Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 7)

It is the task of superiors to adapt with sympathetic understanding to the needs of each so that they may not only avoid any loss but even have the joy of increasing the number of good sheep in the flock committed to them. (From para. 7 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

It's my job, too, to grow in compassion, seeing the unique gifts and needs of the other. Inwardly, I encounter God's compassion awaiting me in meditation. Outwardly, this compassion grows through human relationship.