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THE Rule of Life of the COMMUNITY of JESUS

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THE Rule of Life of the COMMUNITY of JESUS THE RULE OF LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY OF JESUS PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES © 2011 The Community of Jesus, Inc. The Community of Jesus, Inc. 5 Bay View Drive P. O. Box 1094 Orleans, MA 02653 www.communityofjesus.org COntents PROLOGUE 1 SECTION I PRINCIPLES: VOCATION AND PROFESSION PA R T A VOCATION CHAPTER 1: The Call to Follow Jesus Christ 3 CHAPTER 2: The Call to Live for God 4 CHAPTER 3: The Call to Worship and Prayer 7 CHAPTER 4: The Call to a Common Life 11 CHAPTER 5: The Call to Reconciliation and Unity 16 PART B PROFESSION CHAPTER 6: The Vowed Life 18 CHAPTER 7: The Vow of Obedience 20 CHAPTER 8: The Vow of Conversion 21 CHAPTER 9: The Vow of Stability 22 CHAPTER 10: The Vows of Celibacy and Poverty 23 SECTION II PROCEDURES: MEMBERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE PART C MEMBERSHIP CHAPTER 11: Categories of Membership and Association 24 CHAPTER 12: Formation 29 CHAPTER 13: Separation from the Community 3 0 PART D GOVERNANCE CHAPTER 14: The Rule of Benedict 36 CHAPTER 15: Rule of Life of the Community of Jesus 36 CHAPTER 16: The Superior 37 CHAPTER 17: The Subprior(ess) 43 CHAPTER 18: Chapter 44 CHAPTER 19: Council and Deans 49 CHAPTER 20: Officers of the Chapter 51 CHAPTER 21: Temporalities 52 CHAPTER 22: Ratification and Amendment of theRule of Life 53 The Vows 55 The Oblate Covenant 56 PROLOGUE OR ALMOST TWO MILLENNIA , Christian monasticism has received F inspiration and instruction from its roots. Each new generation draws upon these roots to give shape to the values of the monastic life, even as it strives to make its own particular application of those values both contemporary and abiding. The originating vision, with all of its multiple expressions, is the primary source for monasticism’s continual vitality and advancement. Monastic rules form an integral part of that source. They serve to identify and explain the fundamental characteristics of the monastic tradition— defining its purpose, ordering its priorities, and regulating its practice. Based upon biblical teaching, church tradition, and a particular founding charism, these rules historically have served as guides for those who embark upon the monastic journey. Through their message the pilgrim community hears, again and again, the compelling and corrective voice of the Master: “This is the way; walk in it” (Isa. 30:21). The Community of Jesus has been called by God to take its place along this venerable path. As we make our way, we read the helpful signs left by those who have gone before us, and we endeavor to leave our own for those who will come after us. More than words, of course, the most effective signs are the examples of those who have been and are being faithful to this sacred vocation. The monastic life has never been so much about adhering to written rules as it has been about yielding to the work of the Spirit. The life-giving source that most inspires and instructs us is found in those letters “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3). So it is that, just as we best read the word of God in the incarnate life of God, Jesus Christ, we best read the spiritual principles of the Community of Jesus in the lives of its members. Since its founding, the Community of Jesus has cherished the inherited conviction that human lives can be changed—converted and re-formed by the burnishing hand of the Holy Spirit—and made to reflect more clearly the life of their Maker and Lord. We believe that, in the end, it is lives, not 2 | THE RULE OF LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY OF JESUS words, that are the true keepers of the monastic vision. Etched with the marks of God’s handiwork, people, not rules, are the only guarantors of a community’s faithfulness and preservation. Therefore, the simple purpose of this rule is to assist in the making of such transformed people. In this generation and in the generations to come, may it serve as a guide for those who walk this way, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to the glory of God the Father. THE RULE OF LIFE SECTION I: SECTION I Describes the fundamental spiritual PRINCIPLES principles integral to the life of the PART A Community. VOCATION PART A: Vocation: Lat. voco, to call, summon. } CHAPTER 1 THE CALL TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST The Community of Jesus is a fellowship of Phil. 2:9-11 