Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 1)

Anyone who aspires as abbot or abbess to be superior of a monastery should always remember what is meant by the title and fulfil in their monastic life all that is required in one holding the office of monastic superior. (From para. 1 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

It seems to me that holding an office can be done in an "official" or even "officious" way, but what's really required of me, in the office of parent, teacher, caregiver, friend, is to be authentic -- humble through being in touch with my true self. Leadership is a paradox of weakness and strength, of service and supervision, of the the heart and the head. In any role I play, however minor, it's my calling as a Christian to mediate something of the divine.