April 18

Chapter 63 pt. 1

The Rule of Benedict April 18

Benedict's system of community ranking had the somewhat counterintuitive effect of providing equality within the monastery, as Sr. Joan says.  Peasants and nobility became simply monks who entered the monastic life at one time or another.  I have a hard time imagining that our order would ever benefit from any such ranking of its members, but I think we can listen to the spirit of what Benedict intends here by seeking to relate to each other in ways that regard our common spiritual path and not the social circumstances that might cause division between us.  I think we do this quite well already.