Friday, March 6, 2015

Chapter 29: The readmission of any who leave the monastery


Anyone who is guilty of serious wrong by the personal decision to leave the monastery but then asks to be received back again must first of all promise full reparation for leaving the monastery. (From Ch. 29 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I'm intrigued by what "full reparation" might mean. Certainly each situation may have its own practical factors that need to be considered. But in general, I think full reparation means repairing harm to relationships. 

No comments:

Post a Comment