Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraphs 5-6)

They should make their own the different ways of teaching which the Apostle Paul recommended to Timothy when he told him to make use of criticism, of entreaty and of rebuke. (From  para. 5 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

The Apostle Paul's list doesn't seem terribly useful for me. I would list these ways of teaching for the situations I generally find myself in: personal authority based on experience, acknowledgement that I'm not omniscient, and listening. Control is all too easy and insidious, I find, and not a conduit for the Spirit. Listening opens up channels for the transmission of mutual respect and love.