I Guess Spring is Here

I guess spring is upon us; I received the following email yesterday concerning bear activity on my cul-de-sac at neighbor’s houses over the last weekend.

Yes, the bears are back. Mama and the three cubs. They were behind S’s two or three days ago, enjoying the bird feeders next door. Then they raided the W’s freezer to have some bagels for breakfast. ( Ed had gone to run an errand and left the garage door up). And they took the bagels into the back yard to have a bath with their bagels.


They visited my garage night before last – about 8:30 PM – I had left the garbage can out even though the lid was tied down. Didn’t phase them a bit.


Anyway, Ed thought it a good idea to set up a phone call list, and thus you have it.


And the D’s saw a mt [mountain] lion in the back yard a couple of weeks ago.


Oh, If you want to see the bears – leave some food in the driveway!!!!!!!!!!!!. Just kidding of course.

Never leave a garbage can out anywhere in bear season.

The mother bear in question was a near full time resident of the neighborhood last year, I may have posted a picture of her and two of her cubs, if not, it's included here. Just another sign that spring has finally begun to sprung.

On that note, we cooked out a couple of steaks on Sunday, the first time we were able to do so this year. The ice cream truck that makes weekly rounds in our area also appeared for the first time this year. The thing plays a variety of rather odd music that blares all over the place and is quite a piercing noise. It made me think back to my youth when we received daily visits from the Good Humor man. 

The great difference is, which must be some sort of sign of the times, is that the Good Humor man announced his daily visit by ringing bells which were affixed to the front of his truck. It was quiet but still effective. We always knew when that truck was in the neighborhood, even without the aid of electronic amplification. We learned to listen for it. 
It’s amazing what good things can happen when we learn to be quiet and to listen.

The Week, March 20, 2010

When I was a Presbyterian living in Texas, I attended a church whose pastor was a very learned, scholarly, and sadly, alcoholic preacher from Glasgow. He had been at that church over 20 years and had preached on every conceivable text from Scripture. A couple of times, toward the end of his tenure there, he would get up and confess, in his still deep Scot’s brogue, that he was tempted to simply read the days text and admit that he had nothing new to add to what he had already preached on many times. He saw no reason to waste everyone’s time. There are times when, facing a blank page, I feel the same way. Could there ever be anything new to say that I likely haven’t already said many times over? However, in the name of obedience and stability, since I have undertaken to maintain this blog, I offer a few comments on the past week.

The Weather

The week began with the first hint of spring so far this year. By mid-week we were having temperatures that I think reached the low 70’s – life was good. Then, reality reasserted itself. Thursday we saw increasing clouds, Friday cold and snow with a 30 degree drop in temperature. It snowed more or less all day. This morning dawned clear, a deep Colorado blue sky, and cold; it was 14 when I awoke.

It often seems no one is happy with the weather in Colorado Springs, with people almost evenly divided between those wishing for constant blizzard conditions from mid-November through April, and those who wish for snow only in the two week period beginning December 15th and ending on New Year’s Eve. I wonder many times why people move to Colorado Springs, it’s as if they had no idea that this area is really high-desert, tending to be a bit dry, but certainly subject to receiving our share of snow, depending upon either El Nino or El Nina conditions in the Pacific. If you don’t like snow and colder weather, ever, this isn’t the place for you.

The Week

I have come close to the end of a very busy time at work. I thought back on Thursday evening and realized I had been “busy” since the middle of December; it seems it was a time of almost constant pressure to meet deadlines and get things done. This period has come close to ending rather abruptly and it’s a bit of a let-down. I have to regroup and reorient myself to establish a routine not driven by pressure but by trying to recognize the important, creative things I now have some freedom to accomplish. This kind of thing, if you are an accountant, is an annual occurrence, but oddly, after a career of almost, well, let’s just say many years, I am just now recognizing. It’s something I seem more attuned to.

Is there any conclusion from any of this? I keep thinking of Chapter 31 of the Rule, “Qualifications of the Monastery Cellarer.” Benedict begins that chapter with the following:

“As cellarer of the monastery, there should be chosen from the community someone who is wise, mature in conduct, temperate, not an excessive eater, not proud, not excitable, offensive, dilatory or wasteful, but God-fearing, like a father to the whole community.”

 As the accountant, the “business manager” or “cellarer” of the company I work for, I believe I should strive to live those qualities that Benedict sets out in the Rule. Being mature, temperate, not offensive, means accepting the circumstances in which I find myself on a day to day basis. Not only accepting, but seeing the gift in the moment, whether it’s in a Rocky Mountain spring snow storm and the beauty of its passing, or a transition from a time of much activity to one of a slower pace, each moment is a gift that is too often taken for granted. Benedict would want that from each of his monks.

