November 15

Chapter 37

The Rule of Benedict November 15

The first sentence of this chapter offers a small window into the intentions behind Benedict's Rule, and I think this window gives us a view of an answer to a common question, "Why would anyone want to commit her life to living in this way?"

Natural dispositions of a human being, as good as they can be in certain circumstances, are not a basis on which to build a healthy, whole person or community.  For, as we all know, not everyone is identically disposed towards children or the elderly.  But by formalizing a good disposition and imbuing it with the authority of the Rule, the value is freed from dependency on an individual's affectionate emotion, and placed in relation to an individual's vow of obedience under the guidance of his Superior.

This, to me, is true freedom when I consider my experience under the tyranny of emotional dispositions as a measure of "health" and "wholeness."