careless way,
let her be corrected.
If she fails to amend,
let her undergo the discipline of the Rule.

REFLECTION

Americans in particular can equate lack of waste with stinginess.
It's a terrible view of things, but deeply rooted. Consumerist
society encourages waste because it fuels profits for the few at the
top. Sad that many below cannot be made to see that when we waste, we
are harming ourselves, in more ways than one: ecologically,
economically AND spiritually. Waste is a lack of mindfulness for
others, a lack of awareness that we must share God's goods which He
created for all.

The reasons we have been subtly taught to live with criminal waste as if it
were nothing are false, totally false. They are not luxury, they deny others.
Why live a lie? We do not live on a planet of infinite resources.

Monasteries and homes are microcosms of the universe. We must never
look at conservation as if our actions alone will advance the rise or
prevent the fall. They may very well do neither. What our actions CAN
do is limit our complicity. That is the only safe rationale for
undertaking them.

Every drop of fresh water makes the ocean less salty, though its a
fair bet that the Atlantic will remain quite salty, indeed, in spite of
our efforts! That's not the point. All God will ever ask us is what
we added to the problems around us.

He knows we cannot change things single-handedly. No private citizen
could have stopped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, but some chose
not to be in any way part of it, often at the cost of their lives. See what I
mean? A wealth of opportunity in choice awaits all of us.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for all the great Benedictine family today, past, present and
future, on the Solemnity of St. Benedict. May we all grow in grace and love
above all else to do God's will, may we all prefer nothing to Christ!

O God, Who deigned to fill Your most blessed confessor Benedict with the spirit
of all righteousness, grant unto us, Your servants who celebrate his solemnity,
that filled with his spirit we may faithfully accomplish by Your assistance that
which we have promised. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayers, please, for Ann, cancerous spot on her lung, and for Rosalie,
complications after heart surgery. Prayers for Matthew, 3, irreparable damage to
the optic nerve of one eye, surgery to investigate the condition of his other
eye and his prognosis. Prayers for vocations to our Order, and to all Orders,
that the witness of religious life may flourish in years to come. Lord, help
them  as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is
never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 11, July 11, November 10
Chapter 33: Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own

This vice especially
is to be cut out of the monastery by the roots.
Let no one presume to give or receive anything
without the Abbot's leave,
or to have anything as his own --
anything whatever,
whether book or tablets or pen or whatever it may be --
since they are not permitted to have even their bodies or wills
at their own disposal;
but for all their necessities
let them look to the Father of the monastery.
And let it be unlawful to have anything
which the Abbot has not given or allowed.
Let all things be common to all,
as it is written (Acts 4:32),
and let no one say or assume that anything is his own.

But if anyone is caught indulging in this most wicked vice,
let him be admonished once and a second time.
If he fails to amend,
let him undergo punishment.


REFLECTION

Benedictine poverty is easily translatable for the lay monastic,
married or single, into terms of simplicity and detachment, a holy
indifference to non-essentials. As such, it offers a powerful
opportunity for a witness against some of the real falsehoods of
modern consumerist society. This is not (nor need it be,) a preachy
attack on today's values, just a quiet refusal to go along with them.
It involves personal practice and choice, not confrontation.

Benedictine teaching on material goods is based on needs, not
desires. We ought to have all that is necessary and if, as sometimes
happens, that is not possible, we ought not to grumble.
Benedictine simplicity insists that we live in the moment of now with
gratitude.

Does your family have all that you really need today? If so, then
don't put your heart on hold till you can swing a below-ground
swimming pool. That's exactly why inordinate desires can be so
harmful: they DO put our hearts on hold, they take us out of the
contented present and force us to live in an uncertain future
of "when" and "if".

That future is not real, except for our futures after death. We
might never live to see the earthly future, even the next moment.
We have no way of knowing whether or not we will live till lunch today.

The present is all we have and anything that distracts our view from it
is often a complete waste of time. Living in the now is a great
reality check! It is also the place of contemplative reality: the holiness
of now, of the present instant, standing before God in love, awe and thanks.

I always hate discussions of simplicity that are so general that they
leave people thinking: "Well, great, but how do I DO that?" Hence a
few suggestions, not at all as norms, but just as ideas. With them
comes a huge warning for Oblates who are spouses and parents. You can
make choices like this for yourself, in some cases, even for the
household, but you must never force such things on children or
spouses. That can be disastrous and produces the very same loss of
serenity that simplicity is designed to protect us from.

Clothes. Almost everyone can make do with less, male or female.
Before I became a monk, I generally had two pairs of slacks- one
khaki and one navy blue. They looked preppy. They went with
everything. Yes, after a while, people did notice I was always in one
or the other, but so what? The shirts were different and I was clean.
The shirts came from the Salvation Army: years of wear in good
clothes for less than $5 a pop, less than $2 a pop if one waited till
sale day.

Recycle in your own home. Towels go down from the bath, to the
kitchen, to rags. With all the rags you will soon accumulate living
this way, you can say goodbye to paper towels, unless there is some
reason you really need them. Cloth napkins? Wow! They even seem a bit
upscale and you can stop buying one-use paper. Trust me, ordinarily
washing them once a week is fine.

This is not stinge, folks. Insofar as possible, consume stuff that is
really good for you, avoid stuff that is wasteful or harmful. We
become immune to the very high levels that our society actually
encourages waste, almost demands it.

How many people over fifty recall their first reactions to disposable
lighters, ballpoint pens and razors when they first came out? It was
like: "Huh??? You throw them away???" When was the last time you
bought a refill for a ballpoint pen? Now one hardly sees any pens BUT
disposable ones. Big, big money and profits were made by the
companies teaching us to throw away and waste the WHOLE item, not
just the used part. We got used to that, sadly.

I went back to non-disposable razors some time ago, but they cost a
good deal more than the throw away kind, which have filled who knows
how many garage dumps in 30 years. Somebody gave me a Zippo lighter
for Christmas two years ago. It is a bit of a hassle to keep it in
flints and fluid, but it means that I have spared the planet from at
least a little plastic.

By the way, you don't do this because it will end over-consumption.
It won't. The world has not moved to Schick razors and Zippos, nor
are they likely to do so any time soon. What it does, and this is
important, is limit your complicity in the nonsense. That, so long as
one does not become self-righteous, can be an immensely freeing thing.

Always remember the Zen principle: the only thing that is lacking is
the sense that nothing is lacking. Modern consumerism thrives on and
insists that we ALWAYS feel something is lacking. Not so, we can be
free of that. Why be lied to any more?

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for a young man, 34, in cardiac intensive care for what might
be a massive infection in his heart, and for all his family. Prayers for Cheryl
and Cam, driving here to visit tonight, and for Karen, author of her first book,
and her proud parents, Cheri and Mike. Lord, help them as You know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!
Thanks so much.  JL

March 12, July 12, November 11
Chapter 34: Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is
Necessary


Let us follow the Scripture,
"Distribution was made to each
according as anyone had need" (Acts 4:35).
By this we do not mean that there should be respecting of persons
(which God forbid),
but consideration for infirmities.
She who needs less should thank God and not be discontented;
but she who needs more
should be humbled by the thought of her infirmity
rather than feeling important
on account of the kindness shown her.
Thus all the members will be at peace.

Above all, let not the evil of murmuring appear
for any reason whatsoever
in the least word or sign.
If anyone is caught at it,
let her be placed under very severe discipline.

REFLECTION


One reason murmuring is so strongly proscribed here is that its
origin in this case is likely to be from jealousy. Jealousy is a
terrible thing in any human being, but even more treacherous when the
people involved have to live and work together in community. Jealousy
is a sure sign that one has not arrived. Perfect monastics simply
don't care about such stuff! (If they did at all, it would only be to
rejoice for the other!)

Yet many of us- myself roundly included- can still find jealousy
rearing its ugly head from time to time. It is part of our fallen
human nature, it is also part of us that has not grown up yet: an
inner child that is still screaming "Mom ALWAYS liked you best!"
Sigh... Jealousy cannot live without ignorance or falsehood, so
reality checks may be helpful, shaking ourselves awake to what is
true and real, reminding ourselves what we do NOT know and cannot
know about another's situation compared to our own.

Did we but know the gift of God! Ah, but we most surely do NOT know
it! If we did, we should be far, far more grateful for the different
ways He deals with people. We should be relieved that we have not the
gifts of others, since we have not their peculiar circumstances or
vocations or personalities to deal with those gifts. We should also
be able to more clearly see how richly- and utterly appropriately- we
ourselves have been blessed. God is no wretched giver, and we are ALL
swathed in His unfathomable mercy.

