Holy Rule for March 1

[St. Mary's Monastery]

+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule

March 1, July 1, October 31
Chapter 24: What the Measure of Excommunication Should Be

The measure of excommunication or of chastisement should correspond to the degree of fault, which degree is estimated by the judgment of the Abbess. If a sister is found guilty of lighter faults, let her be excluded from the common table. Now the program for one deprived of the company of the table shall be as follows: In the oratory she shall intone neither Psalm nor antiphon nor shall she recite a lesson until she has made satisfaction; in the refectory she shall take her food alone after the community meal, so that if they eat at the sixth hour, for instance, that sister shall eat at the ninth, while if they eat at the ninth hour she shall eat in the evening, until by a suitable satisfaction she obtains pardon.

REFLECTION

Let's face it, St. Benedict has a lot to say about excommunication - a clumsy term, perhaps, because people often assume it means excommunication from the Church, which is the only sense of the word we commonly have today. It does not of course mean that, just a punishment of exclusion from certain community functions.

Let's face something else, at least in this chapter. Fasting an extra three hours might not be lovely, but no intoning in choir? What bad news! Gosh... Even many of us who CAN sing would look at that as a nice break!

And eating alone? Well, the extra fast was a drag, but I sure missed that reader and the tedious book we've been reading. What awful luck!

See the difference in perception a millennium or so can make? That may be a large part of why the penal code is not followed today: some of its punishments simply make little sense to modern monastics, some seem mean, and others (as above,) seem like downright vacations.

The rest of this applies with great ease to family situations, marital situations and the workplace. Something must be gleaned from all this legislation for punishment: the one at fault must be told when something is wrong. That, after all, is the only reason for punishment, to be a wake-up call to the less than brilliant.

Unfortunately, the monastic hatred of personal confrontation endemic in our ranks assumes sufficient brilliance for all too sooner or later figure out that they are amiss. It just ain't so, folks, sorry! Things fester when they go ignored for years. Things that someone should have dealt with gently, but firmly and even summarily, in formation or childhood, torture the family in later years.

Look, it is hard, VERY hard, to confront a predictably stubborn or difficult child or monastic or spouse or employee. It's easy to see why one would rather not do so. But the Holy Rule asks many things that are difficult of us, and this one is unquestionably for the good of all, both the offender and the offended. The false charity that omits to make these difficult corrections goes a long way to making everyone's life awful in the future.

Also, in workplace especially, bear in mind that the authority figure here is the abbot, not the rank and file. One dare not assume all those prerogatives as a peer and equal. Fraternal correction will get a mention of its own later on, but it is not a mantle to be assumed lightly. We must beware of the other extreme: becoming universal policing agents for all and sundry. A tiny spark of police state flickers in many human hearts. Do nothing to fan the flame!

Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)