Chapter 37: Care for the elderly and the young
Human nature itself is drawn to tender concern for those in the two extremes of age and youth, but the authority of the Rule should reinforce this natural instinct.
(From Ch. 37 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
It's a hopeful experience for me, that I share a growing communion with these "two extremes of age and youth". For me, this means a greater acceptance of the proximity of my own birth/death transition, that I've learned through meditation.
The word that stands out for me in this reading is "compassion". What happens when I am with the young and the elderly is really a reflection of how I am with myself. When I lack patience and become frustrated with my clumsiness or inability to keep up mentally or physically with a group I am beginning to see that there is no compassion for self. So in meditation,by being patient, I allow love for self to grow and then that same love can move out to others.
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