Chapter 23: Faults which deserve excommunication
If an individual in the community is defiant, disobedient, proud or given to murmuring or in any other way set in opposition to the holy Rule and contemptuous of traditions of the seniors, then we should follow the precept of our Lord.
(From Ch. 23 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
Nowadays, it seems to me that excommunication can be seen as something damaging to the recipient and arrogant on the part of the authority. So what I find useful in this chapter is the list of faults that Benedict mentions, all of which are damaging to community. His compelling point, for me, is that my negative and self-centered behavior impedes relationships, impedes love.
(From Ch. 23 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
Nowadays, it seems to me that excommunication can be seen as something damaging to the recipient and arrogant on the part of the authority. So what I find useful in this chapter is the list of faults that Benedict mentions, all of which are damaging to community. His compelling point, for me, is that my negative and self-centered behavior impedes relationships, impedes love.
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