[Two asides on the gifts of God. St. John Vianney, the Cure d'Ars, said that "If
the priest could understand himself, he would surely die." But he ALSO said that
if anyone could understand the gift of the Eucharist, they would die- of love!]

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stamrysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

A blessed feast of St. Henry, Emperor, to all. Along with St. Frances of Rome,
he is one of the two patrons of Oblates. May his example lead us all to greater
fidelity!

Prayers, please, for Don, cataract surgery, and for Pauline, his wife, also
prayers for Maureen, wife of their grandson, a large mass of capillaries built
up on her back which doctors so far have not known how to treat. Prayers, too,
for a teenaged girl who killed her self, also for her mother and her sister and
all her family. Prayers for a special intention of Mike and Cheri, also for
LaVern, eye problems, Mary A., uterine cancer with surgery impossible before
August, and for Dianne, very depressed with problems from her colostomy. Lord,
help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God
is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 13, July 13, November 12
Chapter 35: On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen

Let the brethren serve one another,
and let no one be excused from the kitchen service
except by reason of sickness
or occupation in some important work.
For this service brings increase of reward and of charity.
But let helpers be provided for the weak ones,
that they may not be distressed by this work;
and indeed let everyone have help,
as required by the size of the community
or the circumstances of the locality.
If the community is a large one,
the cellarer shall be excused from the kitchen service;
and so also those whose occupations are of greater utility,
as we said above.
Let the rest serve one another in charity.


The one who is ending his week of service
shall do the cleaning on Saturday.
He shall wash the towels
with which the brethren wipe their hands and feet;
and this server who is ending his week,
aided by the one who is about to begin,
shall wash the feet of all the brethren.
He shall return the utensils of his office to the cellarer
clean and in good condition,
and the cellarer in turn shall consign them to the incoming server,
in order that he may know
what he gives out and what he receives back.

REFLECTION

The first thing I ever learned how to cook was (O, wondrous feat!!)
boiled carrots. I wasn't even in school yet, so I couldn't have been
older than 5 at the time. I didn't like carrots as a child, either,
but we often had them for lunch, and I stoically ate them, just because I
was so proud I could fix them myself.

Get the point? Serving our families makes us feel very special, a
kind of special that I think humility completely allows. If you have
children, for heaven's sake, teach them to cook. As they grow older,
it might well result in a night off for you and the child will
benefit. Our relationship with any group is hampered when we are only
in a position of taking or receiving. To know the full breadth of
love, we must be able to give back, in ways no matter how small.

Now, as an adult, I am a pretty good cook and I LOVE to feed people.
It is a very priestly and sacramental task. Not for nothing did Jesus
leave us with a Meal to remember Him by, to remain among us as well!
Not for nothing is the image of heaven a banquet. When we cook for
(or clean up after!) our family and friends we are partaking in one
of the fullest possible representations of the serving Christ. (But I also
know a lot about kitchen disasters and failed dinners! Sometimes we
are the Suffering Servant, too! We can often find ourselves muttering
over a Burnt Offering: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"
LOL!!)

Single Oblates who live alone can brighten many a life by inviting others to
dinner. Not only does it enhance one's own living space with a bit of
celebration, but it enriches the lives of those who may be lonely themselves
(as well as those who aren't!) that we may invite. No one has to look far for
and elderly person who probably would be delighted at a shared meal, no matter
how simple. It offers us a wondrous chance to serve and a great work of mercy,
too! One can still be feeding the hungry, even if they are not starving in a
famine
somewhere.

I have always been fascinated by royalty and I read a good deal about
them. It has always made me sad that this or that royal mother had no
clue how to cook. What a tragedy to have children that someone else
did all the important things for, made all the food and smell
memories that stay with one through life. Yes, I know those things
can seem overwhelming to parents who have to do them all the time,
but think of how awful it would be if your children literally needed
an appointment to see you! (I realize that, on some days, there might
be a certain charm there...)

Jesus did not HAVE to serve. He had a lot of followers, some of them
downright fawning, no doubt, who would have gladly taken care of
everything. Peter raised the roof when Jesus stooped to wash his
feet, but Jesus stopped him cold: if Peter was unwilling to be
served, he could have no part of Jesus the Servant. Whoa!! What a
privilege we have in every chance to serve our own, what a great
likeness to God, in Whose image we were made, but Whose likeness we
must struggle to maintain and perfect in ourselves.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for our twin communities here, as we welcome our new Bishop for
his first visit and lunch. Making the gazpacho is my job! For a grace-filled day
for all! Prayers for all Native Americans and all indigenous peoples on this
feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks (+1680.)

An update of both beauty and sadness on one for who we prayed: Devon, 12, has
died from her cancer, a brave young girl. Her grandfather asked if he could
trade places with her and she replied: "Not on your life!!" May she have had the
happiest of deaths and gone straight to the arms of God. Prayers for all her
family and friends who mourn her. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's
will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so
much. JL

March 14, July 14, November 13
Chapter 35: On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen

An hour before the meal
let the weekly servers each receive a drink and some bread
over and above the appointed allowance,
in order that at the meal time they may serve their brethren
without murmuring and without excessive fatigue.
On solemn days, however, let them wait until after Mass.


Immediately after the Morning Office on Sunday,
the incoming and outgoing servers
shall prostrate themselves before all the brethren in the oratory
and ask their prayers.
Let the server who is ending his week say this verse:
"Blessed are You, O Lord God,
who have helped me and consoled me."
When this has been said three times
and the outgoing server has received his blessing,
then let the incoming server follow and say,
"Incline unto my aid, O God;
O Lord, make haste to help me."
Let this also be repeated three times by all,
and having received his blessing
let him enter his service.

REFLECTION

Blessing readers and servers may strike the modern reader as a bit
silly: a CEREMONY of blessing to do a no-brainer like that for a
week? Ah, well there's the rub. Ancient monastics (and many Eastern
Orthodox monastics even in our own day,) did NOTHING without a
blessing from their elder. This results in all kinds of blessings for things we
would
take for granted. When the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne went as a
group to the guillotine in the French Revolution, at least one of the nuns
approached
the Prioress and asked; "Permission to die, Mother?" The Prioress blessed
her to die.

Getting a blessing, asking God's help for even seemingly trivial
matters is a powerful reminder of our own weakness. It is a statement
that we can do nothing without Him, that we truly are nothing that He
has not given. There is a great humility in asking anyone for help.
In this instance, however, humility is richest truth: we need God's
help for everything. We do things only because He enables us, whether
we asked Him for help or not. Our very lives would not exist without
Him.

We still bless readers and servers. Short ceremony, same every week.
We all pray together for whomever is serving us. Since we are small
(only 8,) the Superior is often reader or server. When that happens,
he kneels like anyone else and the senior monk blesses him. It's a
little family ritual.

But what is its message for families in the world? For single Oblates
living alone? The message is that there are no tasks to insignificant
to bless with prayer. St. Benedict has earlier encouraged us to begin
every good work with prayer, but maybe we have forgotten. Because the
monastic is MINDFUL, careful, attuned to life, nothing is unimportant,
nothing should be done "on automatic pilot." There is that healthy level of
mistrust of self that will ask for Divine assistance in any endeavor. "Bless,
Lord, yet another diaper." "Bless, Lord, emptying the trash." "Bless, Lord,
management meeting!!"

Making dinner or washing the dishes? Take a quiet moment in the midst
of either to say "Help!" and "Thanks!" Two simple, one word prayers.
No matter how chaotic your household, everyone will find time for at
least that. God knows the details, knows your heart and can readily
fill in the blanks! We may think God needs essay-length prayers, but
He doesn't. He may enjoy hearing from us, but trust me, we NEVER tell
Him anything that's news to Him.

Of course, there is another side to simple things like serving table,
picking up pins and the like. No one could have done anything
without God's help, but ah, if one does them out of love and care!
Bingo! Double coupons, so to speak! If that pin got carefully picked
up because of a barefoot and running child, or a beloved pet who is
prone to "tasting" whatever she can find on the floor, simplicity
becomes a very much greater matter, indeed. Now it is very close to
the heart of God, and that is a wonderful place to be.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Sorry to be so late today, mea culpa! Some odd manner of glitch made me think it
went out this morning, but it didn't, apparently.

