A member of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem (at right) is tonsured before receiving his new name as a frater with the CRNJ order.

 

 

I.  INTRODUCTION:

1.         The principal end of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem is the sanctification of its members through the perfection of charity (Constitution ¶¶ 1, 10, 27b, 55, 63).  This end is achieved through means of community life, liturgical worship according to the particular law of the institute, ascetic discipline and religious vows.

2.         The purpose of this Directory of Discipline (DOD) is to establish a pattern in daily personal and community practices which assist members in striving towards that charity which is the common goal of all.  For this reason this Directory constitutes a set of particular laws intended to lead members, and the community as a whole, towards the common goal set forth in the Constitutions.

3.         A vocation to the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem is founded in a voluntary self‑abandonment to God through the context of it common life. Deliberate disregard of the Rule, Constitutions or Directory of Discipline contradicts the voluntary desire for sanctification expressed by membership. Thus every one incorporated into the CRNJ’s community life  is, by his own free choice, bound to obey the whole of the Rule in a spirit of Christian perfection (cf. Con. ¶ 63, 64).

4.         Voluntary disobedience constitutes a breach of charity which effects the life of the community and the member’s place in it.  For this reason disobedience is subject to lawful correction for the good of the member and the community as a whole.

5.         The term house is used generically in reference to foundations of the institute.  This Directory of Discipline prescribes a uniform way of life to be found among all dependent houses of the CRNJ based on the observance of the principle foundation.  Variation from the norms of the DOD in any house may be undertaken only with permission of the Supreme Moderator (cf. ¶ Con. 66).

6.         The term everyone refers to all persons living within the interior community context of a house.  Everyone includes postulants, novices, simply and permanently professed members, candidates for studies not members of the CRNJ and associate non‑members living within the community.  Exceptions will be specified in the DOD.

7.         The term everywhere refers to the immediate internal and external vicinity of a house, its church and grounds and all locations exterior to these places as well.  Everywhere refers to a universal locality.

II.  PRINCIPLES:

8.         Jesus Christ is the true Master of our life together and the model par excellence of religious consecration (Con. ¶ 60).  Knowing that His earthly mission was coming to its end, He gathered His disciples for their last meal together the night before He died.  There, no longer calling them servants but friends, He made them priests of His New Covenant and gave them the new commandment of divine charity. So that His work should continue throughout time and space, He instituted the sublime Sacrament of His abiding love for all men, the mystical rendering present of the fruit and substance of His priestly self‑oblation on the altar of the Cross.  He commanded His disciples to perpetuate His memory and mission through the living representation of this same Mystery made present in the liturgical worship of the Church.

9.         The whole of the Church’s Divine Liturgy partakes of the grace of the Eucharist and in one way or another is directed towards it.  At the heart of the spirituality of canons regular is their profound relationship with the Eucharistic Mystery under its two aspects of sacrifice and sacrament.

10.       Religious consecration seeks the greatest perfection of Christ’s life already begun within man in this present world.  Through union with the Paschal Mystery a canon dies to the present life in order to rise again to a supernatural life with God.  His present self-dying is the necessary precondition that permits entrance into the new and eternal life of the world to come.  Both realities are made possible only by grace working in a willing heart.  The union of present self‑sacrifice with the perfect act of Christ’s self‑oblation is experienced in many ways in religious life.  It is manifest in its truest and most living manner through the Eucharistic Liturgy.

11.       In Holy Mass all personal sacrifices are offered in and through Jesus, Priest and Victim.  To Him, Whose all‑consuming sacrifice alone is acceptable to the Father, the canon’s sacrifices are joined and offered.  Since the Paschal Mystery comprises both death and resurrection, the correlative mystery of the risen life is engendered in that sacrament which consummates the sacrifice. Through Holy Communion God penetrates and transforms the religious, body and soul, in the present world, while perfecting and leading him towards the eternal glory to come.

12.       The purpose of self‑renunciation is rooted in the mysteries of redemption and eternal life with God in heaven.  Entering into these mysteries requires sacrificial union with Christ, variously experienced in religious consecration, but most manifestly in and through the Eucharistic Liturgy and all that is associated with it.

