Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 4)

[The abbot or abbess] should not select for special treatment any individual in the monastery. They should not love one more than another unless it is for good observance of the Rule and obedience. (From para. 4 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I find Benedict's words about fairness utterly compelling -- so necessary is it for me to be challenged to look at each person without judgment and an open heart. But Benedict seems also to create his own exception or embellishment to this teaching. For me this means that, in my life, one who would be a "good observer of the Rule" in its largest sense, and "obedient" to the Inner Teacher, would be the person transparent in love. And so, to love them "more", might be appropriate.