Prayers, for Pat, serious lungs problems, fibrosis, very worry condition, and
for her family. Prayers for Janette, cellulitis for over six months now, not
responding to treatment. Knee replacement had to be postponed as a result, also
for her daughter, Pamela, recurrent cancer in her brain.

Prayers, please, for Sr. Gertrude, OSB, of Holy Name Monastery, St. Leo, FL, who
has gone to God, for her happy death, her eternal happiness with God and for all
who mourn her.

Prayers, too, for Alex, going to Nicaragua as an exchange student, for his
health and safety and for his worried Mom. Prayers for Barbara, brain aneurysm
two days ago, and for Tom, her boyfriend, in another state when she was
stricken. Prayers for Jessica and her three children. Her husband no longer
wants to be married and she is planning to move back to her family, but a lot
remains to be settled for all. Prayers for the conversion of her husband, too.
How sad! Prayers for J., a seminarian with doubts about his vocation, and for
his parents. Continued prayers for Fr. Brian in New Zealand. His appendectomy
was quite complicated: five hours of surgery and his recovery is very painful
and slow. Prayers for Jeanne Edna, recovering from her surgery earlier this
month. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 15, July 15, November 14
Chapter 36: On the Sick

Before all things and above all things,
care must be taken of the sick,
so that they will be served as if they were Christ in person;
for He Himself said, "I was sick, and you visited Me" (Matt 25:36),
and, "What you did for one of these least ones, you did for Me"
(Matt.25:40).
But let the sick on their part consider
that they are being served for the honor of God,
and let them not annoy their sisters who are serving them
by their unnecessary demands.
Yet they should be patiently borne with,
because from such as these is gained a more abundant reward.
Therefore the Abbess shall take the greatest care
that they suffer no neglect.


For these sick let there be assigned a special room
and an attendant who is God-fearing, diligent and solicitous.
Let the use of baths be afforded the sick
as often as may be expedient;
but to the healthy, and especially to the young,
let them be granted more rarely.
Moreover,
let the use of meat be granted to the sick who are very weak,
for the restoration of their strength;
but when they are convalescent,
let all abstain from meat as usual.


The Abbess shall take the greatest care
that the sick be not neglected by the cellarers or the attendants;
for she also is responsible for what is done wrongly by her disciples.

REFLECTION

"Before all things and above all things..." is a very strong
statement. If St. Benedict meant that, and we must assume he did,
monasteries and families should not only make sure that the sick are
full and equal members, but even that they have priority. The sick
bear a responsibility in this: they are not to "vex" those caring for
them, but even if they fail in that, they must be borne with
patiently.

Let's face it, at a certain point, the sick are definitely "out of
the loop" in human society. This is even more true of the long-term,
chronically ill. This is, of course, very typical primate behavior-
for a nomadic troop of baboons, it would be fine. Christianity and
Benedictinism, however call us to rise far above such limitations of
natural response. We are called to be more than natural. We are bound
to strive for the SUPERnatural.

Even in monasteries, especially large ones, the sick can be shelved
and forgotten by some members. Rest assured that, unless wheeled to
church or refectory, the sick are quite likely to never lay eyes on
certain members. In this aspect, the monastics mirror a similar flaw
in the secular world and in many families: out of sight, out of mind.
The concerns of one's active daily life can lead to a certain
selfishness, and the Holy Rule is trying to prevent this. We must be
different from the world, different from that nomadic troop of
primates. We must be more. Both Gospel and Rule, baptism and monastic
commitment demand that.

The flip side of this coin- and I think those who have worked in
hospitals and nursing homes can confirm this- is that there is
something very special about those who quite resolutely do NOT leave
the sick out of the loop. In both monastery and world, those with a
heart for the ill seem to be a special breed.

I worked in a monastery infirmary for some time. I have never seen a
mediocre monk- much less what we might term a "bad" one- regularly
involved with the sick unless they were forced to be. The ones you could
always count on were the holy ones: simple, humble, self-effacing.
Prima donnas might one day wind up in the infirmary as patients, but one
rarely, if ever, saw them as visitors.

Oblates in the world, there is a rich field of endeavor here and you
will hardly have to get in line to enter it. Nursing homes freak you
out? There are adult day care programs that might be easier for you.
I used to do four Communion services a week in such places when I was
in Boston, and, had I been able, they would have gladly let me do
more. When I left to come here, seven years ago, every single one of
those services dropped to once a month or less. There is work for you
to do if you want to get yourself commissioned as a eucharistic
minister and go for it. These were people that not only the world,
but even the Church had largely forgotten. The chance to do anything
for them enriched my life immeasurably.

Does even day care get to you? Then turn to the families of the
chronically ill. To a large extent, they often share the isolation of
the patient in a very real and very unfair way. Find some ways to not
forget them, to give them a breath of normalcy and relief and you
will find their lives, the patient's life and your own changing for
the better. Everyone can do something, and there is plenty to do!

Ask most people what the hallmark of the Benedictine Order is and
they will likely respond with either liturgy or hospitality. Our Holy
Rule's prescription that all guests be received as Christ is
justifiably famous, as is our concern for the liturgy. However,
another hallmark less attended to is this chapter's insistence that
we receive and serve Christ in the sick, too. Would that we deserved
to have people choosing between THREE hallmarks for their answer-
care of the sick, liturgy and hospitality!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

A blessed feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln to all our Swiss American
OSB's, as well as a blessed feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to all
of her friends!!

Prayers for the repose of the souls of John and Br. Dennis, on their birthdays
somewhere near this date. Prayers for Mary Kenny, surgery yesterday and so
far a very good recovery. Deo gratias!!

Prayers for our Dom Vincent, whose second anniversary of solemn vows is today.
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace.
God is never absent, praise Him!. Thanks so much. JL



March 16, July 16, November 15
Chapter 37: On the Old and Children

Although human nature itself is drawn to special kindness
towards these times of life,
that is towards the old and children,
still the authority of the Rule should also provide for them.


Let their weakness be always taken into account,
and let them by no means be held to the rigor of the Rule
with regard to food.
On the contrary,
let a kind consideration be shown to them,
and let them eat before the regular hours.

REFLECTION

The tenderness of St. Benedict shines through here. These are strong
words for weakness: "ALWAYS taken into account," and "BY NO MEANS
held to the rigor of the Rule for food." Though he prefaces his
chapter recalling that any healthy human nature has a certain level
of consideration for these age groups, our holy Father Benedict
quickly returns to a very consistent theme of the Holy Rule: we are
called to more than mere nature.

We are called to enhance our nature to the supernatural, to the heights of
sanctity. Our considerate mindfulness for every person and their individual
needs must be greater than that of the world. Indeed, our monastic calling bids
us to raise EVERY area of our lives to the supernatural. As monastics, we
strive to elevate everything to the sacred, everything to grace working in us
and with us!

St. Benedict's aim is that each of us ALWAYS see the person first.
That kind of loving mindfulness will make the chapters on the sick
and the young and old seem to be complete no-brainers. This is the
way we should be seeing everyone: real people for whom they really
are, nothing more or less. Circumstances do arise that require
greater attention, but the foundation of that is a firm theology of
personalism.

It should come as no great shock that the most frequent obstacle to
viewing others correctly is ourselves. Our own image, our self, our
pain, our projections get in the way of the lens of truth. We have to
spend our monastic struggle learning to put those things aside, so
that the light of others may shine through unobstructed.

With our own needs at least on a back burner, or better yet, shelved
far off in the pantry, we can begin to truly see others and their
needs. Wipe the mud of self from our eyes and we can see the
treasures that surround us. Mother Teresa of Calcutta surely did
that. She saw beauty that all of us less holy than she missed big-
time and she saw it in everyone.

A key to all this is a favorite quote from Antoine de St.
Exupery's "Little Prince":

"The essential is invisible to the eyes. One can only see rightly
with the heart."

That's what our Rule demands: the cultivation of the very loving eyes
of our hearts! Dust off them cardiac lenses, beloveds. Keep 'em clean!!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Ellie and her Stephen ministry retreat, looking for a place
to hold the gathering and we cannot help her the dates she needs. Prayers for
Catherine, mid-life crisis, and for Tom, fallen away from his faith. Prayers,
too, for Denny, discernment of God's will and for Bonnie and Louis, floundering
and needing rootedness. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is
best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much! 
JL

March 17, July 17, November 16
Chapter 38: On the Weekly Reader

The meals of the sisters should not be without reading.
Nor should the reader be
anyone who happens to take up the book;
but there should be a reader for the whole week,
entering that office on Sunday.
Let this incoming reader,
after Mass and Communion,
ask all to pray for her
that God may keep her from the spirit of pride
And let her intone the following verse,
which shall be said three times by all in the oratory:
"O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare Your praise."
Then, having received a blessing,
let her enter on the reading.


