Chapter 27: The superior's care for the excommunicated
[The abbot or abbess] should be well aware that they have undertaken an office which is more like the care of the sick that the exercise of power over the healthy.
(From paragraph 2 of Chapter 27 of Saint Benedict's Rule.)
(From paragraph 2 of Chapter 27 of Saint Benedict's Rule.)
For me to accept the gospel message that the "weakest" members of society should be at the center of concern, means that the eye of compassion must open and alert in my heart. But compassion for others isn't possible, I believe, without compassion for myself. From this vantage point, weakness becomes not a category by which I distinguish others from myself. Instead, compassion for weakness becomes a unifying feature in a community of love.
I love this chapter. It puts the previous series of chapters on punishments into perspective. It tells us clearly that we are to love each other and care for each other.
ReplyDeleteThis comment refers to the following chapter, Chapter 28, "On those who refuse to amend after frequent reproofs".
ReplyDeleteIn this reading Benedict is speaking to his fellow monks about a rebellious “brother” who refuses to amend his ways. Living in close company as these monks did, I can understand the need to address this possibility. How does this reading apply to me living in the world? The one phrase which applies most powerfully to me is this one, “all the brothers should pray for him so that the Lord, who can do all things, may bring about the health of the sick brother.” The “sickness” that Benedict refers to is a “wound” that all of humanity shares but also an evil against love, justice, peace, and human dignity that seems to be pervading the world more and more. In our closing prayer after meditation we pray that the silence of our meditation, “be a power to open the hearts of men and women to the vision of God, and so to each other, in love and peace, justice and human dignity.” My meditation is a commitment to that power of silence through my relationship with God and to His constant outpouring of love through His Son to all of my brothers and sisters. That is the way of prayer for me. That is the way of forgiveness for me. That is the way of transformation which begins with me.
How quickly I think of the weaker as "they", and, in a well-intentioned way, think of how I can show compassion, how I can help. A wise friend once said, "You don't have to label everything." When I remember that and don't allow my always eager mind to evaluate, categorize, and analyze, then the simplicity and clarity of love not only fosters compassion and aid, but community.
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