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.)
As a fruit of meditation, of fidelity to the mantra, I experience a growing alertness to the call of frailty, and a tender response.
Abba, sometimes the frail Elder I can be least considerate of, of course, is myself. It has not been easy for me to admit that I am now at that extreme of age. By your grace I have come to the middle of my ninth decade on this, your blue planet. Thank you, again, for the gift of meeting you twice daily in meditation where your warm embrace makes “my house at last...warm and safe”, as John of the Cross puts it.
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