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Rule and Vows

RULE
Rule for Life January 12th, 2014

Rule for Life 

Preamble

For those who find themselves called by God to seek Him out in solitude , not belonging to a community,  yet otherwise free to be dedicated to God while not totally withdrawn from the life of the world:

Not everyone is called to live in a monastic community; but those called to seek God and be apart from the world to seek Him in contemplation, seek to know how to live the life to which He calls.  If you are called, then you already believe there is a God and that He involves himself in your life, and you have faith, hope and charity sufficient to obey Him. Likewise, you are present at Mass as often as possible, and are in obedience to the Holy Church, receiving the Sacraments by which you will be strong to succeed.

 St. Benedict has said, “We must hasten to do today what will profit us for eternity.”

God exists and He has a right to ask anything of us by virtue of having created us and keeping us in existence.  Let us resolve to seek counsel.

 In the Name of Jesus and the Name of Mary His Most Holy Mother Queen of Peace, in order to answer the insistent call of God to follow the path of those who have gone before me and enter into the way of perfection and self-emptying, I commit myself to surrender to His will unconditionally, and abandon myself into His Divine Providence.

 I commit myself to live a life of stricter separation from the world as a lay hermit, under this Rule and vows in the silence of solitude, in assiduous prayer, penance, and praise and to faithfully observe this rule.

The Rule is not greater than the needs of charity. 

 I set out to follow these precepts as a rule by which to guide my conduct as a lay hermit consecrated in the heart of Jesus Himself.

To commemorate His holy passion by my life, and desire to comfort Him, desiring to participate as He wishes, console Him in His desolation, and to comfort His brothers and sisters in the world by participating in their suffering. Offer devout and humble prayers to recommend His children to His Heart that they might know comfort of spirit. Offer prayers and sacrifices to the Lord to win conversion of sinners and unbelievers that they may know His love. Offer prayers and penance for atonement and reparation of sins. Accept and offer suffering for the souls in purgatory and those spiritually most in need, especially those near death.

Dedicate my life and sufferings to the spiritual support of priests and religious, and missionaries.

Remember that Jesus freely lay down on the cross and allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross for love; to enter into His will.

Renew my vows on December 8th, in order to be reminded of my obligations and commitment to Jesus, reminding myself to whom I have pledged my word and given my life and love.

To prefer that which is contrary to my preferences or against my will or discomforts or displeases me in order to empty myself so as to be full of my Lord instead.

Use the things of the world in order to make known the love of the Lord to His children, without claiming anything as my own.

Acquiesce to the will of God by accepting correction; acknowledge my faults and sins and endeavor to correct them.

Wear the habit where acceptable, representing myself as one whom Jesus has consecrated, acting as one loved by God, and to remind that it is necessary to do penance. It is permissible to take off the habit for work and cooking, mealtime and cleanup afterward to avoid unnecessarily soiling the habit. Let the habit be plain, consisting of a woolen Tunic, and Scapular of black cloth with hood and sandals. If desired, wear a ring to remind that I belong to God and to commemorate and give thanks for our joining.

In the case that it is not permissible or inappropriate to wear the habit, wearing the cross and the ring will constitute being clothed in the habit.

Refrain from eating meat more than once a day; Refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and Fridays in Ordinary time, and refrain from eating meat or more than two meals on Thursdays as well during Lent and Advent; and refrain from eating much, as a participation in the passion of Jesus and to offer Him a gift of love. Never eat from dinner the night before until after Mass each day except in case of illness. If a solemn feast day is to be observed on Tuesday, Thursday during Lent and Advent and Friday throughout the year, observe the feast and suspend fasting. In case of illness, it is permissible to eat meat once a day on a day of fasting. It is more beneficial to have the humility to accept disability than to insist on observing ascesis to the point of becoming ill and unable to render service to God in the observance of charity and the Rule.

Attend Mass as often as possible, and confess my sins and faults as often as  possible. Pray all of the decades and mysteries of the Rosary daily in accordance with the wishes of Our Lady at Medjugorje if possible; pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at three o’clock daily but say it at bedtime if it was not possible at the appointed time. Be present to God in prayer whenever possible.

