Chapter 27: The superior's care for the excommunicated

Therefore the superior should use every curative skill as a wise doctor does, for instance by sending in senpectae, that is, mature and wise senior members of the community who may discreetly bring counsel to one who is in a state of uncertainty and confusion; their task will be to show the sinner the way to humble reconciliation and also to bring consolation, as St Paul also urges, to one in danger of being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow and in need of the reaffirmation of love which everyone in the community must achieve through their prayer. (From para. 1 of Ch. 27 of St. Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

After having made my way through the difficult chapters on excommunication,  it's a blessing to read the outpouring of compassionate inclusion that Benedict bestows upon the "one in danger of being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow".  I hear him saying that the wisdom that cures is not driven by anyone's ego, but by "the reaffirmation of love which everyone in the community must achieve through their prayer".