work. Without the Superior’s permission he should not sleep in his cell outside the accustomed time.20 He should be cautious in using light. He should not keep in his cell anything, which would not be in agreement with utmost poverty. Let him love his cell as if it were a temporary Heaven, and desire to go out of his cell, by the mercy of God, only to Heaven. Chapter VI Schedule 1. “The day evolves by God’s arrangement.”21 Therefore, the day is to be passed, for God’s glory, in good order. Rising a little after the middle of the night, you will move together to the church, when the second signal has been given. There, during the verse Tantum ergo Sacramentum, you will adore the Blessed Sacrament. Then you will say devotedly, distinctly, with attention and clearly, the Little Office of the Immaculate Conception22 to the end of None (according to the Roman Correction, approved by Pope Innocent XI in the brief sent to Emperor Leopold I on December 18, 1678) together with the first part of the Rosary, in the vernacular because of the brother-helpers. After the Rosary, you will spend an hour in mental prayer, at the end of which you will receive the Superior’s blessing with holy water. 2. From six to nine o’clock, devote your time to reading, studies, or works according to the Superior’s wishes. At nine-thirty you will recite the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer of the Office of the Dead. At ten, you have the conventual Mass; at eleven, an examination of conscience, reflecting on the Four Last Things,23 then the Litany of the Name of 20 or, “take rest.” 21 Latin proverb: “ordinatione Dei perseverat dies.” 22 Cf. Lucien Ceyssens, OFM, Le Petit Office de I’lmmaculée Conceptions Prétendue Approbation, Condemnation (1578). Tolérance (1679), in Virgo Immaculate XVII, Romae 1957, pp. 41-124; Positio, p. 474, footnote 67. 23 i.e., death, judgment, Heaven, & hell. The Rule of Life 293
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==