Chapter 37: Care for the elderly and the young
Human nature itself is drawn to tender concern for those in the two extremes of age and youth, but the authority of the Rule should reinforce this natural instinct.
(From Chapter 37 of Saint Benedict's Rule.)
(From Chapter 37 of Saint Benedict's Rule.)
In the culture around me, that "tender concern" for age and youth, which Benedict identifies as a natural instinct, often seems lost amidst the pressures of materialistic, individualistic striving. What should be a unified community across the span of ages becomes a stratified society where "those in the two extremes" can become marginalized. Meditation helps me to see that frailty itself may be a powerful mediator of the expanding Spirit.
"Let their weakness be always taken into account."
ReplyDeleteBenedict reminds me that how I treat those that are powerless is a test of my faith.
The elderly and the young are beautiful in their simplicity of living out of their hearts. Teaching young children in faith formation classes, I see how they take away all the extraneous notions and language. “I love Jesus, because He died on the Cross for me.” Ok, I say to myself, there is nothing to add. And the elderly, too, know what is important. You take away, careers, and jobs, and appearances, and all the non-essential worry and anxiety and I see how the elderly are truly themselves, funny and grateful for whatever you do for them. Isn’t that what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about, simplicity, gratefulness, being childlike, living out of the heart? That is the potential power of my meditation practice-a release from the complicated ego into the simple joy and wonder of life.
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