Dramatic Repair
Chapter 71 in The Rule of St. Benedict (today's reading from the Daily)
Chapter 71 in the Rule is “fall down” dramatic—extreme. The Rule dignifies reconciliation by making it as dramatic and extreme as the conflict. One never wonders if they had a conflict. But, are we not often left wondering if we had repair? Maybe there is a better way? Sr. Joan Chittister writes,
What monastic spirituality wants among us is respect and love, not excuses, not justifications, not protests of innocence or cries of misunderstandings…The Rule wants a human response to the mystery of misunderstanding—not standoffs, not pouting, not rejection, not eternal alienation. The Rule wants relationships that have been ruptured to be repaired, not by long, legal defenses but by clear and quick gestures of sorrow and forgiveness. The question in the Rule is not who is right and who is wrong. The question in the Rule is who is offended and who is sorry, who is to apologize and who is to forgive. Quickly. Immediately. Now.