March 26

Chapter 46

The Rule of Benedict March 26

Father Benedict desires to cultivate a climate of trust and intimacy in the community.  Without trust, the community is poisoned by cycles of deception, suspicion, and accusation.  Without safe intimacy, the individual suffers the soul-killing trajectory of hidden guilt, self-loathing, and hardness of heart.

Let us be a community of absolute safety for each other.  Let us set aside all that would keep us from trusting ourselves and our sisters and brothers in the course of our formation.  I encourage us each to consider who can be for us a spiritual mother or father to whom we can reveal our hidden sin-sickness of the soul.  And let us also consider whether we are called to be a spiritual father or mother for another.