Your clothes shall be washed, as regulated by the superior— either by yourselves or others— so that too great a desire of clean clothes defile not inwardly your souls.
St Augustine gives the reason why the washing of the clothes is to be regulated by the superior. It is that no one shall contract the inward stain of sin by an inordinate desire regarding their clothing. If one is prompted by vainglory to effect an extreme cleanliness externally, by this very motive he stains his soul internally. So it is incumbent upon superiors to see that their subjects do not commit faults by studying excessive neatness of their clothes. For it is not so much cleanliness of dress as spotlessness of life that must adorn the religious. So the Apostle admonishes us : ” Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind” (Rom. xii. 2). For those that cultivate an appearance in keeping with the ideas of the world, usually fail to give attention to
the beauty of the interior life: the more the outward appearance is studied, the less thought is given to the state of the soul. The true spiritual neatness that God looks for in us is indicated in these words : ” Wash yourselves, be clean : take away the evil of your devices from my eyes” (Isaias i. 16). Our Lord said not: “Blessed are the clean of body,” but “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God ” (Matt. v. 8).
But on the other hand, lest any should imagine that all care of the body is to be neglected, the rule says : —
Baths, when needed, are by no means to be denied. But let them be arranged without murmuring and by the advice of the physician. And although any one should not be willing, yet when the superior commands, she shall do what is required for her health. On the other hand, if she desires it, when perhaps it is not expedient, let not her will therein be fulfilled.
This direction coincides with that of the Apostle, who forbides that care of the body that is suggested by sensuality, not that which is really necessary. And there is a great difference between the two. What is necessary is also useful ; what is according to sensual desire merely, is harmful. Some have been known to maintain that bodily medicine should not be known amongst religious. But if they considered, they would have to admit that our food and drink and clothing and all material things used for the needs of the body
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are but so many forms of medicine and serve the same purpose.
Let baths be arranged without murmuring, and according to the advice of the physician.
This is prescribed with good reason.
Where the bath is necessary one who is unwilling must be obliged to make use of it. When it is only a matter of pleasure — the desire must be restrained. In all such matters it is need and not pleasure that is to be considered. For sometimes, even when harmful, that which gives satisfaction is thought to do good. And here we see the reason why we must not follow the promptings of every desire, namely, because we often deceive ourselves and believe that we shall benefit by what is pleasing to us. Sensuality often deceives in this way. It declares to be good for us what is often most evil and pernicious. Here again we see why the Sacred Scripture so strongly condemns love of comfort and the pleasures experienced in the flesh. These lead to death more quickly than might be suspected.
For sometimes one thinks that what is agreeable is good for health, whereas it may be hurtful.
According to the advice of St Paul, we must refrain from carnal desires that war against the soul, because the flesh lusteth against the spirit. By the discipline of the will we must repress the
rebellion of the flesh. Some give themselves up to excessive rigour, whilst others indulge the ease of the flesh. The former, ardently longing for the spiritual life, often end by disabling the body whilst attacking their faults. But we must understand that if virtue be not regulated it is turned by excess into vice. Those that wish to live according to the flesh, make it their one aim to look after the body and gratify their desires. It is for us to moderate these two excesses. Those inclined to be like the first mentioned must be made to do what is necessary for their good. The others must be prevented from following out their carnal desires. The health of the body must be sustained in order to serve God, but at the same time sensuality must be kept under control. As the rule has spoken of sickness that is apparent, it treats now of that which might escape notice.
If any one has any secret pain or complaint, and declares it, she, the servant of God, shall be believed without mistrust.
It is but right to believe at once those whose good life and conduct prove them to be the servants of God. We can detect truth or falsehood from the life of a person better than from that person’s words only. “By their fruits you shall know them ” (Matt. vii. 20).
They that serve God are not given to deceit or duplicity: they are not to be reckoned with
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those that, in heart as with their lips, speak what is false. The servants of God are the same in heart as they declare themselves to be by their word. A good life always gives weight to what is said ; whereas an evil life makes even the truth appear doubtful. They, then, that beyond doubt are good and virtuous, must be believed without mistrust.
If the infirmity be hidden, the patient is to be believed without mistrust. The servant of God fears to offend God in word as well as in deed. We should all strive to live so that whatever we say may be believed without any hesitation. Our life ought to be the recommendation of our word ; our virtues should bear testimony to our truthfulness. As our Saviour says of Himself : ” If you will not believe me, believe the works ” (St John x. 38) ; and again, “The works that I do, they give testimony of me” {Ibid. 25). Some persons are not believed even when they speak the truth ; because they are evil, or are suspected of being so. If our lives are above suspicion, our words will be taken at once for true. The less virtuous a person is, the less credit is given to what he says: the more religious one is, the greater faith is placed in his word. As the sick person sometimes experiences a desire for something that is contrary to the requirements of the illness, the rule says : —
And if it be uncertain whether what the sick
person desires be good for her, let the physician be consulted.
