The religious superior must guard against all criteria that serve to set some people over others in society at large, such as money, degrees, appearance, or politics. But he must also guard against criteria that do the same in church, such as those visible acts of devotion and piety that Jesus mentions in Matthew 6.
The only acceptable criteria within Benedictine community by which the superior evaluates the vowed members are those of obedience, good works, and humility. Obedience is to the word of Christ heard in prayer and from the superior; good works are the fruit of that obedience; and humility is the attitude that enables the ear to listen and hear.
Our Father Benedict's vision of the cenobitic religious life regarding family and social status is a profound departure from the norm of his or any age. To truly drop one's inherited history at the door and be subjected to evaluation on the basis of one's spiritual identity alone is a step most human beings will never take. It is, literally, a radical decision, but one that opens the religious to a beautiful world of true spiritual friendship.
I am brought to wonder what are the implications of this passage in the Rule for us canons as we live into our own religious identities. What does the title "Brother" or "Sister" mean if not that our membership within a family group has fundamentally changed? Do we realize how radical we are?
Br. Chad
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