WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Chapter 36: The care of the sick in the monastery

The care of those who are sick in the community is an absolute priority, which must rank before every other requirement, so that there may be no doubt that it is Christ who is truly served in them.

(From para. 1 of Ch 36 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Benedict places the locus of weakness in the sick, it seems to me, thus making them the locus of community, the locus of Christ. Recognizing my own weakness, I ask, "How may I serve?"

1 comment:

NonaMarch 18, 2013 at 11:12 AM
It is in the care of the sick where my hands touch those who need healing, be it physical, spiritual or emotional. I feel that I have been blessed to care for family members who have been ill and left this physical world. There is no better teacher than caring for the dying. This caring teaches that our place here is only temporary and that we are not in control.

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