The Octave of Easter: Monday
Chapter 67
The Rule of Benedict April 25
This chapter is the reason why we remember all our absent members before the closing prayer on Thursday evenings.
Our Father Benedict acknowledges and seeks to deal with a spiritual reality here that I have experienced often during that last year or so. Gil has talked for a long time about the fact each person brings with her to church an invisible crowd of other people that affect the spiritual climate of the gathering. Benedict is wise to make this explicit and establish a protocol for returning monks whereby the spiritual climate of the monastery can be cleansed from any unintended negative effects. Let us pay attention to who we bring with us to our gatherings, and let us pray for each other that we may ourselves be free and present to our community.
I had a friend who used to say that "friends come in packages" - every time we make a friend we also take on a whole host of people with whom they are associated. Sometimes in ways we don't even know.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how we as an order are affected by our outside relationships - the relationships that we hold as individuals and families, and the relationships of other members of the order. I realize that I have only very cursory knowledge of the lives we each live outside of St. A's and St. B's. I'm not suggesting we need to know absolutely everything about one another, but this chapter does make me wonder if we should be more mindful about what we bring from the world outside...
Thank you, Ruth. I agree that mindfulness is an appropriate response. I think that the task before us, set by Benedict in the chapter, is for each of us to be mindful of that which WE bring, and to seek God's help in keeping the community free from possible negative effects. I don't think you're suggesting this, but let's steer clear of seeking to identify that which others bring. Let us love and trust unreservedly. As Prior, I am responsible to address any harmful baggage that I perceive coming into our midst from the outside lives of the members, and any member who perceives something in another can speak about it with me.
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