Chapter 70: The offence of striking another

Every occasion for presumptuous behaviour in a monastery must be avoided, so we insist that no one in the community may excommunicate or strike another unless given the power to do so by the superior.

(From Ch. 70 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB,1997.)

When is presumptiveness a challenge for me? When I make assumptions about what another person thinks, or why he or she does something? When I feel I deserve something from someone, and am hurt and disappointed when I don't get it? When I think I know better than someone else? The ego must step aside so that I may see with the eye of the heart.