November 5

Chapter 29

The Rule of St. Benedict November 5

It isn't clear whether "a brother who through his own fault leaves the monastery" is a brother who has just been expelled by the Abbot in Chapter 28, or whether St. Benedict is changing the subject to address all members who may leave, by their own will or not.  Whatever the case, it is worth noting that our Father Benedict does not make a clear distinction that would exclude the expelled from the provisions for re-entry here in Chapter 29.

After all the time and effort and pain that the community has spent to bring the defiant back to the path of their vows, and after the best efforts of the most skilled "physicians" have failed to heal, one would think that the Rule would say, "That's it.  We wash our hands of you."  But it doesn't.  It says that this process may happen, that the community must be willing to bear the painful burden of failed corrective measures and expulsion up to three times for an individual.

Think of an employee in an organization whose recalcitrant behavior makes it necessary for her boss to take her through a very carefully conceived, skillfully implemented, and costly series of disciplinary measures intended to bring the employee back to good standing.  But her recalcitrance remains firmly fixed, and she is ultimately fired.  Who would expect that organization to offer her a job, if she were to come back a year later claiming to have learned her lesson?  And to do it three times?

This is a lavish mercy.  This is true sacrifice.

Br. Chad 2012