Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 3)
Any, then, who accept the name of abbot or abbess should give a lead to their disciples by two distinct methods of teaching -- by the example of the lives they lead (and that is the most important way) and by the words they use in their teaching. (From para. 3 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
I may not often be in official positions of authority, but I am always called to be authentic. Meditation helps me to be authentic, to be my true Self, one with my true Source -- a dynamic energy source that can go beyond my ego's limitations and touch the heart of another.
I think Fr. Boniface Verheyen’s translation of this paragraph makes St. Benedict’s message here much clearer: “ . . . he should show them all that is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words . . . .” The two modes of teaching are far from equal. My words are cheap. My behavior is what counts. Or, as Francis of Assisi put it 600 years later: “Preach always. When necessary use words.”
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