Book Review: Humility Rules by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.

Humility Rules: Saint Benedict's 12-Step Guide to Genuine Self-Esteeem by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.

In a semi-parody of self-help books, J. Augustine Wetta crafts a twelve-step program from Saint Benedict's The Rule, his guide to running a monastery. The Rule is amazingly thorough, covering everything from praying at certain hours to dealing with material goods to dealing with monks who have gone bad. Wetta has a surprising amount of material to draw from. Benedict describes a "ladder of humility" by which a monk can grown in holiness. The twelve rungs of the ladder are "fear of God, self-denial, obedience, perseverance, repentance, serenity, self-abasement, prudence, silence, dignity, discretion, and reverence." [p. 19] Most self-help books on the market are trying to boost people up by learning how to love yourself or promote yourself. Wetta (through Benedict) presents a way that requires an honest assessment of personal strengths and weaknesses. But the focus is on relating to other people and to God, not on the self. Wetta gives the rungs new names riffing on self-help standards: self-denial becomes "don't be true to yourself;" repentance becomes "put your worst foot forward;" prudence becomes "think inside the box;" etc. It's a brilliant parody and shows how the life of holiness is so far from the life of pop-culture.

Each step has its own chapter, with light and short discussions of how it is applied in thought, word, and deed. Wetta uses examples from his own life. He's a Benedictine monk at Saint Louis Abbey where he teaches and coaches rugby. He grew up on an island in the Gulf of Mexico and has a great love of water sports. The examples he uses are very relatable and make his points well. Each discussion comes with a little suggested homework, often quite challenging things like "Let someone less competent than you tell you what to do." [p. 34] That will put some humility in you for sure.

Wetta includes a lot of medieval, monk-centric pictures to which he has added humorous elements. Most are sports-related, like the cover showing Saint Benedict carrying a skateboard. They are a lot of fun and add to the lightness of touch that makes the book so charming and convincing.

Highly recommended--I will probably re-read this next Lent!