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.