13.       Sacrificial union with Christ is a meaningless phrase unless indicative of an authentic, voluntary sacrifice of mind and body in which the religious priest truly enters into the reality of Christ’s own passion and death.  Religious pursuit of perfection must constantly seek growth in Christian virtue and all those ancillary disciplines by which virtue is fostered.  Ascetic practices are necessary for curbing the will and training the body so that by dying to weakness and vice one can rise to the new life of self‑mastery and virtue.  For this reason the Directory of Discipline prescribes practices which, undertaken in humility, are effective means in the life‑long commitment to consecrated holiness.

14.       Every act undertaken by members of the CRNJ will be motivated in a special way by the virtues of charity and justice.  Acts of superiors will be characterized by a spirit of holiness and responsibility before God and the community (cf. Con. ¶ 19), exercised in light of the common good.  Acts of subjects will be characterized by holiness and cooperation, also exercised in light of the common good.

15.       Since it is the special duty of superiors to listen to their subjects (cf. Con. ¶ 19), no one will be denied just appeal in regard to administrative acts.  Members of the institute will remember that the responsibility and finality of community life and government is held by superiors and subjects alike, each in their own way.  Thus the purpose of all acts will be growth in the sanctification of individuals and the community as a whole.

16.       Properly understood according to the principles of justice and charity, the good of the community can not be sacrificed to that of an individual within it (Rule of Saint Augustine, Chap. 5, 2).

17.       The moral virtue of prudence, recta ratio agibilium, is to be cultivated in a particular way by all members of the institute.  In an integral conformation of the whole person to Jesus Christ, each member will strive to grow in the exercise of personal responsibility: for one’s self and for the community as a whole.  Members will exercise initiative in human concerns, assisting one another and superiors by foresight and action concerning what touches the common life of all.

18.       The brethren will always hold before God the intrinsic dignity of others.  If judgments are undertaken, they will be of oneself in the light of God’s love and true justice. Others will be seen as created in the image of God and redeemed by His Blood, even should the likeness be obscured by sin or weakness.  In this way social interaction on every level of community life will be characterized by true fraternal charity.  Thus ridicule, sarcasm, abusive language and treatment will be banished from our midst as unbecoming Christian gentlemen.  In its place will be found the virtues of friendship, cooperation, modesty in speech and play, and the promotion of every means by which each helps his brother grow in the love of God and neighbor.

II.   PRACTICE:

             A.        PRAYER:

            1.         Personal Prayer:

19.       Since knowledge of Christ is a necessary prerequisite for growth in His love, everyone is bound to the life‑long study of Sacred Scripture, spiritual writings and theology.  At least one hour of lectio divina is required of everyone, daily.  Such reading may be shared between Holy Scripture and other spiritual works, properly speaking. Each year everyone will read the whole of Sacred Scripture according to a prescribed distribution.

20.       It is through supernatural help alone that a man can remain faithful to the law of sacrifice required in religious consecration. This is nourished through a disciplined life of prayer in all its forms.  Personal prayer is fundamental to the life of grace and the foundation of an authentic Christian life.  Members of the CRNJ will cultivate a deep life of personal prayer and have frequent recourse to God and His Saints throughout the day and night.

21.       Everyone is bound to at least thirty minutes of mental prayer, daily.  Normally this will be carried out in conjunction with the morning schedule of public worship.

22.       Everyone is bound to one hour of eucharistic adoration, weekly. Normally this will be carried out in conjunction with the schedule of public worship.

                     2.         Public Prayer:

23.       Everyone is bound to participate in all scheduled acts of worship unless legitimately excused.  For those not in Major Orders, this participation fulfills their duty of public prayer.

                             a.         The Divine Office:

24.       For every member in Major Orders, daily recitation of the entire Roman Office according to the particular law of the institute is mandatory.  This particular law stipulates the use of the 1960 edition of the Latin Roman Breviary and includes the offices of Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline.

25.       Since by its nature the Divine Office is public prayer, its celebration in choir remains the liturgical norm.  Furthermore, choir observance is constitutive to the canonical charism.  For reason both reasons, everyone obligated to praying the Office will, when doing so outside of choir, ‘labialize’ their offering.  Remembering that so-called ‘private’ recitation of the Divine Office is an indult against the norm of public choral offering, members of the CRNJ will formulate the text with their lips and tongue while following it with mental advertence, understanding and devotion.

