Excommunication
03/November/2007 Filed in:
JottingsWe are reading that part of the Rule commonly known as the penal code — chapters which deal with offences against monastic life and discipline. The penalty of excommunication from table and oratory is harsh indeed, for it implies separation from the community at every important level. Today's chapter, on the care the superior should have for the errant, is a valuable corrective. Here we see the warmth and humanity of Benedict's concern for those who fail to live up to the high standards he sets elsewhere. The language he uses is one of painstaking, compassion for weakness, solidarity, confidentiality, prayer. A good opportunity to examine our own attitude to those who fail to live up to the high standards we set for them?