Chapter 13: Lauds on ordinary days (paragraph 2)
It is important that the celebration of Lauds and Vespers should never be concluded without the recitation by the superior of the whole of the Lord's prayer so that all may hear and attend to it. This is because of the harm that is often done in a community by the thorns of conflict which can arise. Bound by the very words of that prayer 'forgive us as we also forgive' they will be cleansed from the stain of such evil.
(From para. 2 of Ch. 13 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
"Thorns of conflict" is, in my experience, a very vivid and precise image of the pain that can arise from trying to live together in love. Meditation teaches me that healing is borne of true self-knoweldge, of selfless attention to the other.
Yes, it is by living in a Community of whatever description, for most of us it will be a relationship or family setting, that helps to rub the rough edges of one another. Thorns of conflict are inevitable given the fragile nature of our all too easily bruised egos, but with commitment to our daily meditation and spiritual practices, seeing things from anothers perspective becomes possible and indeed can lead us along the Way home to ourselves.
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