26.       In any given house the absolute minimum of scheduled public celebration of the Divine Office will consist of Lauds, Sext, Vespers and Compline.  The horarium in each house will follow that which is observed in the principal foundation of the institute, but further determined by local apostolate, the occupations of those living in the house and the explicit approval of the Supreme Moderator.

27.       Public celebrations of the Divine Office will reflect the liturgical solemnity of the day both in music and ceremony.

28.       Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be celebrated with due solemnity on Sundays and First Class Feasts.  Everyone is required to be present for these offices unless legitimately excused by pastoral obligations and competent authority.

                           b.         Eucharistic Liturgy:

29.       The liturgy, particularly the sublime Sacrifice of the Mass, is a true school of Christian learning and perfection.  The altar is kissed and perfumed because it mystically represents Christ Himself, the true altar and victim in which we offer the holocaust of our hearts as priests and religious.  Through text, ritual and music the seasons and liturgical mysteries present every aspect of Jesus’ life and virtue to us.

30.       In the Divine Liturgy we experience the reality of Christ’s triumph:  in Himself, in His saints and in us.  Rightly, therefore, does the Pontificale admonish us at priestly ordination, vide ut quod ore cantas corde credas, et quod corde credis operibus comprobes.  As canons we have a special duty to live and act according to the belief of our prayer.

31.       The whole of the liturgy is to be conscientiously lived, followed and penetrated. This will be accomplished through the personal experience of its texts, contents, ritual symbolism, actions and committed study of all their meanings.  The living reality of our rich Catholic worship is the principal source of our deep and priestly spirituality.

32.       Since the Thrice‑Holy God deigns to come to us through these Mysteries, it is our bounden duty to celebrate them with that splendor which is God’s due and the Church’s greatest privilege.  The Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem will strive for excellence in her public worship (Con. ¶ 16).  The institute will develop and employ the great embellishment of the Latin Church’s cultural and artistic patrimony in the service of worship (Con. ¶ 12, b, 4).

33.       In the discipline of liturgical worship canons find an inexhaustible foe to that spiritual dryness, isolation and laxity which ever seeks to undermine fervor and self‑sacrifice. As religious priests ours will be the joy of the bride fulfilled in her longing for the Beloved.  In the august Mysteries we have the inestimable grace of enacting, the Most Holy Trinity is experienced in a profoundly real and transforming way.  Christ Himself comes and gives His very substance to us in a worship which He Himself perfects.  This is the wellspring from which our life together derives, and the foretaste of that New Jerusalem our corporate life strives to imitate.

34.       Every priest will normally celebrate Holy Mass every day.

35.       Everyone who is not a priest will assist at the conventual Mass celebrated following Lauds and mental prayer each morning.

36.       On First and Second Class feasts the conventual Mass will be celebrated with a due solemnity.  Priests not legitimately absent for pastoral reasons are bound to participation in these liturgies.

                               c.         Public Devotions:

37.       Catholic devotion presupposes sound catechesis and the right relation of devotion to an authentic, ecclesial understanding of the Eucharist and other Sacraments.  The Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem will promote sound catechetics in conjunction with devotional piety knowing that both together are sure sources of Christian virtue and vocations to religious and priestly life.

38.       Members of the CRNJ will pray the Holy Rosary daily. No greater advocate with the Son of God can be found than His Spotless Mother under whose protection the institute is placed in a special way (Con. ¶ 8).  Our priestly life is to be suffused with a deep love of Mary as Our Lady and Queen, the Hope of Christians and mother of  canons. 

39.       May and October will be marked by particular Marian devotions and piety.  May Procession and Crowning will be celebrated as means for increasing veneration of Our Lady and instilling Christian virtue.

40.       The Feast of Corpus Christi, so profoundly loved by canons as a latreutic epiphany of the central mystery of Catholic faith and piety, is to be observed with a particularly radiant solemnity everywhere in the institute.  Beyond what is prescribed in the Office and Mass, the feast will be observed together with an extended period of eucharistic adoration. 

41.       June will be marked by devotion to the Sacred Heart, model of meekness, center of all virtue, furnace of priestly love and sacrifice.

42.       November will be marked by public prayer for the Dead and indulgences for the Souls in Purgatory.

43.       Stations of the Cross will be celebrated on Fridays during Lent.

44.       A public eucharistic vigil of adoration and reparation will be scheduled weekly.  This may be done in conjunction with certain penitential observances or liturgical feasts.  Everyone is bound to spend at least one hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament during this time.  Emphasis is to placed on prayer for priests and religious and making reparation for their sins.