The words of the sick are to be believed, but their wishes are not necessarily to be granted at once, because unlawful desires may tempt them. Therefore it is prescribed that the physician be consulted. He is able to remove the doubt and make the matter certain. Nor is it strange that the rule bids us seek the advice of the doctor, since we read that St Paul gave advice as to the use of medicine. In his epistle to his disciple, Timothy, he says : ” Use a little wine for the stomach’s sake and thy frequent infirmities” (i Tim. v. 23). So the prudent master moderates the abstinence of his disciple, lest, overcome by continued suffering, he should be rendered too weak to devote himself to his work of preaching. For, though it was well that St Timothy should reap the fruit of patience from his afflictions, nevertheless the Apostle foresaw that it was of greater utility that he should gain more strength by the use of medicine, in order to win more souls to God. So, of several good objects, the most useful should always be aimed at. Relying on this authority, then, we may say that it is our duty to seek medicines for the ills of the body, in order that we may be able to produce fruit in God’s service.
But if it be judged necessary that such persons should go to the baths or elsewhere, they shall not go less than two or three together.
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” For we forecast what may be good,” says the Apostle, “not only before God, but also before men” (2 Cor. viii. 21).
A good conscience suffices for ourselves, but our good reputation must also go abroad for the sake of others. They that rely on their own conscience and neglect what people think of them are unjust to their neighbours, especially if they be in such a position as are we religious, to each of whom the words of St Paul may be addressed : ” In all things show thyself an example of good works ” (Tit. ii. 7) ; or, as he says again : ” We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men” (1 Cor. iv. 9).
Those that esteem us look for the justification of their esteem in our lives ; those that are opposed to us take hold of every pretext to speak ill of us. Between the two, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must guard our life and good name that we may constrain even our calumniators to speak well of us. So, then, two or three must go out together both for company and for the preservation of our good name. Solomon said : “Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth he hath none to lift him up. If two lie together, they shall warm one another” (Eccl. iv. 10, 11). It is wisely added: —
They shall go with whom the superior appoints.
In this way the superior consults the safety of
the persons over whom she is placed, and on the other hand, the subject practises obedience.
The care of the sick, who either are recovering or suffering under any infirmity, even though it be fever, shall be committed to some one, who shall ask for whatever she sees to be necessary for the sick.
A sister must be chosen, animated by the fear of God, to exercise the greatest care for the sick. She must make it her study to provide what is necessary for them, and attend upon them with the same consideration and affection as if she waited upon our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For He will say in the judgment : ” I was sick and you visited me… . Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. xxv. 36, 40).
In this way the stronger are to bear the weakness of the suffering, and fulfil the precept of divine charity as the Apostle declares : ” Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ ” (Gal. vi. 2). This law of Christ is Love, and the office of love is to bear one another’s burdens. As different infirmities afflict now one and now another of us, we bear these burdens mutually for one another, and there is no truer mark of real friendship than this mutual support. Those that are ill must bear in mind that it is for the love of God that they are nursed. They must use all possible care not to cause pain by their impatience, nor to overtax the sisters that
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tend them by unnecessary calls upon them. At the same time let them remember to give thanks to God, so that the sickness, as designed by divine Providence, may effect the cleansing of the soul, and in no way become the source of new faults.
And such as are officers of the cellary, of the wardrobe, or of the library, must serve their sisters without murmuring.
The sisters entrusted with these offices are to discharge them with such charity as neither to complain themselves, nor cause others to murmur. We may recall, on the authority of St Gregory, that it is a serious fault to give way to murmuring. ” No one who murmurs obtains the Kingdom of Heaven,” he says, “and no one who possesses it ever can murmur.” The Wise Man says also : ” The heart of a fool is as a wheel of a cart loaded with hay” (Eccles. xxxiii. 5), it creaks continually beneath its burden. So do those members of the community who, burdened with their unmortified desires, never cease their complaints. ” Neither do you murmur,” says St Paul, “as some of them murmured, and perished by the serpents” (1 Cor. x. 10). They were destroyed by the poison of the serpents as they themselves had the poison of Satan in their murmuring tongues. The tongue, according to St James, ” is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison ” (James iii. 8). We must then be careful not to murmur and perish by this deadly poison of Satan.
Books shall be asked for at a certain hour every day, and whosoever shall ask for them out of the time appointed shall not have them.
The rule prescribes above, the attention to prayer at the appointed times. We must then observe well the times at which we ought to pray and those at which we ought to read.
Then, regarding our work, the rule says that no one must work for herself, but that all is to be done in common. The rule treats separately of those things, all of which are necessary for the welfare of our spiritual life, namely, prayer, because it purifies us ; reading, because it instructs ; work, because it is a source of happiness. The Psalmist says : ” Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands : blessed art thou and it shall be well with thee” (Ps. cxxvii. 2).
