WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

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 in the guise of service to another, creates division. Self-interest and division undermine the healing potential of a healthy community.

3 comments:

Melanie CondesAugust 27, 2017 at 3:51 PM
This plus the advice to"work quietly (silently) and mind your own business" is important to bring with me in the office ... From now on this will form part of my everyday "lunch box."
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UnknownAugust 27, 2017 at 11:13 PM
Perhaps this is another area in which pride comes veiled as "being right". A good reminder to judge not.
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Wally SaundersAugust 28, 2017 at 4:51 AM
Love “in spirit and in truth”, Abba, is tough. You have taught me that tough love is not tough because It means that I have to be tough on a loved one but because it means I have to be tough on myself. It is not easy to let the adolescents and adults I love suffer natural consequences of their behavior. My pride and desire for control make me forget that you love them far more than I ever can imagine.
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