Thursday, October 30, 2014

Chapter 23: Faults which deserve excommunication


If an individual in the community is defiant, disobedient, proud or given to murmuring or in any other way set in opposition to the holy Rule and contemptuous of traditions of the seniors, then we should follow the precepts of the Lord. (From Ch.23 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

In my experience, community may very well be made to bump and bruise my ego. Community can certainly push me way beyond my comfort zone. How does meditation teach me to respond? To find Jesus hidden deep within my heart. This can lead me to new life: an ego tamed to the service of others, and a heart expanding in joyful selflessness.

1 comment:

  1. “ . . . defiant, disobedient, proud . . . given to murmuring or . . . set in opposition . . . ”. Those traits Benedict proscribed are still with me, now, here in my old age. Fidelity to my twice-daily meditation and to the mantra, and, above all to your grace¸ Abba, help tame this unruly heart of mine, one day at a time.

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