Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 3)
To disciples who can understand they may teach the way of the Lord with words; but to the less receptive and uneducated they should teach what the Lord commands us by example.
(From para. 3 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
Sometimes words seem less and less important to me, when looks and gestures are so powerful, and the example of service can be life-changing. I'm told that St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel. Use words if you have to."
The last quote in this reading about planks and splinters points to something I notice about my own meditation journey. Just a simple notice--that I have become more aware of and "awakened" to the ego being aware of the splinters in others, and therefore the mouth stays closed from criticizing. This is a fruit of meditation for which I am truly thankful but it is not a pat on the back for a gift that has been given.
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