Chapter 63: Community order (paragraphs 2-3)
When members of a monastic community meet each other, the junior asks a blessing of the senior. As a senior passes by, the junior rises and yields a place for the senior to sit down and will never sit without the senior's permission. In that way they will conform to scripture which says they should try to be the first to show respect for each other. (From para. 3 of Ch. 63 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
It seems to me wonderfully true, that life-giving order emerges out of everyone being first -- the first to show kindness to the other.
This part of the rule clarifies to me that respect to everyone is the key to order in any community.
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