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, November 14, 2018

Chapter 36: The care of the sick in the monastery

The care of those who are sick in the community is an absolute priority, which must rank before every other requirement, so that there may be no doubt that it is Christ who is truly served in them. (From para. 1 of Ch. 36 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

What is the relationship between those who are sick and Christ, that St Benedict so clearly draws? I have watched with those near death, and seen the body as if it were gradually being consumed by or radiating the spirit. The experience of sickness, weakness, and other infirmities must bring each of us closer to who we really are, and to witness this for others.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersNovember 14, 2018 at 5:10 AM
The Rule reminds me today, Abba, to go beyond my preoccupations, beyond my bondage to self, to go out of my way to meet you face to face in my sick brother and sister.
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