Chapter 21: The deans of the monastery
They must be selected for their suitability in character and gifts so that the abbot or abbess may, without anxiety, share some responsibilities with them. (From para. 1 of Ch. 21 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
I think that sharing responsibilities can be a way of sharing life. I can believe less in my own "indispensability" and help others open their eyes to their own gifts.
I think that sharing responsibilities can be a way of sharing life. I can believe less in my own "indispensability" and help others open their eyes to their own gifts.
My response-ability, my ability to respond to life, comes with the unique combination of talents and shortcomings, of assets and liabilities, that make up the me that is me. My meditation and the mantra, that is, my prayer, wonder-fully clarifies this: “ . . . after prayer, our principal conviction about ourselves and the whole creation is of the unique capacity in everything to mediate the wonder and splendor of God. . . . With this growing sense of wonder at God’s power within us there comes an ever-deepening awareness of the harmony, the creative wholeness that we possess, and we begin to feel that we know ourselves for the first time. . . . not . . . our personal harmony alone, but . . . a new capacity for true empathy, a capacity to be at peace with others, and indeed at peace with the whole of creation.” (John Main. “Word into Silence”, p12).
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