            B.        PENANCE:

                 1.    Principles regarding Mortification:

45.       Because of fallen nature every man is prone to sin, violation of the justice and charity owed to God.  In union with the perfect atonement of Christ each must add therefore, as a sign of true contrition, his own relative restoration of the justice due to God for his sins. As religious consecration involves helping others in various ways towards salvation, the religious is required to make expiatory acts for the sins of others as well as for himself.

46.       Man is also subject to the misleading of sin’s consequences. For this reason the pursuit of holiness requires embracing positive means by which sin can be avoided.  Promoted by grace, such practices help the Christian to pursue more readily his supernatural end while leading this present life in greater peace and harmony. 

47.       Ascetic discipline is a type of martyrdom’s devotion wherein self-renunciation curbs the will and fleshly appetites, while helping to guide right reason. In mortification human faculties are not repressed but effectively trained to resist what is inordinate and move more readily towards that which is good and true: the lower appetites and reasons are subjugated to those which are higher and supernatural. This brings about the acquisition of the moral virtues so necessary to the pursuit of perfection.

48.       Indispensable to all Christians, mortification is particularly necessary to the life of the religious priest.  For this reason certain ascetic disciplines are enjoined on every member of this CRNJ (Con. ¶¶ 52 – 66;  DOD ¶¶ 10, 12, 13).  Principal among these are fidelity to one’s duty of state, conscientiousness in liturgical offering, fast and abstinence.

                2.     Examination of Conscience:

49.       Mortification derives from acting on true self-knowledge.  Therefore everyone is held to daily examinations of conscience.  An examination will take place immediately prior to the midday office.  During the penitential rite of Compline, several minutes’ self-examination is to be observed.  For those absent from Choir the obligation to examination of conscience remains in force.  In such cases the examinations will take place near midday and before retiring at night.

               3.    Confession of Sin:              

50.       Sacramental confession is the remedy for personal sin and is enjoined on everyone in the institute.  Those in postulancy and novitiate are required to make  their confessions once each week.  Professed members will confess no less than once every two weeks.  While the immediate effect of this sacrament is the forgiveness of sins, its cause is the infusion of sanctifying grace which also helps in resisting sin and doing good.  For this reason the Church rightly urges frequent and devout use of this indispensable means to holiness even when serious sin is not present.

                     4.       Fasting:

51.       The current discipline of the Latin Church regarding the conditions of fast is in force in the CRNJ.  Fast refers to a daily food consumption of no more than one full meal and two light collations which, considered together, do not equal a full meal. Liquids with no caloric value and necessary medication do not break the fast.

52.       Fast day meals in houses of the CRNJ will conform to the aforementioned conditions of fasting, particular care being taken regarding the size of collations.

                              a.         Eucharistic Fast:

53.       Every resident in every house of the CRNJ will fast from midnight until reception of the Blessed Sacrament at morning Mass.  If circumstances require assistance at a Mass occurring after 10 AM, a three hour fast will be observed prior to reception.  Priests who must binate for pastoral reasons will follow diocesan regulations concerning eating between Masses.

                               b.         General Fast:

54.       Everyone is bound to fast on the following days (Constitutions ¶ 64):

	Fridays throughout the year
	Ash Wednesday and the three days which follow
	All days of Lent
	Vigils of:
	Christmas
	Pentecost
	Ascension
	Assumption
	Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
	Saints Peter and Paul
	Ember Days in their four seasons
	Rogation Days

55.       Certain of the foregoing days of fast concur.  In such cases liturgical law determines which fast is observed.

56.       There will be no fasting on First or Second Class Feasts, nor Fridays falling within the octaves of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.

                        5.         Abstinence:

57.       The current discipline of the Latin Church regarding the nature of abstinence is in force in the institute.  Abstinence refers to the consumption of food devoid of all meat, meat products or meat juices.

