Chapter 64: The election of an abbot or abbess (paragraphs 1-2)

The grounds on which a candidate is elected abbot or abbess must be the quality of their monastic life and the wisdom of their teaching, even if they are last in order in the community. (From para. 1 of Ch. 64 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

The quality of alignment is what I think of when I read these words of Benedict's -- being aligned with the current of the Spirit which courses through me and guides my discernment.