September 13

Chapter 2 pt. 5

The Rule of St. Benedict September 13

This passage assumes that all types of personalities are in need of transformation.  It's not just the lazy or the arrogant who need wise leadership and careful correction, it's also the compliant and the quiet.  But the very presence of all such persons in the vowed community shows us that transformation is available to everyone who places herself on the path.

In order for the superior to effectively "vary with circumstances" the means of spiritual formation, as Sr. Joan's translation puts it, there needs to be a clear vision of that into which we are being formed, however.  Our Father Benedict lays out in the Prologue his vision of spiritual formation as a process by which the soul is made fit to dwell with God where God is at home.  This is what St. Paul speaks of as "be[ing] conformed to the image of [Christ]" (Romans 8:29), who is fully at home in God's tent (Psalm 15).  This is a universal vision for the Church, and it is realized by means of each soul's vocation.  My vocation is a manifestation of the likeness of Christ filtered through the particularities of my being.  My vocation flows out of and participates in the ongoing process of transformation.

It is this process in the lives of the sisters and brothers for which St. Benedict lays responsibility on the shoulders of the superior.

Br. Chad 2012