58.       Everyone is bound to abstinence on the following days (Constitutions ¶ 64):

	Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year
	Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays in Advent
	Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays in Septuagesima
	Ash Wednesday and the Friday and Saturday which follow
	Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in Lent
	Vigils (as listed in  DOD ¶ 54)
	Ember days in their four seasons
	Rogation Days

            C.        SIMPLICITY OF LIFE:

59.       Poverty as practiced by the vita canonica requires a simplicity whereby grace and virtue may flourish.  For this reason community life among the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem is characterized by a simplicity in which the sacrifice of certain goods promotes a greater communion among the brethren and growth in their perfection of charity.

                  1.    Simplicity in Common Living:

60.       Silence will be the general rule and atmosphere in the chapel, sacristies and residences of the CRNJ.  The silentium magnum is enjoined from Compline until the end of breakfast the following morning.

61.       a.)        Meals will be taken in common by everyone physically present in each house.  Meals are an integral part of community life and are to be arrived at promptly, begun and ended with prayer and not absented without permission.

            b.)        Breakfast is eaten in complete silence.  Midday and evening meals are eaten in silence accompanied by prescribed table readings.

            c.)        The Rule of our Holy Father Saint Augustine is to be read each day at midday or evening meal.

62.       Recreations are community functions and are required of everyone present in each house.  Common recreation will normally follow evening meals on designated days of the week.

63.       Obscene speech and lewd joking is absolutely forbidden to everyone, everywhere.

64.       Free days and absences from the community will be observed according to set policy.

2.        Personal  Simplicity:

65.       Every canon will maintain a normal and healthy hygiene.  The use of perfumes and colognes is forbidden to everyone, everywhere.  Deodorants and soaps are to be unscented.

66.       Hair is to be kept short, clean and groomed.  Beards and mustaches are prohibited.

67.       Cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking is forbidden to everyone, everywhere.  At no time and in no way does smoking ever serve the common good.  Smoking is unbecoming in appearance, a needless violation of the spirit of poverty, a physical dependency that does not serve religious consecration and a proven danger to health. 

68.       Personal quarters are to be kept clean and neat at all times.  Décor is to be kept simple and discrete.  Canonical poverty enjoins actual detachment from things that are not necessary to one’s duty of state.  Acquisitiveness and clutter are to be avoided as violations of poverty.

69.  The management of community resources is to take into strongest consideration the vow and virtue of religious poverty and service to the common good.  What is not needed ought not to be acquired.  Wasting money is to be avoided, absolutely.

               3.         Simplicity of Dress:

70.       Each canon will normally have two ordinary habits consisting of a:

·                  white tunic

·                  white scapular

·                  brown Flemish cincture (worn over the tunic and under the scapular)

·                  black shoulder cape and attached hood

·                  black socks

·                  black shoes 

71.       Adjuncts to the ordinary habit:

·                  clothing worn under the tunic is to be approximately white 

·                  clerical collars are never worn with the habit

·                  sandals (with or without socks) are permitted in season 

·                  a black or white sweater worn between the scapular and shoulder cape 

·                  a black cape may be worn over the ordinary habit

·                  a black dress overcoat may be worn over the ordinary habit

·                  a simple straw hat or simple black hat may be worn with the habit

72.       The complete ordinary habit is the normal attire when in or around houses of the CRNJ.  The habit is to be kept clean and in good repair.  Nothing is to be worn with it except what is permitted or directed.  The functional hood serves two purposes:  covering the head from the elements and promoting recollection.  The habit is to be worn without affectation and never trivialized by unauthorized accouterments.

73.       For certain liturgical functions the ordinary habit will be covered by a choir habit consisting of a white:

·                  rochet (for the professed)

·                  surplice (for the non-professed)

·                  choir cape (as directed in season

74.       Suitable work clothes are to be worn for manual labor.

75.       Appropriate attire is to be worn for recreation.

76.       Street dress will conform to local diocesan norms.  Members of the CRNJ are to wear the clerical suit as directed consisting of black shoes and socks, black pants and black shirt mounted with a white 1½” Roman collar and black coat or overcoat as necessary. The so-called “tab” collar is absolutely forbidden.

77.       In virtue of the vow of poverty, canons will not maintain elaborate wardrobes of clothing of any kind.  They will maintain only what is truly needed.

                4.   Simplicity regarding technology:

                             a.         Principles:

78.       Created goods in se are not evil.  However, examined closely in the light of gospel asceticism, what the world calls technological progress often proves to be proximate danger for fallen nature.  Wide experience shows that human weakness in conjunction with specific kinds of electronic devices contributes to a radical undermining of personal and communal sociability, morality, spirituality and intellectual vigor.  For this reason the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem absolutely rejects the use of certain technical goods widely found in modern society. 

