March 6

Chapter 29

The Rule of St. Benedict March 6 (Ch.29)

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 a la Chapter 28, or whether St. Benedict is changing the subject to address all members who may leave, by their own will or not.  In any 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 forces her boss to take her through a carefully conceived, skillfully implemented, and very 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.  If that former employee were to come back a year later claiming to have learned her lesson, who would expect that organization to offer her a job?  And to do it three times?

This is a lavish mercy.  This is true sacrifice.

Br. Chad 2013