And let absolute silence be kept at table,
so that no whispering may be heard
nor any voice except the reader's.
As to the things they need while they eat and drink,
let the sisters pass them to one another
so that no one need ask for anything.
If anything is needed, however,
let it be asked for by means of some audible sign
rather than by speech.
Nor shall anyone at table presume to ask questions
about the reading or anything else,
lest that give occasion for talking;
except that the Superior may perhaps wish
to say something briefly for the purpose of edification.


The sister who is reader for the week
shall take a little ablution before she begins to read,
on account of the Holy Communion
and lest perhaps the fast be hard for her to bear.
She shall take her meal afterwards
with the kitchen and table servers of the week.


The sisters are not to read or chant in order,
but only those who edify their hearers.

REFLECTION

It is tempting when reading any rule or law to view it being observed
with a Nazi goose-step precision. Don't go there! That's not how the
Holy Rule gets fleshed out in healthy communities. (And the key word
here is HEALTHY!) Ours is a Rule for families, and families need love
and affectionate playfulness to build and strengthen their bonds of
unity and delight in each other.

So, OK, we do keep silence in the refectory and we do have reading
and we can't go absolutely off the wall while there, but we do quite
often have some fun. A sidelong glance with eyes rolled upward can
say volumes, a smile or chuckle, sometimes universal and joyous
laughter do the same.

One could go too far with such things, but in moderation they are
fine. They unite with non-verbal ties, they connect with wordless
junctures and these are very powerful. The huge amount of verbiage in
our modern world has taught us to discount words on many occasions,
but the genuinely affectionate body language of shared silence does
not fall under that sentence. Hence, these are very strong messages
of love we send to one another.

Sometimes the matter being read is sufficiently boring to make one
chew with incredible speed. (This is as Catch 22, however. The faster
one eats, the more days it will take to finish the pearl of great
price at hand....) When we were recently reading a papal document on
consecrated life rich with Vaticanese, a bureaucratic jargon that
could induce sleep faster than any narcotic known to science, there
were ample opportunities to enjoy a bit of comic relief.

I am typically bored to tears by such literature read aloud. I can do
it alone, but read it to me? Well, you know the warmth of the
language employed in such officialese! Yeccch!

Suffice it to say that I was longing for anything to break the mood.
Then- O wondrous to say!- came a longish portion on "the difficulties
of consecrated life" the religious had to bear. Sensing my moment had
come, I patted Brother Bernard, who sat next to me, on the forearm
and smiled patronizingly. (It is our particular vocation to tease and
torture each other!)

I am probably beyond redemption in some areas! LOL!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Fr. Brendan, suffering from hiccups since Friday and
painfully worn out. Prayers for Steve, a minister diagnosed with adult leukemia,
and for all his family, prayers, too, for Donna, seriously ill in the hospital.
Prayers for Mary Jane, recurrent leukemia after 2 years, requiring another bone
marrow transplant, for her brother, Gregory, the donor both times, and all her
family. Prayers for Bob, on dialysis and a ventilator after triple bypass
surgery, for Linda, his niece, and for all his family. Lord, help them as You
know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him! thanks so much.  JL

March 18, July 18, November 17
Chapter 39: On the Measure of Food

We think it sufficient for the daily dinner,
whether at the sixth or the ninth hour,
that every table have two cooked dishes
on account of individual infirmities,
so that he who for some reason cannot eat of the one
may make his meal of the other
Therefore let two cooked dishes suffice for all the brethren;
and if any fruit or fresh vegetables are available,
let a third dish be added.


Let a good pound weight of bread suffice for the day,
whether there be only one meal or both dinner and supper.
If they are to have supper,
the cellarer shall reserve a third of that pound,
to be given them at supper.


But if it happens that the work was heavier,
it shall lie within the Abbot's discretion and power,
should it be expedient,
to add something to the fare.
Above all things, however,
over-indulgence must be avoided
and a monk must never be overtaken by indigestion;
for there is nothing so opposed to the Christian character
as over-indulgence
according to Our Lord's words,
"See to it that your hearts be not burdened
with over-indulgence" (Luke 21:34).


Young boys
shall not receive the same amount of food as their elders,
but less;
and frugality shall be observed in all circumstances.


Except the sick who are very weak,
let all abstain entirely
from eating the flesh of four-footed animals.

REFLECTION

If you are the only Oblate in the family, do NOT try to introduce
your non-Benedictine children or spouse to the full rigors of this
chapter. Don't go there... Very bad idea!
However, there are all kinds of creative ways that you
can "monasticize" your diet while leaving the family happy!

If you work outside the home, or most of your family is at work or
school and you stay home, look at your lunch, or whatever meal you
eat on your own. That's the place to make changes. You can change the
amount you eat, maybe even make the time a bit later. Most
workplaces, struggling to cover all the slots at lunch hour, might be
glad if you wanted to eat lunch when the others had finished. Check
it out.

If you pack and carry your own lunch, you can often find a GREAT
monastic discipline in making it plain and less often varied. Try
peanut butter and jelly for a while. Great source of protein and
antioxidants. Try taking just fruit. Three of the nurses I've worked
with- and none of them for monastic reasons- ate the same lunch every
single day. Two of them used to always eat saltines and peanut
butter, the other ALWAYS ate one can of sardines with crackers.
Always. Nobody died, but the lounge used to smell awful after Rosa
dined on her sardines in that small room!

Rosa's sardine idea might not be fine daily for you, but what about once
a week, on Fridays, say. One can of sardines and some fat-free saltines.
Lunch for under a dollar. Great source of fish oil, omega-3 and all that. Also,
these days, about the only fish one can afford is canned. Sigh... Docs
recommend three servings a week for cardiac health. That might be a
lunch idea you can live with!

What ever you do (and peanut butter and jelly, alas, is not a high
scorer in this field,) try to make changes in your own diet with an
eye to health and the ecology. If you are careful not to make a big
deal of it and to serve really good-tasting food, you can even employ
these principles to some degree with your family, if you are the
cook! Lots of meat-stretching dishes over noodles or rice will never
be thought of as penitential. Some really good beans as a side dish
are great fiber, great protein, possibly fat-free and CHEAP! Red
beans (or black beans,) over rice are traditionally ethnic and
wonderful.

Try to add healthy elements that will go unnoticed, too. A Franciscan
hermit who made a retreat here turned me onto a great idea: soy
powder. She used it for milk shakes, which never quite caught on with
me. The taste was not great (to me, at least,) and I HATE to clean a
blender every day. On the other hand, there is about 24 grams of
protein in 1/3 cup of that stuff, about 33% of your daily
requirement. Dump a half cup into a bread pudding and it will never
be noticed. Surely there are other things you can find to sneak it
into as well!

I'll just use bread pudding as an example, but you can have a lot of
fun experimenting with other stuff, too. When I make bread pudding, I
substitute orange juice for some of the milk.
Less fat, more vitamin C, and the soy powder more than makes up for
the bit of protein lost. Tons of fat-free things that don't taste fat-
free at all can be made with apple sauce. Trust me, I HATE things
that taste fat-free, so if I like them, your kids will never know.

Always remember, the best penances are those we do not choose. For
many of us, that could be as simple as following one's doctor's
orders on diet carefully. So many things are diet-related and those
habits are so hard to break. Let you doctor be your abbess in this
respect and you will not only get healthier in body, but in spirit as
well!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Continued prayers, please, for Sr. Gertrude Whalton, OSB, of Holy Name
Monastery, who was laid to rest yesterday, for Sister Jerome and all of the
other novices Sister Gertrude formed when she was novice mistress, and for all
who gave her such a lovely funeral.

Prayers for Sr. Lany Jo, surgery this week and terribly overworked. May God take
care of the rest she needs!!! She is supposed to sing at a funeral this morning
and fears she will need a lot of divine help to do so. May God also help her to
learn to say no.

Prayers for the happy death and eternal rest of Richard, 66, who died this
morning, and for Mary, his wife and Richard, their son. He died 33 years to the
day after his diagnosis with MS, so he had suffered a long while. Prayers, too,
for Sr. Catherine, his sister-in-law, and for all the family. Prayers for the
happy death of Maura, who died from alcoholism. Lord, help them as You know and
will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise
Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 19, July 19, November 18
Chapter 40: On the Measure of Drink

"Everyone has her own gift from God,
one in this way and another in that" (1 Cor. 7:7).
It is therefore with some misgiving
that we regulate the measure of others' sustenance.
Nevertheless, keeping in view the needs of the weak,
we believe that a hemina of wine a day is sufficient for each.
But those to whom God gives the strength to abstain
should know that they will receive a special reward.