In accordance with the necessity of exercising charity, if a call is received to render assistance during prayer time, it is permissible to interrupt prayer to render aid to one in need, since it must be regarded as the voice of God and an expression of His will to perform charitable works in His Name. The kindly attitude towards others constitutes a prayer in itself of a higher order than the mere enjoyment of personal comfort to be had in solitary prayer. If one conducts oneself in a charitable way, prayer has not been interrupted.

Pray Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer of the Divine Office.  Practice Lectio Divina and do spiritual reading.

Write down thoughts, poems, prayers and inspirations of the Lord, either in a handwritten log book or digital log or both.

Give thanks for all things to Jesus and His Mother and never cease imploring them for the strength and grace to be their holy child.

Review and revise this rule as Jesus inspires and directs so that it may benefit my soul.The Rule is to be observed with love, as the Will of God, to the best of my ability. In case I have not, to confess the deficiency when it is possible and amend my life to more closely observe the Rule, approaching my life as the means of pleasing God.

Amen

Schedule

5:00am                        Rise        

5:00am-6:00am         Breakfast

6:00am-7:00am          Weblog or Lectio Divina

7:00am-8:00am          Rosary or prayer, go to Mass
    
8:00am-9:00am          Spiritual Reading
    
9:00am-10:00am        Free time

11:00am-12:00am      Rosary

12:00am-15:00pm     Work (cleaning,  shopping other necessary business)

15:00pm-16:00pm      Chaplet of Divine Mercy

16:00pm-18:00pm      Dinner

18:00pm-19:00pm      Rosary or prayer

19:00                           Retire


VOWS

I Michael Miller,for one year's time,

In order to make my life holy, vow to my Lord Jesus Christ and to His Holy Mother Mary Queen of Peace, to live my life in poverty of spirit, in need of Him, living on His Divine Providence for all my needs spiritual and secular;

I vow to live my life as one promised to Jesus given in purity and as His sole possession and to no other;

I vow to live my life by the will of Jesus as far as I can know it preferring His will to mine as much as I am able;

I promise simply and personally to live by these vows with the help of Jesus and Mary and the Holy Catholic Church.

As His servant, and as much as I can be a servant of the Church, I beg my Lord’s blessing, and the blessing of the Church to fulfill these vows.

Amen.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

New Seeds of Contemplation Thomas Merton New Directions Book  Abbey of Gethsemane 2007

Das Weinachts –Oratorium 2004 edel CLASSICS GMBH Hamburg Germany

The Little Flowers of Saint Francis Dover Thrift Editions Dover Publications

St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle Study Edition ICS Publications 2010

The Imitation of Christ Thomas A Kempis Dover Thrift Publications

The Cloud of Unknowing edited by Evelyn Underhill

Abandonment fo Divine Providence Jean Pierre de Coussade

The New American Bible St. Joseph Edition Catholic Book Publishing

The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross ICS Publications 1991

The Rule of St. Benedict Liturgical Press Collegville Minnesota 1981

The Way of Perfection Kieran Kavanugh Study edition ICS Publications 2000

The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila Volume Three Kieran Kavanaugh OCD ICS Publications 1985

Padre Pio the Stigmatist rev. Charles Carty tan Books 1963

Conjectures of an guilty Bystander Thomas Merton Image 2014

The Philokalia The Complete Text Volume Two GFH Palmer 1981

Thomas Merton The Seven Story Mountain Harvest Books Harcourt Inc. 1998

Toward God Michael casey Liguori 1996

Behold the Pierced One Joseph Ratzinger Ignatius Press 1984

Mother Theresa IN My Own Words Grammercy Books New York 1996

St. Therese of Lisieux Story of a Soul Marc Foley OCD ICS Publication 2005

A Holy Life St. Bernadette of Lourdes Ignatius Press 2005

The Magnificent Prayers of Saint Bridget of Sweden Tan Books 1940

Therese Neumann Adalbert vogl 1987 Tan Books

Autobiography & Diary of Saint Gemma Galgani

Sister Wendy’s Book of Saints Dorling Kindersly 1998

Journey of Faith The Story of the Archdiocese  Editions du Signe Ersel, Laughlin 2013