{"id":3783,"date":"2012-04-20T21:05:56","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T21:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2012\/04\/the-rule-of-saint-benedict-a-s\/"},"modified":"2016-12-21T09:08:30","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T08:08:30","slug":"the-rule-of-saint-benedict-a-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2012\/04\/the-rule-of-saint-benedict-a-s\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rule of Saint Benedict: A School for Bishops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"26800Q.JPG\"<\/a>Are There Any Bishops Among My Readers?<\/strong>
\nSaint Anselm’s pastoral qualities as a bishop surely originated in his experience as abbot of Bec. On 21 April we read the second part of Saint Benedict’s Chapter LXIV, The Appointment of the Abbot<\/u>. It occurred to me that bishops would want to meditate Saint Benedict’s wisdom, particularly with regard to their relations with the priests and deacons of their dioceses. Listen to Saint Benedict. I took the liberty of adapting the text to the situation of bishops and their diocesan clergy!
\n<\/em>
\nLet the bishop when he is appointed
\nconsider always what an office he has undertaken
\nand to whom he must render an account of his stewardship;
\nand let him know that it is his duty rather to profit his clergy than to lord it over them.
\nIt behoves him, therefore, to be learned in the divine law,
\nso that he may have a treasure of knowledge
\nwhence he may bring forth things new and old;
\nand to be chaste, sober, and merciful.
\nLet him always set mercy above judgment<\/em> (Jas 2, 13),
\nso that he himself may obtain mercy.
\nLet him hate ill-doing but love the clergy.
\nIn administering correction, let him act with prudent moderation,
\nlest being too zealous in removing the rust he break the vessel.
\nLet him always distrust his own fraility
\nand remember that the bruised reed is not to be broken.
\nBy this we do not mean that he should allow evils to grow,
\nbut that, as we have said above,
\nhe should eradicate them prudently and with charity,
\nin the way which may seem best in each case.
\nAnd let him study rather to be loved than feared.
\nLet him not be turbulent or anxious,
\noverbearing or obstinate,
\njealous or too suspicious,
\nfor otherwise he will never be at rest.
\nLet him be prudent and considerate in all his commands;
\nand whether the work he enjoins concerns God or the world,
\nlet him always be discreet and moderate,
\nbearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said:
\nIf I cause my flocks to be overdriven,
\nthey will all perish in one day<\/em> (Gen 33, 13).
\nSo, imitating these and other examples of discretion,
\nthe mother of all virtues,
\nlet him so temper all things that the strong may still have something to long after,
\nand the weak may not draw back in alarm.
\nAnd, especially, let him keep this present rule in all things;
\nso that having ministered faithfully
\nhe may hear from the Lord what the good servant heard
\nwho gave his fellow-servants wheat in due season:
\nAmen, I say unto you, he will set him over all his goods<\/em> (Mt 24, 47).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are There Any Bishops Among My Readers? Saint Anselm’s pastoral qualities as a bishop surely originated in his experience as abbot of Bec. On 21 April we read the second part of Saint Benedict’s Chapter LXIV, The Appointment of the Abbot. It occurred to me that bishops would want to meditate Saint Benedict’s wisdom, particularly <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,13,73,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-life","category-monastic","category-rule-of-saint-benedict","category-year-of-the-priest-2009-2010"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-Z1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15012,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions\/15012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}