If the circumstances of the place,
or the work
or the heat of summer
require a greater measure,
the superior shall use her judgment in the matter,
taking care always
that there be no occasion for surfeit or drunkenness.
We read
it is true,
that wine is by no means a drink for monastics;
but since the monastics of our day cannot be persuaded of this
let us at least agree to drink sparingly and not to satiety,
because "wine makes even the wise fall away" (Eccles. 19:2).


But where the circumstances of the place are such
that not even the measure prescribed above can be supplied,
but much less or none at all,
let those who live there bless God and not murmur.
Above all things do we give this admonition,
that they abstain from murmuring.

REFLECTION

It would a terrible wasted opportunity not to briefly mention alcoholism
and twelve step programs with this reading. So many in ALL walks of
life, our own Benedictine families included, suffer from alcoholism. May
all who abstain because they must offer the hardships of that road to recovery
for all those who suffer still. May we all remember that addiction is an
illness,
not a moral scourge to whip people who suffer from it.

"Above all...abstain from murmuring." The murmuring here (and
everywhere it is mentioned in the Holy Rule,) is mean-spirited
griping about people or conditions. Never for an instant think that
Benedictine standards require one to be blind to real problems.
Abbots can be removed and have been. The process is neither simple
nor a great deal of fun, but it has been done. Real evils ought to be
addressed and usually are.

It's hard to write about this, because a certain unwritten law (well,
written in the hearts of monastics!) governs what is and isn't
murmuring. It's an intuitive sort of principle that one learns by
living among and observing other monastics. All I can say is that the
Benedictines I have known and know today do NOT blindly accept
nonsense at any price.

There are healthy levels of opposition and resistance in a
healthy community, but their boundaries must not be violated. In
fact, any superior or community which mercilessly destroys ALL
disagreement or opposition is in serious danger. Part of community's
efficacy is that vastly different people live together in peace.

Maybe peace is the key to assessing a lot of murmuring. The meanest,
most hateful monk I ever knew- now dead and buried some years in the
Florida hills- had a life of nearly non-stop murmuring. Everything
was wrong, everyone was wrong and he reported such things with an eye
to harm. I heard Bro. Patrick refer to this guy as "diabolical" and
that was not an adjective he used lightly.

Virtually nothing and no one measured up to Br. X's standards.
He was hell to live with and I feared him when I was a novice. But
there is the catch: he WAS hell to live with, even for himself. His
self-hatred was masked by murmuring, by putting forth to the world
high standards which he himself could in no way match and frankly,
didn't. He was filled with anger and pain and sought to make the
world around him match. What a convoluted mess!

Listen up, m'dears, I cannot know what another's pain is or how they
should seek help for it, but I do know that the Benedictine way is
NOT to pass that on and not to stand idly by and watch another do so.
Horrible to say, it took me years to get over Br. X's meanness. When
I came here it took me years to learn that I no longer had to cover
my flanks or look over my shoulder: we have no one that mean, nor
would we accept someone who was.

Poor Br. X, I often pray for his tortured soul. Nearly 30 years later, I still
recall him with a shudder. However, it was not his fault alone. There was
an Abbot who listened, there were monks who did, too. A united refusal
to listen to such poison might have helped him, or it might have actually
driven him out, but in fact that did not happen. We all bear a two-sided
obligation to mean murmuring: don't start it, and don't listen to it. Venom
doesn't have any effect if it doesn't get in the bloodstream. See to it that you
never help it on it's way.



Love and prayers,

Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Kathie, just diagnosed with breast cancer and now weighing
her surgical options, and for all her family and her kind friend, Linda, who
asked for prayers for her, prayers for Linda's continued happy remission.
Prayers for Sr. Catherine, driving today to NY to attend the funeral of her
brother-in-law, Richard, for whom we prayed yesterday, for his eternal rest and
for all his family. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best.
All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much. JL

March 20, July 20, November 19
Chapter 41: At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken

From holy Easter until Pentecost
let the brothers take dinner at the sixth hour
and supper in the evening.


From Pentecost throughout the summer,
unless the monks have work in the fields
let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the ninth hour;
on the other days let them dine at the sixth hour.
This dinner at the sixth hour shall be the daily schedule
if they have work in the fields
or the heat of summer is extreme;
the Abbot's foresight shall decide on this.


Thus it is that he should adapt and arrange everything
in such a way that souls may be saved
and that the brethren may do their work
without just cause for murmuring.


From the Ides of September until the beginning of Lent
let them always take their dinner at the ninth hour.


In Lent until Easter let them dine in the evening.
But this evening hour shall be so determined
that they will not need the light of a lamp while eating,
Indeed at all seasons
let the hour, whether for supper or for dinner, be so arranged
that everything will be done by daylight.

REFLECTION

Something like one third of the United States population is said to
be medically overweight. We don't notice it so much, because we are
used to it, but go to another country and you will see far less
obesity than at home. No doubt our affluence and unhealthy diet is
largely to blame here. Think of the last news clip you saw from
Japan: most of the people are of average weight for their height.

It's a fair guess that this attitude to food in the US has influenced
our attitude to fasting negatively. Now we look on the least thing as
a dreadful privation, when those of us Roman Catholics over fifty can
clearly recall meatless Fridays every week, all year and fasting from
midnight for Communion, even if you were only 7 years old!!

When the US Bishops addressed the issue of Friday abstinence, they
did not abolish it. They merely said some other form of penance might
be substituted. Whoops! That got lost in a big hurry. How many of us-
me included- do something extra on Friday because we do not abstain
from meat? Might be time to take a really hard look at that.

As always, Oblates in the world must find ways that they can fast or
abstain without imposing monastic ways on their non-monastic
families. However, it is worthy of note that Friday abstinence is of
the Church, not the Holy Rule and might be safely re-instituted, with
careful explanation as to WHY we do it, for whole families.

The meatless idea might be easiest for many, but what if something
else was done to really set Friday apart? Skip one, just one half-
hour TV show and you have a slot for a devotional family practice
like the Scripture sharing or the Rosary. Could we imagine just 30
minutes once a week of TV gone? What if (horrors!) you chose to skip
a show you like, but the kids don't? Find something that works for
you and then be faithful to it.

Our spirits are like our bodies in many respects. If we get soft, we
get weak, if we get lazy, our energy actually diminishes while our
total lives suffer from that inactivity. That's why Christian life
itself, not just monastic life, is a life requiring a fair amount of
discipline, of pushing oneself, of self-denial. Those values still
exist in the secular world, but are usually only invoked for profit,
power, athletics or sex. See what I mean? We need badly to get our
acts together in affluent, developed nations.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Ben Bennett, the local carpenter who helped build our chicken house and whom
many of you prayed for and helped when he injured his hand badly last year, fell
off a ladder today and broke his hip. They are going to try two pins, but may
have to do a hip replacement. On top of everything else, his health care
coverage is in doubt just now, so prayers are badly need all around. I am off to
the hospital to visit him, but wanted to get you faithful prayer warriors on the
case immediately.
Thanks so much!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Ben Bennett, waiting to go into surgery for his broken hip.
He had some heart problems that had to be cleared before operating on him.
Prayer for Cindy, his wife, and all his family. Poor guy fell on stone and broke
his hip in back of the house he was working on, where they couldn't hear his
calls for help. Had to crawl/drag himself around to the front and up the porch
steps to ring the door bell, all with a broken hip.

Prayers for our Fr. Bede, flying home from the Tickfaw, LA monastery today.
Prayers for the happy death and eternal rest of Joli, 14, killed in an auto
wreck and for Margaret, her Mom. Margaret has a history of depression and Joli
was her only child. Prayers for the happy death and eternal rest of Peter and
for all his family and friends who mourn him. prayers, too, for Clara and son,
Michael, newly diagnosed diabetic had to go on disability to get adequate
treatment and for her son-in-law, unemployed for three months. Prayers for
Genny, abnormal blood test results, more tests being done, and for her worried
Mom. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 21, July 21, November 20
Chapter 42: That No One Speak After Compline

Monastics ought to be zealous for silence at all times,
but especially during the hours of the night.
For every season, therefore,
whether there be fasting or two meals,
let the program be as follows:


If it be a season when there are two meals,
then as soon as they have risen from supper
they shall all sit together,
and one of them shall read the Conferences
or the Lives of the Fathers
or something else that may edify the hearers;
not the Heptateuch or the Books of Kings, however,
because it will not be expedient for weak minds
to hear those parts of Scripture at that hour;
but they shall be read at other times.


