Chapter 61: Monastic pilgrims from far away (paragraphs 1-2)
If, on the other hand, such a pilgrim monk or nun has been revealed as a guest to be overbearing and full of bad habits then not only should all further association with the community be refused but such a guest should quite openly be requested to depart for fear that such a wretched example might lead others to go astray. (From para. 2 of Ch. 61 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Even in personal situations of necessary separation, I still ask for the grace to discern why such persons were sent to me by the Lord. Such experiences are not a waste.
Fr. John writes of “The ongoing pilgrimage of meditation . . . “. My life is so well described by the term “pilgrimage”, a pilgrimage that, like St. Paul, has involved a shipwreck or two. But the desperation of those times I can now see was a gift, Abba, your gift. Confusion at those times turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. My confusions and feelings of loss and loneliness softened my hard, stubborn head enough to allow me to crack the door of my heart and respond to your gentle knocking. And I found the Way that is you, I was “rocketed into the Fourth Dimension”, as the AA Big Book puts it.
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