Chapter 65: The prior or prioress of the monastery (paragraph 1)
It has often happened that unfortunate conflicts have arisen in monasteries as a result of the appointment of a prior or prioress as second in authority to the superior. There have been instances when some of these officials have conceived out of an evil spirit of self-importance that they also are superiors and for that reason have assumed the powers of a tyrant, so that they encourage scandalous divisions in the community. (From para. 1 of Ch. 65 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
There have been instances when my ego has conceived out of an evil spirit of self-importance that it is also a superior and for that reason has assumed the powers of a tyrant, so that it encourages scandalous divisions in my heart. The way to integrity is the way of the mantra.
I am always in a "community"- family, a volunteer group, a meditating community. Remembering my meditation practice before Christ and the poor little mantra that is uttered helps me, honest it does, to remember my place in this world. I cannot be in any of these communities with a sense of entitlement that knowledge and the last word are mine. I have seen it happen. Pride makes me say something that throws everyone into confusion. For the sake of "peace and love", I must defer to the Abbot of my heart who makes all relationships "meaningful and life-giving"(Esther de Waal).
ReplyDeleteOn Monday Pope Francis excoriated his own “priors”, the cardinals and others who do the Roman Catholic Church’s administrative duties, his “Curia”. He cited fifteen “diseases” that can infect those in authority, himself included. These dis-eases include “a feeling of indispensability” (of “being immortal”), spiritual “Alzheimer’s”, having a “heart of stone”, “existential schizophrenia”, the “terrorism of gossip”, and “deifying (courting) superiors”/”careerism”. Francis prescribed for the Curia and for himself the medicine of a good examination of conscience and reconciliation--a good idea for me, too, before Christmas.
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