Chapter 69: No one should act as advocate for another

Such a thing must not happen in the monastery because it would provide a very serious occasion of scandal.

(From Ch. 69 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I think St. Benedict is telling me that self-interest, even when it appears to be service to another, creates division. My responsibility to community is to allow the life of Christ to act within and among us.