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, October 31, 2018

Chapter 24: Different degrees of severity in punishment

The severity of excommunication or any other punishment should correspond to the gravity of the fault committed, and it is for the superior to decide about the seriousness of faults. (From Ch. 24 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I take to heart Benedict's admonition that if I must correct the behavior of another, I should do so with a spirit of fairness and appropriateness. This means, especially, not using the situation as an opportunity for my ego to assert itself.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersOctober 31, 2018 at 4:39 AM
E .G .O. stands for Edging God Out. My ego, my “little me”, my False Self, can so destroy my relationships, isolate me, excommunicate me. My hope comes from you, Spirit of God, my True Self, here within me. Open my heart, Abba.
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