If it be a day of fast,
then having allowed a short interval after Vespers
they shall proceed at once to the reading of the Conferences,
as prescribed above;
four or five pages being read, or as much as time permits,
so that during the delay provided by this reading
all may come together,
including those who may have been occupied
in some work assigned them.


When all, therefore, are gathered together,
let them say Compline;
and when they come out from Compline,
no one shall be allowed to say anything from that time on.
And if anyone should be found evading this rule of silence,
let her undergo severe punishment.
An exception shall be made
if the need of speaking to guests should arise
or if the Abbess should give someone an order.
But even this should be done with the utmost gravity
and the most becoming restraint.

REFLECTION

Anyone who lives in any family, monastic or otherwise, can attest
that undistracted silence in solitude is very hard to find. That is
precisely why St. Benedict deliberately and firmly carved this chunk
out of the monastic day. Believe me, it is a rare treat and a sacred
hush which blankets the already mysterious darkness of the night.

Not every community observes grand silence these days. Some have
abolished it or left it up to the individual. In one sense, that is
too bad: one of the reasons behind grand silence actually working so
well is that it is a social contract agreed upon and practiced by
all. It is done together, like most things in cenobitic community
life and that enhances both its power and its appeal. The whole place
more or less shuts down together. A few lights stay on longer than
others, but profound silence reigns.

There is a very close relationship between silence and solitude. Each
has the potential to produce the other. One can be all alone and
filled with noise and one can be silent in a group without any
solitude at all. All that is necessary is to add distractions of
whatever kind. The end of both silence and solitude is to free the
mind for God, for prayer, for rest in Him. Done right, a community of
a hundred in the same room could be individually as alone as a cave-
dweller on Mount Athos. Done wrong, one might as well be in Times
Square...

Ever know the joy of lovers alone when they know absolutely no one
will disturb their privacy? The door is locked, the phone is
unplugged, the world is theirs. Why? Because (at least hopefully,)
nothing will distract them from each other. So it is with silence and
solitude and God. That's what makes it so wonderful. Try to recall
that lover's joy, if you have ever known it, and you will have a
clear picture of what grand silence ought to be. The final relief and
joy of leaving the world outside one's door, the retreat into the
privacy of the inner chamber.

I will not pretend to be clever enough to tell Oblates in families
how they might find this. Creative ways probably exist, but you might
have to just wait for a visit to a monastery to get the full effect.
All I will say is that one must always carve silence out of any
family LOVINGLY, that's what makes it holy and sacred. If you become
at all cranky about it, the whole value is flushed and you might as
well watch a really mindless TV show. Silence and solitude can work
together, but only with the catalyst of love that makes them a
trinity of power and grace.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Denise, hospitalized with spinal meningitis, and for John,
cancer, but also heart problems they are trying to relieve with a stent
procedure. Prayers for Deisy, an honors student in college on scholarship. Came
to this country from Mexico with an aunt when she was six. Now threatened with
deportation because she is illegal, on the brink of her junior year. She has
worked very hard to be a excellent student against terrible odds. Prayers for
Danny, struck while riding his bike. No fractures, but unconscious with little
brain activity showing, and for his family, hoping for a miracle. Prayers, too,
for Andrew and his family. he is hospitalized and his family is praying to St.
Gerard Majella for a miracle. Continued prayers for Ben and his family- an
update when I know more myself- he did have his surgery yesterday but I don't
know details. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

March 22, July 22, November 21
Chapter 43: On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table

At the hour for the Divine Office,
as soon as the signal is heard,
let them abandon whatever they may have in hand
and hasten with the greatest speed,
yet with seriousness, so that there is no excuse for levity.
Let nothing, therefore, be put before the Work of God.


If at the Night Office
anyone arrives after the "Glory be to the Father" of Psalm 94 --
which Psalm for this reason we wish to be said
very slowly and protractedly --
let him not stand in his usual place in the choir;
but let him stand last of all,
or in a place set aside by the Abbot for such negligent ones
in order that they may be seen by him and by all.
He shall remain there until the Work of God has been completed,
and then do penance by a public satisfaction.
the reason why we have judged it fitting
for them so stand in the last place or in a place apart
is that,
being seen by all,
they may amend for very shame.
For if they remain outside of the oratory,
there will perhaps be someone who will go back to bed and sleep
or at least seat himself outside and indulge in idle talk,
and thus an occasion will be provided for the evil one.
But let them go inside,
that they many not lose the whole Office,
and may amend for the future.


At the day Hours
anyone who does not arrive at the Work of God
until after the verse
and the "Glory be to the Father" for the first Psalm following it
shall stand in the last place,
according to our ruling above.
Nor shall he presume to join the choir in their chanting
until he has made satisfaction,
unless the Abbot should pardon him and give him permission;
but even then the offender must make satisfaction for his fault.

REFLECTION

First, an aside. The signal to get moving, whatever it may be, is
usually a bell or something like it. Our modern age looks at any
request or command we don't like as a time to start negotiations, not
to obey. We may euphemize this with terms like "dialogue" but the
bottom line is finding a graceful way to say either "Heck, NO!" or
considerably less than "Yes!" or "OK, fine!" Bells, however, are
inexorable and there is no point in arguing with them. Their stoic
silence will win every time! It is worth remembering that, in the old
days, the bell was known as the "vox Dei," the voice of God.

As usual, there is a gem buried here that gets lost in the wash of
being late or being on time or kneeling out or not. That treasure
is: "Let nothing, therefore, be put before the Work of God." (Older
translations had: "let nothing be preferred to the Work of God." This
has usually been cited, quite rightly, a a basis for the centrality
of liturgy in Benedictine life, but that is an incomplete view, one
which leaves riches beyond telling unmined. The full sense of this
goes well beyond liturgy. And FAR beyond musical fussiness about
chant!

For the monastic, EVERYTHING is in some way the work of God. ALL of
God's will for us becomes a priority. That's what our commitment
means. Monastic struggle sacralizes every jot and tittle. In one
sense, there is no small stuff anymore. (That can be a trap for the
scrupulous if over-applied, so watch out, folks!) The distinction
between sacred and profane is all but obliterated. Our life is of a
whole, and that holistic life is most often informed of God's wishes
for us by obedience.

That can require tremendous faith and trust in God, but God does
reward such trust richly beyond our dreams. It is often best if one
starts out as a novice with a real goofus for a novicemaster. This is
helpful in several ways. For one thing, if you start out with a great
novicemaster and encounter your first loser in charge in mid-life, it can be a
terrible crisis. For another, when one looks back, one can see
clearly (as hindsight so often does!) that ALL our treasure comes in
earthen vessels, that even a less than optimal individual can often
be a pipeline through which God's will flows unimpeded.

Contemporary attempts by some to reduce all Benedictine obedience to
a process of dialogue or negotiation, or to make it a communal
affair or a consensual one are terribly far off the mark. The textual
evidence of the Holy Rule, as well as historical and traditional
evidence simply do not support such claims. The Rule speaks of
dialogue only when one is commanded to do the impossible, and even
then, if the superior insists, one must trust and obey. Tough saying,
but obedience works best when it isn't a lot of fun... Consider
the "merit" gained when I smile over an open carton of ice cream,
heaping it into a bowl and say: "My doctor absolutely INSISTS that
these meds be taken with food!"

But back to priorities. Surely the Office comes first before lesser
obediences. Being late because one finished something that could wait
is a poor excuse, because it shows what is valued most- one's own
will. On the other hand, when I was a teenager, my life was hell. I
LOVED the Catholic high school I went to with deep gratitude, but
there were many, many days when my emotional energy was so completely
expended on just hanging on that there was nothing else I COULD put
first. Showing up at all took all my energy, never mind early or
late. It surely wasn't that I DIDN'T care, it was that I couldn't, I
honestly had nothing left to care with. At times like this, it takes
a careful and loving eye to perceptively see what's really going on
before dumping punishment on one.

