Chapter 44: The reconciliation of those excommunicated

They should in complete silence simply lay their heads on the ground before the feet of all the community coming out of the oratory and stay there until the superior judges that they have done enough in reparation. (From para. 1 of Ch. 44 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

"Having done enough in reparation" -- I recognize this description as something of a paradox. It is important that I learn what enough is -- something less than perfection, but that involves my whole self. And so, it is important that I learn what reparation is -- a process of returning to wholeness, of being in the wholeness of God, a lifelong returning which I don't control, but in which I participate. "Having done enough in reparation" happens because I allow God, again and again, to repair me.