According to the Rule of St. Augustine
In the Constitution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, “A member is one who has made public profession in accordance with the Rule and Constitution of the Congregation” (19.1, p. 38). The Rule referred to here is the Rule of St. Augustine, chosen by St. Dominic at the time of the founding of the Order. The Rule is the guideline by which religious lived. The following reflection was given by Sister Nadine Foley, OP, on the Feast of St. Augustine, August 29, 2009. The readings of the day were 1 John 4:7-16 and Mt 23:8-12.
In our reading from the First Letter of John today we have a discourse on love that has a number of familiar themes:
Let us love one another because love is of God.
It is not that we have loved God but that God has loved us.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
On this day this reflection on love is assigned for us as we celebrate the feast of St. Augustine, one who has special significance for us as Dominicans.
We are all familiar with the fact that Dominic was required to choose for his new Order a Rule that was already in existence and he chose The Rule of St. Augustine. And each of us here who is Dominican took a vow, among other things, to the Rule of St. Augustine in a formula that is as old as the Order to which we belong. What can that possibly mean for us today in this 21st century?
After all St. Augustine wrote it in the fifth century. The story goes that he wrote it for a monastery of nuns where his sister had been the superior and where a niece and a cousin lived. Apparently, there was trouble afoot over the appointment of a new superior and Augustine took the occasion to express his thoughts on the virtues and practices appropriate to religious life.
In light of our first reading it is interesting to note the very first line of the Rule, which most of here can recite from memory, I am sure.
Before all things, most dear Sisters, we must love God, and after Him our neighbor; for these are the principal commands which have been given to us.
From this foundational principle of Christian life, rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, Augustine turns to the themes of unity and community which are pervasive in the text and which flow from the love that binds us together. They give us something to think about as we observe this feast in recognition of him.
There is a tendency, I think, to regard the Rule as something of a relic, as an obsolete remnant from the past. Perhaps only one thing comes to mind—that we are admonished to go to the baths two by two. And there are some other things pertinent to the times in which the Rule was written. Like many things the Rule is culturally conditioned by the times of its origin, not unlike many parts of the Scriptures themselves.
But the fundamental principles related to unity and community are timeless and as relevant today as they were then. They have their roots in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. Perhaps you will remember this copy of the Rule developed by Sister Sarah Sharkey where lines of the Rule are associated with numerous biblical passages. It is worthy of study and perhaps an examination of conscience.
Consider some of the ideas:
You are brought together to dwell in unity in the house.
Let all things be common.
If you bring things with you, let them be for common use.
Do not take pride in what you have brought with you and expect special privilege.
Be of one mind and live in concord.
Be faithful in prayer
Let each one be supplied according to her need.
Dress modestly, without ostentation.
Adapted to our times these ideas and others are as valuable today as they were in the fifth century when they were written. Furthermore, they are all derivative from the very first principle: You must love God and after God your neighbor. But love does not stop until we understand that our love of neighbor breaks out of comfort in cloistered protective walls into our world where we find those neighbors that we are to love and with whom we must live in unity and community.
In the fifth century the understanding of the world was fairly circumscribed but it is not today. Today the neighborhood reaches beyond the stars. And the whole of it is embraced in God’s love and ours. Living in unity takes on new significance. One writer puts it this way:
The one through whom all things were created is also the one in whom the enormous diversity of creatures is gathered and sustained as one coherent whole. No unimaginably distant galaxy, no inconceivably minute atomic element, no incomprehensibly sordid soul, is beyond the reach of Christ’s authority or outside the range of his dominion [and love]. In him, all that presses toward division, divergence, and discord in life is bounded by the infinitely gentle but eternally enduring embrace of love. (John S. Mogabgab, Introduction. Weavings. May/June, 1993. P. 2)
When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” he responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan who tended the injured Hebrew lying on the roadside. In an expanded view of neighborhood, there is much lying by our roadsides of life that need our compassionate care.
The dispossessed and forgotten
The sick and hungry
The trashed environment
Even that part of space we are able to access
The trafficked at home and abroad
The victims of war and violence
The list can go on. But this is the community to which we belong and in which we vow to live in unity.
As we observe the feast of St. Augustine today let us recall this man of great learning and wisdom whose insight into the foundation of our Dominican life is still relevant today. Let us together recite those first lines of the Rule to which we have vowed obedience:
Before all things, most dear Sisters, we must love God, and after Him our neighbor; for these are the principal commands which have been given to us.