Love and prayers,

Jerome, OSB

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for David, paranoid psychosis, sadly entwined with his
religious feelings and refusing treatment, prayers, too, for Ellen, successful
liver transplant 18 months ago, now a lump on her breast and a heart attack
during pre-mastectomy work-up, also for her best friend, Sandy, who donated 65%
of her own liver to Ellen and is understandably distraught. Prayers for Doris,
facial melanoma and for her husband and family. Lord, help them as You know and
will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise
Him! thanks so much. JL

March 23, July 23, November 22
Chapter 43: On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table


Anyone who does not come to table before the verse,
so that all together may say the verse and the oration
and all sit down to table at the same time --
anyone who
through his own carelessness or bad habit
does not come on time
shall be corrected for this up to the second time.
If then he does not amend,
he shall not be allowed to share in the common table,
but shall be separated from the company of all
and made to eat alone,
and his portion of wine shall be taken away from him,
until he has made satisfaction and has amended.
And let him suffer a like penalty who is not present
at the verse said after the meal.

And let no one presume
to take any food or drink
before or after the appointed time.
But if anyone is offered something by the superior
and refuses to take it,
then when the time comes
that he desires what he formerly refused
or something else,
let him receive nothing whatever
until he has made proper satisfaction.

REFLECTION

Communal monasticism, even long before St. Benedict, established a
close similarity between Church and refectory. One fed the soul, one
fed the body, and, with reading, the soul and mind as well! Not
surprisingly, a ritual grew up around the communal meal with its
longer, formal, chanted grace, the silence and reading, that would
make one think very much of Church, indeed!

Oblates have to be very careful that they do not "impose" their
monasticism on their families. On the other hand, all things being
equal, it is certainly within reason to expect our families to be at
least theistic, even Christian, if in fact they are! (If we do not
have the blessing of a family or spouse of similar or like faith,
then scrupulous respect for that difference must obtain.) Having said
that, a formal grace, no matter how short, is hardly a Draconian
imposition on a family of believers, no matter how nominal that
belief may be.

Silence, of course, is hardly a family option, but peace surely is!
Cease-fire, folks! Truce! Once grace is said, every effort to avoid
dissension and fighting should be made! They really aren't very good
for digestion, let alone spiritual growth. Think how many times one
hears someone say: "Oh, yeah, we HAD to say grace as kids, but then
all hell broke loose." Don't let them happen. It inoculates most of
the grace that prayer could bring. No prayer is a magic wand that
forgives whatever follows!

I have lived alone as an Oblate in the world. I know at least some of
the loneliness and longing that goes with that. I urge single Oblates
(and confess that I was not always clever in this respect myself!) to
surround their dining in the evening with some kind of formality.
Single people often fail to take very good care of themselves. Make
your evening meal a time when you do that.

Say or chant a careful grace. Light a candle, perhaps. Play a tape
of something nourishing to the soul, whether words or music. It doesn't
matter if you're eating tuna out of a can or a frozen dinner. Enhance that time
with things good for you and good for your monastic struggle. For all the
disadvantages of single life in the world, there are also some
advantages! Make sure you gift yourself with the graces your
situation does offer. Turn off the news and the phone ringer. Take
the little bit of heaven that is there for you!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers, please, for Lil, who died Friday, for her happy death, her family  and
all who mourn her. Prayers for someone discerning a community life vocation.

Ben Bennett had a total hip replacement, which was really the better of two
options, the break was so bad. Some of you have asked that I post his address,
so here it is:

28 West St., Petersham, MA 01366.

I still have no idea about whether or not he has health care coverage, but I
know he has no disability insurance. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's
will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so
much. JL

March 24, July 24, November 23
Chapter 44: How the Excommunicated Are to Make Satisfaction

One who for serious faults is excommunicated
from oratory and table
shall make satisfaction as follows.
At the hour when the celebration of the Work of God is concluded
in the oratory,
let her lie prostrate before the door of the oratory,
saying nothing, but only lying prone with her face to the ground
at the feet of all as they come out of the oratory.
And let her continue to do this
until the Abbess judges that satisfaction has been made.
Then, when she has come at the Abbess's bidding,
let her cast herself first at the Abbess's feet
and then at the feet of all,
that they may pray for her.

And next, if the Abbess so orders,
let her be received into the choir,
to the place which the Abbess appoints,
but with the provision that she shall not presume
to intone Psalm or lesson or anything else in the oratory
without a further order from the Abbess.

Moreover, at every Hour,
when the Work of God is ended,
let her cast herself on the ground in the place where she stands.
And let her continue to satisfy in this way
until the Abbess again orders her finally to cease
from this satisfaction.

But those who for slight faults are excommunicated
only from table
shall make satisfaction in the oratory,
and continue in it till an order from the Abbess,
until she blesses them and says, "It is enough."

REFLECTION

There is a LOT here for family and workplace, though one might not
think so at first glance. This chapter is not about kneeling and
prostrations, it is about asking for and receiving forgiveness.

The most important part of the puzzle here is that the offender accepts
correction, even punishment, and goes through the process to amend.
If the principles of mercy outlined here are employed without that VERY
important proviso, heartbreak and trouble for many can ensue. If the
offender walks off in a huff at the first sign of correction, this is NOT about
such a monastic at all.

One more really important point here. Especially in the really major
offenses, it is quite likely that more monastics are involved, not
just the Abbot and the offender. Still, St. Benedict does not include
them in the decision to forgive.

This is strikingly useful. The terms of forgiveness are NOT in our
hands, but in those of the Abbess. There is someone who has the
authority and right to say: "This is finished, we've got to move on!"
Wow! Now that's the sort of umpire or referee we could use in many
areas of life. It may not be available at your place of work (unless you
are the boss,) but it surely can be a big help in any family when a parent
assumes this role justly.

There is yet another bit of wisdom to be gleaned here that has
nothing to do with body language 1,500 years old. St. Benedict
establishes a system for the contrite one to actually make amends, to
ask for forgiveness and receive it. Sad to say, I have known, both in
my own monastic life and in the lives of others, people who would not
forgive or forget. "There is NOTHING you could do that would ever
make me forgive you!"

This is a horrible thing, but truthfully, after a certain point, it is no longer
the fault of the one who originally goofed, but of the monastic who refuses
to forgive, who bears a grudge. This is a much more serious issue than
kneeling or not kneeling in choir, more detrimental to community than
stretching out by the door for a week or so. This is cancerous.

Nobody is asking anyone to be so purblind stupid as to hold their
hands firmly on the same hot stove twice, but if Christians don't
forgive when asked, our common life cannot go on, and common life is
an integral part of Christianity. When people accept correction and
ask for forgiveness and try to mend, we must honor that somehow.

People confuse forgiveness with total memory block. Total memory
blocks are impossible for most people, maybe not even very healthy:
we received the gift of memory from God for a good reason. I can assure
you that there are people in my life who will never make me cry the second
time. Some added protection has been afforded by me that precludes that.

But we still have to live with such people, for all 7x70 times they ask to be
forgiven. Maybe we will never be able to be as vulnerable with
them again, but we have to establish at LEAST civility, and hopefully
even more than that. And, who knows, maybe, in time (long time!)
most of our original innocence and vulnerability will return. Maybe.
But those things do take time. To refuse outright to forgive is to
guarantee that the good things about reconciliation for both parties
will never happen at all. We are denied the "luxury" of such refusals
by both Gospel and Rule.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Jack, a mildly retarded adult who has gone home to God, for
his happy death and his family and all who mourn him. Prayers for three new
Benedictine priests of St. Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo: Fathers Aelred, Damien and
Matthew, and for Bishop Solis, who ordained them- they were his first
ordinations. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

March 25, July 25, November 24
Chapter 45: On Those Who Make Mistakes in the Oratory

When anyone has made a mistake
while reciting a Psalm, a responsory,
an antiphon or a lesson,
if he does not humble himself there before all
by making a satisfaction,
let him undergo a greater punishment
because he would not correct by humility
what he did wrong through carelessness.

But boys for such faults shall be whipped.

REFLECTION

This chapter bears the key to Benedictine community and
mercy: the offender is willing, perhaps even eager at times, to
humble himself after a fault, without any prompting, before any
action is taken from superiors. Contrast this with those who resist
ardently the slightest correction and you will quickly see what
such behaviour indicates! The hallmarks of our Order are humility
and obedience.

OK, another little slice of monastery life here! Brother Isidore is
Canadian, and runs very true to the stereotypical Canadian politeness
and reticence we Statesiders often tease him about. Brother joins in
this fun with a lot of good humour. (Please note British Commonwealth spelling
preferences here, a token offering!) One of his favourite lines of
jest is: "I'm sorry, it was my fault." This is best repeated while
striking his breast, after a glaringly obvious gaff by the OTHER
party, and all enjoy a laugh.

