Chapter 69: No one should act as advocate for another
Great care must be taken to avoid any tendency for one of the community to take the side of and try to protect another, even though they maybe closely related through ties of blood.
(From Ch. 69 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
Meditation can teach me a degree of detachment, so that I might step back not only from my point of view, but also from another's point of view. Thus I might see a bigger picture of divine action and personal growth that needs to take place without my interference.
To presume means in one sense to take for granted that something is true. Benedict uses the word take in taking sides. What lies at the root of all this "taking"? -a desire to put the ego forward and be the champion of a cause of seeming injustice. Rather I need to "take" myself inward into the silence where love, justice, mercy, and compassion are revealed in truth.
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