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.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Chapter 26: Unlawful association with the excommunicated

If any member of the community presumes without the permission of the abbot or abbess to associate in any way with or speak to or give instructions to one who has been excommunicated then that person should receive exactly the same punishment of excommunication. (Ch. 26 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Interior growth happens between an individual and God, and I must respect that precious space in myself and others. In doing so, I can become a more constructive force in community.

1 comment:

Melanie CondesMarch 3, 2018 at 5:05 AM
'If any sister presumes
without an order from the Abbess
to associate in any way with an excommunicated sister, ...let her incur a similar punishment of excommunication.' This to me is a lesson of humility and obedience to authority. Sometimes I am too hard headed and a very strong sense of 'rightness' that I forget this very important rule,
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