April 21

Fourth Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday

Chapter 64 pt. 2

The Rule of St. Benedict April 21 (Ch. 64 pt. 2)

This passage paints a picture of authority in the idiom of Christ that is full, wise, and beautiful.  Returning to it three times a year as I read through the Rule clears my vision and strengthens my intention, and its falling on Good Shepherd Sunday this year adds depth to its message.  Inasmuch as I am called by God to be a shepherd in community, I desire to lead in this manner and no other.

A poignant example from this passage of our Father Benedict's vision of authority:

Let her be discrete and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said, "If I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all die in one day."  Taking this, then, and other examples of discretion, the mother of virtues, let her so temper all things that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak may not fall back in dismay.

And another:

Let her know that her duty is rather to profit her sisters than to preside over them. She must therefore be learned in the divine law, that she may have a treasure of knowledge from which to bring forth new things and old. 

And remembering our host parish priest, Fr. Gil, and his modeling of "non-anxious presence" in our midst:

Let her not be excitable and worried, nor exacting and headstrong, nor jealous and over-suspicious; for then she is never at rest.  

Thanks be to Christ, our Good Shepherd, for his wisdom that has cleared a path for us to walk and for those good shepherds in whose footsteps we can place our own unsteady feet.

Br. Chad 2013