Chapter 37: Care for the elderly and the young
Human nature itself is drawn to tender concern for those in the two extremes of age and youth, but the authority of the Rule should reinforce this natural instinct. Their frailty should always be given consideration so that they should not be strictly bound to the provisions of the Rule in matters of diet. (From Ch. 37 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
I experience a fruit of meditation, of fidelity to the mantra, as a growing alertness to the call of frailty, and a tender response.
"Let their weakness be always taken into account," I have a very strong sense of justice which sometimes tilt towards the extreme. For example in a neighborhood where there are community rules, I expect everyone to follow and not inconvenient others. But this part of the rule reminds me that a community is composed not of robots but of people who are sometimes frail and weak not physically but emotionally. Hence, the need to be more considerate and compassionate.
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