An Augustinian Rule 

Chapter I: Purpose and Basis of Common Life

1. The main purpose for you having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart. 
2. Call nothing your own, but commit yourself to common life. While you are together, distribute among each other the possessions and gifts you have brought to share according to the needs of your siblings and the community. For so you read in the Acts of the Apostles that they were together and had all things in common and cared for each other’s needs.
3. You who come with plenty, share what gifts you have. Humbly accept any change to your manner of life, but know it is proper that you continue to be given those things necessary for a dignified and healthy life. Look with gratitude on all the gifts of your siblings, no matter their ability to give. Do not seek glory in your ability to provide or the lowering of your estate, but in fellowship with your siblings. 
4. You who come with little, share what gifts you have. Humbly accept new opportunities for a dignified and healthy life, and know that your poverty, too, is a gift. Look with gratitude on all the gifts of your siblings, no matter their understanding of poverty. Do not seek glory in finding new comforts, but in fellowship with your siblings. 
5. All of you, live together in oneness of mind and heart, mutually honoring God in yourselves, whose temples you have become.

Chapter II: Prayer

1. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
2. Keep the hours, times and places set aside for prayer. 
3. Pray with your whole body. Let your mind and heart be alive with the words on your lips. 
4. Sing with courage, lift up your voice with strength. Sing with modesty, strive to unite your voices with your siblings so as to make one melodious sound. Sing spiritually, have an eye to God in every word you sing, and aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any other creature.

Chapter III: Simplicity 

1. Seek a simple life. Become indifferent to those things which you do not truly need, so you can set them aside in seeking God. 
2. Do not judge those who, for any reason, fail to find simplicity or find it in different ways than you do. 
3. Accept those good things which provide for you a dignified and healthy life. Do not glory in suffering. God privileges spiritual poverty and abhors material poverty. 
4. Let the good and holy life you live attract attention, not your material state. 

Chapter IV: Trust and Reconciliation   

1. In all possible ways, walk together. 
2. Respect the different manner of life your siblings have chosen. Provide time and space for the life of individuals, of families and of friendships in the midst of common life.
3. Avoid quarrels altogether or else put an end to them as quickly as possible; otherwise, anger may grow into hatred, making a plank out of a splinter.
4. Seek reconciliation. If you notice your sibling has stumbled in some way, speak to them of this offense. Accept when your siblings do the same for you. 
5. Remember to repair an offense as quickly as possible by an apology. If you suffered the offense, you must also forgive. Pray together for reconciliation. 
6. Do not let discord fester. If you see a sibling stumble continually, then respond as you would to a wounded person in need of treatment. When dealing with an offense, do not charge yourselves with ill-will. 

Chapter V: The Care of Community Goods

1. Keep a common purse. Share, as much as possible, one pantry, one library, and one oratory. 
2. Let those who manage these resources render cheerful service to their siblings. Do not delay in rendering any service necessary for your siblings’ health and well being. 
3. Regarding the quality of goods, consider what is necessary and what is useful. For what is necessary and useful, consider what is enduring, what is ethical and what is beautiful, denying no one what they need.
4. Let your work for your siblings be filled with a greater zeal than any work you would do for yourself alone. 
5. Love does not insist on its own way.  In managing the common life of the community, seek the common good before your own, not your own before the common good. Let the abiding virtue of charity prevail in all things that minister to the fleeting necessities of life.

Chapter VI: Governance and Obedience 

1. The decisions of the Chapter should be obeyed. Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to those with authority but also to one another as siblings.
2. It is the responsibility of the Prior to see that decisions of the Chapter and this Rule are observed and, if any point has been neglected, to take care that the transgression is not carelessly overlooked.
3. Those of you called to exercise authority must not see yourselves as fortunate to have this role, but as a servant. If an office or responsibility makes you first in something, remember that before God you are last. Show yourself as an example of good works toward all. Strive to be loved rather than feared, ever mindful that you must give an account of your use of authority to God.

Chapter VII: Observance of the Rule 

1. The Lord grant that you may observe this Rule in a spirit of charity as lovers of spiritual beauty, giving forth the good odor of Christ in the holiness of your lives: not as slaves living under the law but as people living in freedom under grace. 
2. And that you may see yourselves in this little book, as in a mirror, have it read to you so as to neglect no point through forgetfulness. When you find that you are doing all that has been written, give thanks to the Lord, the Giver of every good. But when one of you finds that you have failed on any point; be sorry for the past, on guard for the future, and in prayer for forgiveness and strength.