The Rule which St. Benedict wrote for the disciples who clustered around him, is a classic work on the spiritual life and has as much to teach the laity as it does the professed religious. In the following passage, St. Benedict treats of the virtue of humility:
"The first grade of humility is when a man sets the fear of God before his eyes and flees all forgetfulness and ever keeps in mind all that The Lord has commanded, and how those who scorn God fall into Gehenna for their sins, and when he continuously turns over in his mind the eternal life God has prepared for those who fear him. Because of this, he guards himself at every hour from sins and vices of his thoughts, tongue, eyes, hands, feet, and of his own will. He also hastens to cut off the desires of the flesh.
"A man shall consider that God looks down upon him from heaven at every hour, and that his deeds are seen by the face of The Lord in every place, and are reported by the angels at every hour. The Prophet shows us that God is present in this way in our thoughts, saying: 'God searches hearts and consciences' (Psalm 7, 10); 'God knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain' (Psalm 93, 11); 'You have known my thoughts from afar' (Psalm 138, 3); and, 'The thought of man shall confess to you' (Psalm 75, 11). That the humble brother may be careful concerning wicked thoughts, let him always say in his heart: 'Then shall I be immaculate before you, and I shall keep myself from my iniquity' (Psalm 17, 24)."
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