Chapter 22: Sleeping arrangements for the community

In the morning, as they are getting up for the work of God, they should quietly give encouragement to those who are sleepy and given to making excuses for being late. (From para. 2 of Ch. 22 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Sometimes I can give gentle encouragement; often I need it myself. Gentle encouragement is not about projecting my own faults onto another or controlling them. Rather, I think this concern of which Benedict speaks emerges from somewhere between good habit and compassion. I think it may be like the small acts of kindness John Main encourages us to practice as a preparation for meditation. Then, the fruit of meditation is more kindness, more community.