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.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Chapter 30: The correction of young children

There is a proper way of dealing with every age and every degree of understanding, and we should find the right way of dealing with the young. (From Ch. 30 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

St. Benedict's word touch this me this morning in a way that reminds me of my ego's "fight or flight syndrome": rushing into to control a situation (or the people in the situation) because I think I know best, or holding back (because I recognize behaviors that annoy me and I disdain to engage). But such a naive response means I am more reactive than free. To find the right way of dealing with my degree of understanding, I must be faithful to the detachment of meditation.

1 comment:

Melanie CondesMarch 10, 2018 at 3:30 AM
'Every age and degree of understanding
should have its proper measure of discipline.' Thank u Lord for being very patient with my slow growth in virtues. May I be patient also with my fellow pilgrims in this world.
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