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 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.)
"To give a lead" -- I recognize that as a parent of older children my main job is to remind them how to be on the best path. I can model that, too, but what I can't do is control. Leadership is not about control but about love.
There is a comment by Chittister regarding this paragraph that gives me pause for reflection."The purpose of Benedictine spirituality is to gather equally committed adults for a journey through earthen darkness to the dazzling light that already flames in each of us, but in a hidden place left to each of us to find."
ReplyDeleteAnd I look at the words "equally committed" and "in a hidden place left to each of us to find." I cannot make someone else believe what I believe or pray the way I pray. I see this very much in my own family. I return to what I said in my previous comment that I can only in my own humble way be the presence of Christ for others without heralding that fact. Just being, love, just being , peace, just being joy with Christ's help.