The frequent use of books is recommended by the regulation that books may be asked for every day. The servant of God ought to read much. For the reading of the Divine Word is most beneficial, seeing that our books will tell us what we should guard against, how we should occupy ourselves, and whither we are tending. ” Thy word,” the Psalmist says, ” is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths ” (Ps. cxviii. 105). For reading gives light to the mind and to the judgment ; prepares us for prayer and work, and disposes us for all the exercises both of the active and contemplative life. Blessed is the man “that shall meditate on the law of the
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Lord day and night” (Ps. i. 2). These, then, are the weapons we have to wield against the devil : prayer, reading, and work. These are the means of our sanctification, and consequently of attaining eternal happiness. By these means we shall repress our passions and find food for all virtues. When we cease reading we must turn our attention at once to manual occupation, because idleness is very harmful to the soul, and if our enemy should discover any one unemployed in reading or work, he easily succeeds in leading such a one into evil. Your reading will teach how you should live in holiness yourselves and how you are to teach others. By your work and bodily exercise you will destroy in you what serves as food to the passions. You will provide for your own wants, and will find something to bestow upon them that suffer want.
But as for clothing and shoes, when any one has immediate need thereof, those who have them in keeping shall not delay to give them to those who ask.
We have here a similar instruction to the above, ” to serve the sisters without complaint.” Those in charge of the community’s goods cannot put off the distribution of necessaries without being an occasion of sin to their sisters by causing them to murmur and complain. So that they must set great importance on attending to their sisters for God’s sake, and in giving out the necessary objects
at convenient times. They must discharge this duty without grumbling, without any ill-feeling, without delay, but rather in a ready and cheerful spirit — for “God loveth the cheerful giver.” Let them see that the members of the community are well provided with what they require, according to the custom of our congregation and according to the means of the community.
In this way shall those that serve the others have greater merit before God. In the clothing and shoes of the religious there should be a moderation becoming their state. They must not be costly or too elegant, nor yet too mean and poor. They should not be made too stylishly, but at the same time not carelessly. In a word, let the object be always to provide clothing that is in keeping with the religious simplicity of our state.
It must also be remarked that the members of the community are not to ask for what they need with impatience, nor must they expect to be provided with things that do not become their state of life. Anything that, as religious, they ought not to have, becomes a source of evil to them. Let them bear in mind that all the objects for their use come from the offerings that the faithful have made to God in atonement for their sins. Consequently rather than take pride in the use of all that is given them, let them always fear, since of all religious may be understood what was said of the Levites in the Old Law,
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namely, that they should bear the sins of the people.1 All, then, are obliged to be solicitous for the salvation of those in whose gifts they participate, and we cannot forget this duty without incurring great danger. Hence, as the rule has already said, it is safer for the poor of Christ to be in need than to have plenty. For how can we pretend to observe poverty unless we endure a certain amount of want patiently for God. We might make it a rule for ourselves to abstain from the lawful use of objects allowed us, in proportion as we recognise that we have transgressed by indulging in forbidden satisfactions in the past. We must needs enter by the narrow gate of self-denial in order to reach the broad and spacious land of heavenly joys. Let us always remember the salutary truth that the stricter the life we impose upon ourselves now, the greater shall be the glory enjoyed in heaven.
Let there be no contention among you— or, at least, put an end to it as quickly as possible — lest a little anger grow into hatred, and so make of a mote a beam, and render the soul guilty of murder; for you read, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” (1 John iii. 15).
This is the way that sins often grow. When we are unwilling to keep back the idle word, we soon pass to words that are really evil : we give way to grumbling and detraction — perhaps
1 “Only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle and bear the sins of the people ” (Numb, xviii. 23).
to disputes and strife, thence to anger and hatred. Thus is verified the saying of the Wise Man : ” He that contemneth small things shall fall by little and little” (Ecclesiasticus xix. i). Whilst one fault gives rise to another, a constant state of imperfection is established. Hence the prophet says : ” Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity ” (Isaias v. 8) ; and the Psalm : ” They have lengthened their iniquity: the Lord, who is just, will cut the necks of sinners ” (Ps. cxxviii. 3, 4).
It must always be our chief care to be on our guard against any sin, for it is better to prevent than to have to amend. Then if, through frailty, we should happen to fall, our fault will be the more easily corrected because it will be quickly recognised. We may apply those words of God to the serpent in this sense : ” She shall crush thy head” (Gen. iii. 15). The head of the serpent is crushed when sin is corrected as soon as it is committed. Every one of us, then, must be anxious to amend as soon as she feels that she has erred.
The difference between anger and hatred is as the difference between the mote and the beam. Hatred is an inveterate state of bad feeling. It may well be that one is angry with another and at the same time deeply concerned for his amendment and correction. But one can have no such good object in view in hating a neighbour. Anger disturbs the sight of the mind, but hatred destroys it entirely; so that the Apostle could say: “He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother,
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is in darkness” (1 John ii. 9). When we are tempted to anger we do not recognise the injustice of our feeling, so that as soon as possible we should endeavour to regain the calm of meekness. Otherwise a persistent movement of anger may easily be turned into hatred of the one we will not forgive.
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