To cure, not to crush

The Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 30

I will leave reflecting on this chapter to one who is far wiser than I.  If possible, I encourage you to read all of Sr. Joan Chittister's commentary on Chapter 30, which concludes,

The real lesson of the chapter is not that young people should be beaten. The continuing value of the chapter is that it reminds us quite graphically that no one approach is equally effective with everyone. No two people are exactly the same. In bringing people to spiritual adulthood we must use every tool we have: love, listening, counsel, confrontation, prayer that God may intervene where our own efforts are useless and, finally, if all else fails, amputation from the group.

The real point of this and all seven preceding chapters of the penal code of the Rule is that Benedictine punishment is always meant to heal, never to destroy; to cure, not to crush.

Br. Chad-Joseph