Chapter 23: Faults which deserve excommunication

If even this does not bring reform then excommunication should be the next penalty, provided that the meaning of such a punishment is really understood. (From Ch. 23 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Excommunication carries the terrible implication of shunning. But Benedict guides here with compassion, using separation from the community to help a troubled soul appreciate the power and purpose of community. In my own life, habits of mind like judgment and alienation carry their own misery, as a kind of self-shunning or divided state of mind. Meditation helps me to recognize these self-centered mindsets that draw me away from community.