We follow the custom of kneeling in choir when one makes an audible
mistake here. Brother Isidore sits in my row. On more than one
waggish occasion, I have been known to comment that, if one wants to
have a little fun in choir, all one needs to do is make a mistake,
act like nothing happened, and wait for the Canadian to kneel. Oh,
well, it's a joke we all like- even Brother Isidore!

In winter time, when cough drops appear in choir stalls like a
seasonal rubric, I have also been known to place several crumpled
wrappers in Brother Isidore's choir stall while he was up singing in
the schola. For those who don't know, littering is *THE* original sin
in Canada. (Ever hear people comment how much cleaner the Canadian
side of Niagara Falls is? It's no joke.) Brother always rewards me by
recoiling with suitable horror when he returns to his place and finds
the offensive American litter!

The kneeling is just a way to say "I'm sorry" to the group. It also
has some (though by no means a total,) deterrent effect. Many are the
days when I kneel for the third time in one Office hour and just
think: "Why don't I just STAY on my knees for the duration?" It can
be funny, too. Hear a big gaff and watch 2/3 of a row kneel after the
verse is finished. On the other hand, I often- though not always,
alas- try not to look at who kneels. I can assure you, from the many
times I kneel myself, I find merit in the practice every time.
Honestly and truthfully admitting gaffs can be a source of great
growth.

And there's the key for all of us who are NOT in choir. Admit your
mistakes, own up, apologize. These common courtesies are very Christ-
like and are very, very rare in our world today. Modern people can
have such a distorted view of their own impeccability. When we admit
ours, we throw a compelling image of Christ into that secular morass.
It may be just throwing bread on the waters, but we never know whom
our truthful admissions may touch and lead to God.



Love and prayers,

Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers for the eternal rest of Ann, and for all our Anns and Joachims on this
feast of Sts. Ann and Joachim.

Prayers, please, for Doug, diabetic and double transplant of spleen and kidney.
Spleen is already working, kidney they won't know about for a few days. Prayers
for Mohamad, a recent immigrant, robbed for cigarettes while working in a
convenience store, shot in the head and the bullet lodged in his brain cannot be
removed. Has a pregnant wife due in September. Prayers for them both and for the
one who shot him. Prayers for Brendan and Basil, seeking a faith home in a
parish. Prayers, too, for Jonathan, being invested as an Oblate novice on August
3. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 26, July 26, November 25
Chapter 46: On Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters

When anyone is engaged in any sort of work,
whether in the kitchen, in the cellar, in a shop,
in the bakery, in the garden, while working at some craft,
or in any other place,
and she commits some fault,
or breaks something, or loses something,
or transgresses in any other way whatsoever,
if she does not come immediately
before the Abbess and the community
of her own accord
to make satisfaction and confess her fault,
then when it becomes known through another,
let her be subjected to a more severe correction.

But if the sin-sickness of the soul is a hidden one,
let her reveal it only to the Abbess or to a spiritual mother,
who knows how to cure her own and others' wounds
without exposing them and making them public.


REFLECTION

The Chapter of Faults, wherein monastics confessed public, external
faults, had become rather silly the way it was practiced before
Vatican II. I remember, years ago, seeing a glossary list of Latin
phrases used to describe different faults. As practiced, I'm not sure
it was the most useful thing in the world at all.

However, look at the kernel here, important for both monasteries and
families: communication. What St. Benedict wrote about was not the
formalized and largely empty ritual that the late 20th century had
come to know, it was an airing session of sorts. These can be very
useful. People in any life are often reluctant to open up about what
bothers them, monastics are often even more so! To provide a
structured way and time to do so might have given some just the extra
distance and protection they needed.

Slights and wrongs and hurts that lie hidden and unexpressed can
fester into a spreading, malignant growth. Note that the Holy Rule
bids us never let the sun set on our anger. We have to get the things
that REALLY bother us out. This hardly means a free for all, that
would be very contrary to the whole spirit of the Rule, but it does
mean that genuine differences must be solved in an open and
respectful and humble way.

The way for today's community or family may not be to do this all
together- but then again that might not be all bad, occasionally. At
any rate and however we do it, St. Benedict asks us to own up to our
failures and those of others because he knows it is terribly damaging
not to do so. A important item here is that the all the members must
feel safe to express themselves. How many kids who were afraid to
open their mouths to a parent about really serious troubles in their
relationship are still in therapy years later?

Whether alone or in a group, when we confess our fault to others, we
lighten our load. When we honestly and gently tell others that they
have hurt us or wronged us, we are often surprised to find that they
were unaware of having done so- no wonder they "kept right on doing
it!" We can also be wonderfully surprised at the depth of feeling
with which apologies may be made. Very often the gentle and loving
exposure of a problem between people gives us remarkable
opportunities to show our nobler side and to see that side of our
brothers and sisters.

The goal of this is peace, so it must never be done for any other
motive, for anything less than loving. There is the danger that we
lose track of the important "difference between the virtue of honesty
and the vice of brutal frankness" as my friend, Fr. Roger used to
say. This must never become an accepted arena for getting back at one
another. The whole purpose here is to end strife, not perpetuate it.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers, please, for Sandy, very near death from liver cancer. For her happy
death and eternal rest and for all her family and friends. Prayers for Brian, as
he mourns his beloved pet of 18 years, Shorty. Pet lovers will understand how
awful such a loss can be. Prayers for Buddy, waiting to get a new apartment, and
for his family, especially Joy and Dick, his parents. Prayers for Dianne and
Doreen, housing troubles and a difficulty with a family member. Prayers for an
Oblate whose father-in-law is pushing all her buttons badly. Patience and grace!
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

March 27, July 27, November 26
Chapter 47: On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God

The indicating of the hour for the Work of God
by day and by night
shall devolve upon the Abbot
either to give the signal himself
or to assign this duty to such a careful brother
that everything will take place at the proper hours.

Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned
by those who are appointed for it,
in their order after the Abbot.
And no one shall presume to sing or read
unless he can fulfill that office
in such a way as to edify the hearers.
Let this function be performed
with humility, gravity and reverence,
and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.

REFLECTION

Our families are varied, both in monasteries and in the world. Not
everyone has the gift of song or of reading aloud. Of those who do,
not everyone has the gifts of love and humility and these, too, must
be taken into account. The Solesmes Congregation is the world
authority in Gregorian chant, but even they must live by the Holy
Rule. I love the story of an Abbot of one their abbeys who used to
take the choir master down a peg or two when he thought he was being
too dominant, singing too loud, or too much of a soloist. He would
tell the offender to sing sotto voce for a given amount of time as a
reality check. Now there's a smart Abbot!

In Benedictine families, those who can are forbidden to look down on
those who cannot. Those who can are also forbidden to "star" in their
own productions. We have a place and function for everyone and that
place is firmly guarded by love, humility and equality. We do care
that word and chant be proclaimed edifyingly, even nobly, but the
minute we get sucked into the idiocy of performance or divahood of
either gender, the whole thing is flushed. As so often, the Holy
Rule's clear message is: "Get a life! Get real!"

We have vocations, not careers. If any job becomes our life, it is
time to change because, to us, any job is work, nothing more. It may
be prayerful work, but it is just work. In and of itself, it has no
more (or less!) relation to our monastic calling than cleaning
toilets or taking out the garbage. The manner and attitude we give to
any task whatsoever can either advance us on the monastic path,
stymie us, or pull us back. A superior who knows this and assigns
offices accordingly can be a very, very great blessing to all. One
who does not should be envied by none.

Father Gregory, our newest priest, has not the gift of song. He knows
that and we know that. It has never been easy for him when his turn came
up to be hebdomadary in choir. We wondered what would happen when
ordination turned him, perforce, into a celebrant. We shouldn't have.

I think some of Father's problem may be a genuine inability, one he
could have allowed to make him throw up his hands and quit, one he
could have let overcome him. He didn't do that. He tried and still
tries so admirably that it truly edifies me every time he sings.

He sings with tremendous concentration and humility, and all of us know
that these are born of a deep love and obedience in him. I have often
told Father that his voice pleases God more than any in our choir and
I mean that. He has, with practice, improved a great deal, but that
is not at all the focus: his efforts are, his determination and love
and obedience are. Father Gregory gives the best possible example of
how a Benedictine ought to sing. Would to God that we all had his
grace.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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