Throughout St. Benedict’s guidance on discipline, the underlying message remains love. Patience and long suffering are the cornerstones of discipline. Grace and mercy are ever offered to the offender. In this way, the community’s discipline mirrors the virtues of Christ Himself; merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.[1] The monastic father reminds us that it is the sick who need a physician rather than the healthy. Therefore, discipline afforded in Christ’s virtue is always offered to restore health to one’s spirit and not to crush it. Punishment offered in love never holds the intent to “make a point” nor is it administered through some hidden agenda.
St. Benedict charged the abbot or abbess with managing discipline. It is a grave responsibility. He uses examples of physicians and shepherds (not a police officer or drill sergeant) to portray the abbot’s heart toward discipline. Sr. Chittester writes, “Our role, the Rule of Benedict insists, is simple to try to soothe what hurts them, heal what weakens them, lift what burdens them and wait. The spiritual life is a process, not an event.”[2]
[1] Psalm 103:8.
[2] Joan Chittister, The rule of Benedict: a spirituality for the 21st century (New York: Crossroad, 2010), 151.