79.       Not only is it possible to live without such things, religious life as pursued in this institute gives important witness to the positive social, intellectual and spiritual values promotable in a human environment entirely freed from their effects.  Such an environment was until recently the norm throughout the whole of human culture and history.  Its disappearance is regrettable for many reasons, the least not being spiritual and moral.

80.       Religious consecration is significantly contradicted when distanced from an authentic asceticism.  Because some thing may yield a certain good does not mean it ought to be used in all cases.  Still less does it mean that it must be used – human sexuality illustrates the point.  Such a concept, though particularly imbedded in modern social thought regarding technology, vitiates a fundamental aspect of Christian self-denial.  Insisting that a thing must be used because “everyone does” is intellectually vapid and undermines the evangelical  call of Christ to be “not of this world”. 

81.       When a created good is closely linked to its widespread abuse, religious in particular should give witness to the positive values fostered in sacrificing the lesser good for the greater.  That this sacrifice may incur some inconvenience is natural to mortification and welcomed as a means for spiritual growth.

82.       What is incomprehensible to the world is evident to the eyes of faith.

                                b.         Practice:

83.       In order to preserve and foster the social and religious character of community life, television in any of its forms is strictly forbidden.  By this effective renunciation television will not intrude upon the authentic religious life of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem in any way whatsoever. The good television can afford is readily obtainable by other means.

84.       In order to preserve the social and religious character of community life, the use of computers is strictly limited. A sufficient number of computers will be placed in a common work area where members of a house may use them for a maximum of four hours per day.  This includes any use of the computer at all, whether it is for the community or for the individual.  The limited use of computers will not be permitted to intrude upon the authentic religious life of the CRNJ in any way whatsoever.

85.       At the signal for community functions those using computers will rise from their work and leave at once.  Since nothing is to be preferred to the opus Dei, this rule holds particularly true in regard to scheduled worship.

86.       Individual members of the institute may neither own computers nor keep them in their rooms.

87.       The use of computer-operated videos or games is forbidden to everyone.

88.       Only one computer per house may access the Internet and it will be secured in the office of the superior.  The Internet is to be used only with an exceptional vigilance for Christian faith and morals.

89.       Communication with those exterior to the community will be effected through standard postal services, telephones or facsimile devices attached to telephones, all in accordance with set policy.  Telephones will not be permitted to intrude upon the religious life of the community.

90.       Portable telephones may only be permitted by explicit permission from competent authority and in view of extenuating circumstances.

91.       Private telephone lines to the exterior are not permitted in anyone’s room (cf. DOD ¶ 95).  An intercom system facilitating in‑house communication is allowed.  Such a system could transfer incoming calls from the exterior provided they are dispatched through a central switchboard and received during appointed hours.

92.       As electronic technology continues to develop, the CRNJ will continue to refine self-protective measures against its various capabilities for intrusion.

IV.       PASTORAL CHARGES

93.       Pastoral charges received from the bishop will be assigned to specific priests of a house according to the norms of canon law and the Constitutions of the CRNJ. 

94.       In the measure possible everyone in a house will assist in the pastoral work juridically assigned to specific priests.

95.       Priests with formal pastoral charges are permitted telephones in their rooms by which their parishioners may reach them directly unless otherwise determined by competent authority. 

96.       Priests fulfilling assigned pastoral duties are dispensed from community functions when legitimately called to the exterior.  They should, however, plan their days in such manner as to allow, as often as possible, their presence at Lauds, Chapter, Vespers and Compline.  They are held to the obligation of examination of conscience even when absent for pastoral reasons.

V.      CONCLUSION:

97.       The Directory of Discipline is meant to ensure a stable environment within which the members of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem can live a specific common, Christian life of religious consecration.  The restrictions placed on certain actions or goods are voluntary self‑renunciations undertaken for attaining that freedom by which the life of grace can be more effectively operative.  By living according to the simplicity of the Rule, Constitutions and Directory of Discipline, members of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem are assured the means necessary for advancement in holiness and the perfection of charity.

 

Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos,

Ut et vos diligatis invicem . . .  (Jn. 13: 34)