Chapter 27: The superior's care for the excommunicated
Therefore the superior should use every curative skill as a wise doctor does, for instance by sending in senpectae, that is, mature and wise senior members of the community who may discreetly bring counsel to one who is in a state of uncertainty and confusion; their task will be to show the sinner the way to humble reconciliation and also to bring consolation, as St Paul also urges, to one in danger of being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow and in need of the reaffirmation of love which everyone in the community must achieve through prayer. (From Ch. 27 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
St Benedict shows compassion to the one suffering from uncertainty and confusion. The senpectae show that one the way to humble reconciliation, and they bring consolation. The whole community reaffirms their love through prayer. What I see in this is a vibrant expression of essential relationships -- to oneself, to God, and to others -- a trinity of redemptive relationships.
St Benedict shows compassion to the one suffering from uncertainty and confusion. The senpectae show that one the way to humble reconciliation, and they bring consolation. The whole community reaffirms their love through prayer. What I see in this is a vibrant expression of essential relationships -- to oneself, to God, and to others -- a trinity of redemptive relationships.
I hear Benedict teaching me that the wise elders are extensions of God's sheltering wings of Love.
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