To our most Holy Father Saint Benedict – Modernized Edition

Most glorious Father, in whose School¹A reference to the Prologue of the Benedictine Rule, which refers to the Benedictine monastery as a “school of God’s service” (Dominici schola servitii).
          I live and hope to die,
God grant I may observe²Obey. thy Rule,
          For in that all doth lie. 
For no perfection can be named,
          Which us it doth not teach.
O happy she, who in her soul,
          The sense thereof doth reach!
But many praise Obedience
          And thy humility,
And yet conceive³Understand. not as they should,
          What either of them be.
The simple humble loving souls
          Only the sense find out
Of any discreet, obedient Rule,
          And these are void of doubt.
Yea, under shadow of thy wings
          They up to heaven fly,
And taste here in this vale of tears
          What perfect peace doth lie,
Hid in performance of thy Rule
          That leadeth unto heaven;
O happy souls who it perform,
          The ways so sweet and even!
By Prayer and Patience it’s fulfilled,
          Charity, Obedience,
By seeking after God alone,
          And giving none offense.
The more I look upon thy Rule,
          The more in it I find;
O do to me the sense unfold,
          For letter makes us blind!⁴“Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth” (2 Corinthians 3:6, Douay-Rheims Bible).
And blessed, yea, a thousand times,
          Be thou who it hast writ,
And thy sweet blessing give to them,
          Who truly perform it.
For those are they which will conserve⁵Protect.
          This house in perfect peace,
Without which all we do is lost,
          And all that’s good will cease.
And praised be our glorious God,
          Who gave to thee such grace,
Not only him thyself to seek,
          But also out to trace
A way so easy and secure,
          If we will but thee hear,⁶The Prologue to the Benedictine Rule begins with the word “hearken” (ausculta).
To have relation to our God, 
          Who is to us so near.
For at this thou dost chiefly aim:
          That God our souls do teach.
O if we did truly obey,
          He would by all things preach
His will to us by everything
          That did to us befall;
And then as thou desir’st it should
          He would be all in all–
O pray dear Father that he ever be,
          our only love and all eternally. Amen.