Dear People, Neighbours, and Friends of St. Thomas’s,
In the afternoon on Tuesday, 20 September, God willing, I will be admitted as a priest companion of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd at their Professions Mass, which will take place at a retreat centre in Niagara Falls, where the brethren will be gathered for their provincial retreat. I will not be attending the whole retreat myself, as that is for the professed brothers, but will be joining them for a few things during their gathering.
Why am I doing this? For three simple words: rule of life. If you don’t know what a rule of life is, check out the website of Sacred Ordinary Days.
For my own part, I have been inspired to do this by the examples of Fr. David Brinton, OGS and Fr. Philip Hobson, OGS. Our former interim priest-in-charge, Fr. David, is the brother in charge of the Oratory in Canada, and Fr. Philip, who is also the regional dean for the diocesan clergy of this area, is currently in charge of the entire province of North America! (The other provinces are Europe, Australia, and South Africa.)
The Good Shepherd by Helen Zughaib
While one can write one’s own rule of life, I have felt called to adopt the rule of life that the Oratory of the Good Shepherd has drawn up for its priest companions because, as I told the brother in charge of the companions, I’ve already been living most of the rule for over a decade now. The specifics are these:
THE RULE OF LIFE FOR PRIEST COMPANIONS OF THE ORATORY OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
I. To recite the daily offices of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer and to celebrate, or be present at, the Holy Eucharist on Sunday and on three weekdays.
II. In addition to I., to spend thirty minutes daily in prayer and meditation.
III. To have a rule of almsgiving.
IV. To make a regular examination of conscience and make use of the sacrament of confession.
V. To make an annual retreat of not less than three days.
VI. To pray weekly for the Oratory of the Good Shepherd.
VII. To have in hand a definite course of study.
VIII. To report four times a year on the observance of this rule to the member of the Oratory appointed for this purpose.
The term “rule of life” comes from the “regula” that monastics follow. The most famous regula is the one composed by St. Benedict in 516. It has endured for over a millennium and a half now, and is the basis for much of my own spiritual formation. The word “regula” means, literally, a straight piece of wood used in measuring things, that is, a “ruler.” A rule of life can help us measure our spiritual health.
A lot of people with whom I’ve worked in spiritual direction who have taken on some sort of rule of life often report feeling guilty for not keeping their rule with greater rigour. My response to that is that if the main thing your rule does for you is make you feel guilty, you are living by the wrong rule! A rule should not be onerous, nor should it be kept with scrupulosity. Rather, a rule of life is simply one more way to keep oneself accountable in living a Christian life.
Over the course of my life, having a network of accountability has been essential to my spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. I need other people to keep me on the right track. I have medical, psychological, and psychiatric resources to which I can turn when I need to work on my physical and mental health, and I have a spiritual director or confessor to whom I turn to maintain my spiritual health. My wife and family are a part of my network of accountability, and I strive to serve the same role for them. The key lay leaders of this parish are part of that network of accountability, as are the staff and any who take it upon themselves to reach out and check in with me. I have learned over the years that defensiveness doesn’t do me any good, and so I try my best when faced with criticism to acknowledge and affirm what is true, even if the truth hurts, while still not submitting myself to the abuse of others. (So, for instance, if someone tells me I’m too nosey, I can ask Anne whether that’s true, and when she tells me that it is, I can apologize.)
My rule of life is simply one more way to live out my Christian identity from day to day. Over the coming months, from time to time, I plan on writing a little bit more on this topic, and I invite others in this community who follow a rule of life to share it in the Thurible, even anonymously if you like. I am hoping thereby to encourage everyone in this community to give some thought to what their own rule of life might be. There are lots of tools for discerning and crafting one, and there are, like the priest companion rule, ready-made ones out there to consider adopting. The Oratory of the Good Shepherd is now a part of my network of accountability, and I am pleased that I will be keeping good company with some very trustworthy priests.
Finally, I want to encourage everyone who has read this far and who is able to make it to St. Thomas’s in person to adopt more than a Sunday morning service as a part of an experiment in community life. Can you come to Sunday Mass and Sunday Evensong? Do so! Can you come to one Low Mass during the week, one Morning Prayer service, or one Evening Prayer service? Do so! Right now, we have about half a dozen people on average coming to Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer on the days I attend (Tuesday through Friday). On Mondays, we are trying to recruit a few people who can help us hold down the fort, since Fr. Shire and I both take our sabbath rest on that day. It is amazing what a difference it makes when just a few people gather in the quire of St. Thomas’s for fifteen to twenty-five minutes on average in the morning and in the evening. I have begun to see our Daily Office as the nucleus of this parish’s prayer life. I would like to see that nucleus expand! Attending the Daily Office or Low Mass even once in the week is a great encouragement to those of us who attend regularly, and I am convinced that our daily prayers are at the heart of what makes our Sunday worship so dynamic. I invite you to come and see for yourself how transformative something as simple as what we do every day can be, not only in your life, but for the life of the world.Yours in Christ’s service,
Fr. Nathan J.A. Humphrey
VIII Rector