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X-WR-CALDESC:<i>To be worthy of the task of governing a monastery\, the pri
 oress or abbot must always remember what the title signifies and act accor
 dingly. They are believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery. Th
 erefore\, a prioress or abbot must never teach or decree or command anythi
 ng that would deviate from God's instructions. On the contrary\, everythin
 g they teach and command should\, like the leaven of divine justice\, perm
 eate the minds of the community.</i>\n\nThe social revolution of the Rule 
 starts in this paragraph on authority. This will be a different kind of li
 fe than the sixth century Roman ever saw. The head of the monastery will n
 ot be a chief or a queen or a feudal lord. The superior of a monastery of 
 Benedictines will be a Christ figure\, simple\, unassuming\, immersed in G
 od\, loving of the marginal\, doer of the gospel\, beacon to the strong.\n
 \nOnce you begin to understand that\, you begin to understand the whole ne
 w type of authority that the Rule models for a world gone wild with power.
  You begin to understand that it is not the laws of the mighty that will g
 overn this group. It is the law of God that will preempt all other conside
 rations.\n\nLike Christ\, this leader does not lead with brute force. This
  leader understands the leavening process. This leader\, called appropriat
 ely abbot or abbess or prioress\, is a spiritual parent\, a catalyst for t
 he spiritual and psychological growth of the individual monastic\, not a b
 order guard or a warden. This leader is not a parent who terrorizes a chil
 d into submission\; this leader believes in the best and gives people the 
 opportunities to make the mistakes that lead to growth.\n\nThe prioress an
 d abbot provide an environment that confronts the monastic with the presen
 ce of God\, that shows them the Way. After that it is up to the monastic t
 o let the practices of the community and the rhythm of the prayer life wor
 k their way until the piercing good of God rises in them like yeast in bre
 ad.\n\n'If you meet the Buddha on the road\,' the Zen master teaches the d
 isciple\, 'kill him.' Don't let any human being become the measure of your
  life\, the Zen implies. Eliminate whatever you would be tempted to idoliz
 e\, no matter how worthy the object. The role of the spiritual leader\, in
  other words\, is not to make martinets out of people\; it is to lead them
  to spiritual adulthood where they themselves make the kind of choices tha
 t give life depth and quality. Like the teacher of Zen\, Benedict does not
  make the superior of the monastery the ultimate norm of life. Pleasing th
 e abbot is not what monastic life is all about. Becoming what the abbess o
 r prioress thinks you should be is not the goal of monasticism. Following 
 the leader is not the end for which we're made\; finding God is. Benedict 
 makes the superior of his monasteries a lover of people\, a leader who can
  persuade a person to the heights\, show them the mountain and let them go
 .\n\nIn our own culture\, becoming someone important\, climbing the corpor
 ate and ecclesiastical ladder has so often meant pleasing the person at th
 e top rather than doing what conscience demands or the situation requires.
  That kind of leadership is for its own sake. It makes the guru\, rather t
 han the gospel\, the norm of life. That kind of obedience puts the busines
 s before the soul. That kind of authority is not monastic and it is not sp
 iritual. That kind of authority so often leads to the satisfaction of the 
 system more than to the development of the person and the coming of the re
 ign of God. That kind of authority breeds Watergate and My Lai in the face
  of a tradition that holds up for public emulation Joan of Arc and Thomas 
 More whose obedience was always to a much higher law than the institutions
  of the country.
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DTSTAMP:20260405T113609Z
DESCRIPTION:<i>To be worthy of the task of governing a monastery\, the prio
 ress or abbot must always remember what the title signifies and act accord
 ingly. They are believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery. The
 refore\, a prioress or abbot must never teach or decree or command anythin
 g that would deviate from God's instructions. On the contrary\, everything
  they teach and command should\, like the leaven of divine justice\, perme
 ate the minds of the community.</i>\n\nThe social revolution of the Rule s
 tarts in this paragraph on authority. This will be a different kind of lif
 e than the sixth century Roman ever saw. The head of the monastery will no
 t be a chief or a queen or a feudal lord. The superior of a monastery of B
 enedictines will be a Christ figure\, simple\, unassuming\, immersed in Go
 d\, loving of the marginal\, doer of the gospel\, beacon to the strong.\n
 \nOnce you begin to understand that\, you begin to understand the whole ne
 w type of authority that the Rule models for a world gone wild with power.
  You begin to understand that it is not the laws of the mighty that will g
 overn this group. It is the law of God that will preempt all other conside
 rations.\n\nLike Christ\, this leader does not lead with brute force. This
  leader understands the leavening process. This leader\, called appropriat
 ely abbot or abbess or prioress\, is a spiritual parent\, a catalyst for t
 he spiritual and psychological growth of the individual monastic\, not a b
 order guard or a warden. This leader is not a parent who terrorizes a chil
 d into submission\; this leader believes in the best and gives people the 
 opportunities to make the mistakes that lead to growth.\n\nThe prioress an
 d abbot provide an environment that confronts the monastic with the presen
 ce of God\, that shows them the Way. After that it is up to the monastic t
 o let the practices of the community and the rhythm of the prayer life wor
 k their way until the piercing good of God rises in them like yeast in bre
 ad.\n\n'If you meet the Buddha on the road\,' the Zen master teaches the d
 isciple\, 'kill him.' Don't let any human being become the measure of your
  life\, the Zen implies. Eliminate whatever you would be tempted to idoliz
 e\, no matter how worthy the object. The role of the spiritual leader\, in
  other words\, is not to make martinets out of people\; it is to lead them
  to spiritual adulthood where they themselves make the kind of choices tha
 t give life depth and quality. Like the teacher of Zen\, Benedict does not
  make the superior of the monastery the ultimate norm of life. Pleasing th
 e abbot is not what monastic life is all about. Becoming what the abbess o
 r prioress thinks you should be is not the goal of monasticism. Following 
 the leader is not the end for which we're made\; finding God is. Benedict 
 makes the superior of his monasteries a lover of people\, a leader who can
  persuade a person to the heights\, show them the mountain and let them go
 .\n\nIn our own culture\, becoming someone important\, climbing the corpor
 ate and ecclesiastical ladder has so often meant pleasing the person at th
 e top rather than doing what conscience demands or the situation requires.
  That kind of leadership is for its own sake. It makes the guru\, rather t
 han the gospel\, the norm of life. That kind of obedience puts the busines
 s before the soul. That kind of authority is not monastic and it is not sp
 iritual. That kind of authority so often leads to the satisfaction of the 
 system more than to the development of the person and the coming of the re
 ign of God. That kind of authority breeds Watergate and My Lai in the face
  of a tradition that holds up for public emulation Joan of Arc and Thomas 
 More whose obedience was always to a much higher law than the institutions
  of the country.
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260510T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260510T235900
LOCATION:Chapter 2
SUMMARY:Qualities of the Abbot or Prioress
END:VEVENT
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