By Mother Abbess
JULY 2002
One of the most challenging calls in the Rule of St Benedict, but also one of the most inspiring, one which is permeated with the true depths of the gospel spirit is surely that verse addressed to the abbess but, also very strongly addressed to each one of us:
She must so arrange all things that the strong have something to strive after, but the weak have nothing to be discouraged by, or run away from.
We are all weak; We are all strong. It depends upon what aspect of the life we are considering! I will give only one illustration of my meaning and you can then apply it across the whole spectrum of the life.
One sister, let's say, is amazingly generous and self-giving; she can always be asked to help and she will respond with joy. She is very strong in generosity. However, the same sister, despite her genuine efforts not to is always disturbing the silence and the silent prayerful spirit of others; she bustles around, gets carried away with what she is doing; her deportment is often busy, loud and agitated. Her voice is loud and she says anything which comes into her head in any place whatsoever. She is therefore very weak in monastic silence but she is genuinely trying though we may not see her efforts.
We are all weak. We are all strong. It depends upon which aspect of the life we are considering. The trap which, in pride, we often fall into, is in refusing to acknowledge my weakness. There are many forms of this:
- We excuse it.
- We deny it.
- We try to justify our behaviour and explain it away.
- We claim that we have good reason to behave in this way.
- We try to cover it up.
- We say that everyone else does this too.
- We tru to make it appear right.
- We try to persuade others to do it also.
All of this is very dangerous for a community because imperceptibly and gradually, the life is undermined and if not checked, is destroyed. It is a strong expression of love, real love, strong love for God and for the community to acknowledge openly our weaknesses as weaknesses and to struggle daily to overcome them.
This is an essential aspect of humility. So let us all openly acknowledge our failures as failures and weaknesses and even our sins in our day to day relating with one another and be ready to say you are sorry and to forgive others.
And let us always keep in mind that we are all sinners as Jesus said:
Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn expressed this in thought and provoking words:
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to spearate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?