Christian disciples called by our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 1:16 and dedicated to the honor of his name. He is the Mt. 4:18-22; Rom. 1:6; source of our life, both individually and corporately, Gal. 1:15; Heb. 11:8 RB Prol. 14-21 and our existence is made possible only in him. God’s call is pure gift, and our grateful response, made possible by his grace, is the complete offering of our lives to him and to his service. We believe, therefore, that the supreme vocation of our lives is Rule of Benedict (RB) to follow Jesus Christ—confessing with our lips, Prol. 45; 4.21; 72.11 believing in our hearts, and affirming by our lives Rom. 10:9 that he is Lord and Savior. It is our joyful and solemn “yes” to this call that has brought us from our various backgrounds to form a united body RB Prol. 35; 4.78 of believers who seek to express a sacred vocation in the ordinary routines of daily life together. In turn, it is our daily life together that supports our constant attention to the divine call. As an assembly of the faithful, the Community of Jesus is one expression of the universal Church. There are many others whose patterns of life, forms of worship, and structures of government are quite different from ours. This is part of the 4 | THE RULE OF LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY OF JESUS rich heritage we all share as members of the one 1 Cor. 12:12 Body of Christ. Thus, we embrace a vocation to follow Jesus Christ in communion with all those who have been called by his name, even as that vocation takes a distinctive shape and bears the particular features of this community. We do not exist for ourselves alone. After our Lord’s own example and following his command, this community also endeavors to be for others a faithful witness to the presence of God’s kingdom. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we strive to make our common life a sign within the church and a testimony to the world of the prevailing mercy of Jn. 13:35 God and the eternal truth proclaimed in his Son, Jesus Christ. } CHAPTER 2 THE CALL TO LIVE FOR GOD Having accepted the call to follow Christ, we know that we are not our own. In every way our lives belong to God, for we have been created in 1 Cor. 6:19-20; his image, redeemed by his love, and “appointed Col. 3:10 ; Eph. 1:3-12 to live for the praise of his glory.” Members of the Community of Jesus, therefore, make it their aim to seek and to follow God’s ways in all aspects of life. We dedicate ourselves to this pursuit as one aspect of Mk. 12:30 our obedience to the great commandment, to love RB Prol. 49-50; 4.1,21 God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. L IVING BY THE SPIRIT Jn. 16:13 Since its beginnings, the Community has stressed the importance of dependence on the power RB Prol. 41 and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Life in Christ, Lk. 24: 49; Acts 1:8 individually and communally, is not possible SECTION I: PRINCIPLES PART A: VOCATION | 5 1 Cor. 2:11 without the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and help. 1 Cor. 12:4-11 Gal. 5:22-23 Any unity we share, any ability to do the will of God, any capacity for creativity or excellence, is due to the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Rom. 8:1-14 Living in the Spirit of God means that the thoughts of the mind, the 6 emotions of the heart, and the decisions of the will are all submitted to God and renewed by the sanctifying power of his Spirit. Above all, therefore, we seek to be led by the Spirit into the truth of God, and imbued by the Spirit with the love of God. Large and small matters alike are brought to God with the expectation that, by his Spirit, he will supply the direction and provision we need. In spite of human errors, he proves faithful in guiding us—teaching us his ways, correcting our faults, increasing our Jn. 14: 26; 16:13 understanding of his will, and leading us into RB Prol. 41 the truth. Though we actively work to conform Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49 2 Cor. 3:18; our conduct according to Christ’s teaching, only Phil. 2:12-13 the Spirit of God actually transforms our lives according to Christ’s image. L IVING IN THE LIGHT The integrity of our fellowship with God and with each other is dependent upon our commitment to 1 Jn. 1:5-10; 1 Pet. 2:9 “walk in the light as he is in the light.” “Living in the light,” therefore, means living according to the truth—the truth about God and the truth about ourselves—from which we are often blinded by human sin and frailty.
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