I think he would appreciate the point of a story my father, also a Scot born near Glasgow, used to tell as he got older. He went to the doctor, yet another Scot, complaining of a cough. The doctor examined him, asked him his age, and said, “Ach, Willie, gae home and be glad you’re able to cough.”

Study and lectio

I’ve noticed something over the last year or so that seems strange; I keep rediscovering spiritual practices that somehow over the years I either forgotten or just moved away from. Most of these rediscoveries are quite serendipitous, but still, I often find them beneficial. 

For example, before I came into the Church my habit was to do something akin to lectio but not the same thing. I found it useful when spending an extended period of time reading one particular chapter or book of the Bible, to spend the greater part of that time more in study than just reading. Often, I would focus in on one word in a verse and try to get to the meaning of that word, and all the implications it contains. This often lead effortlessly, more or less, into prayer.

Once I came into the Church and began to study what lectio was, I abandoned my old practice and tried to strictly follow the standard procedure for lectio divina. I always struggled with it. Then, late last week I received two copies of a magazine called Bible Study Magazine. I guess they were sent as ads, but I opened one up and noticed they had an eight week study on Hebrews Chapter 11 right in the magazine. I started to read that, and then thought, just for a little change of scene I might work through a bit of it. Then I realized, that is what I used to do “all those years ago,” to quote an old Beatles song. My old habits came right back to me and seemed just as appropriate for me as a Catholic as when I was a Protestant. I thought immediately of the Rule and how Benedictine it is to go with what works. For the time being, at least, it works for me.

Over the next post or two, I’ll try to share some of an insights I’ve gained in studying Hebrews 11, actually, the study goes from Heb 10:32-12:2. There are some interesting details in that passage.

Benedict’s Monastic Work-Out Plan

Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays
On weekdays
the Morning Office shall be celebrated as follows.
Let Psalm 66 be said without an antiphon
and somewhat slowly,
as on Sunday,
in order that all may be in time for Psalm 50,
which is to be said with an antiphon.
After that let two other Psalms be said according to custom,
namely:
on Monday Psalms 5 and 35,
on Tuesday Psalms 42 and 56,
on Wednesday Psalms 63 and 64,
on Thursday Psalms 87 and 89,
on Friday Psalms 75 and 91,
and on Saturday Psalm 142 and the canticle from Deuteronomy,
which is to be divided into two sections
each terminated by a "Glory be to the Father."
But on the other days let there be a canticle from the Prophets,
each on its own day as chanted by the Roman Church.
Next follow the Psalms of praise,
then a lesson of the Apostle to be recited from memory,
the responsory, the Ambrosian hymn, the verse,
the canticle from the Gospel book,
the litany, and so the end.

You're probably asking yourselves, “What the heck does working out and the Rule have to do with each other? Well, I think there's a connection. As I’ve written recently, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time trying to get back into shape. I had begun to let myself go physically and it was hampering me from doing many things I wanted to do. I headed to the gym to start working with a trainer. These work outs haven’t been easy; three evenings a week, for 45 minutes, for the last 4 months of boring, very taxing exercises. Many times, tired from a long day at work, I’ve been sorely tempted to just chuck the whole thing, but I’ve managed to stay with it. And, it’s worked; I’ve lost weight, gotten stronger, and have a lot more energy than I did back earlier in the year.

When I get to passages like this in the Rule, I feel the same way, the temptation becomes very strong to just skip over them, they seem to offer little of interest or use in every day life. But, Benedict put this in the Rule and there must be a reason why he thought it important to do so. Maybe it’s worth a little extra effort to try to understand what he might have been thinking about.

So, digging in, there are a few things I notice in a closer reading. First, as many have pointed out, Benedict’s concern for moderation and taking care of those who are weaker than others. He says, “Let Psalm 66 be said without an antiphon and somewhat slowly . . . in order that all may be in time for Psalm 50.” He doesn’t want the morning office hurried so as to make it inevitable that some of the brothers will end up being late; he wants as many in the community as possible to be present and on time.

It’s also evident that he thinks there should be a definite form to prayer of the hours. He doesn’t want the prayer of the daily liturgies to be willy-nilly events. They require a certain order, discipline and structured approach. It’s also interesting that he wants them to be performed in harmony with “the Roman Church;” the monks aren’t out there on their own; they should be mindful that they are praying with the whole Church.

This holds true today. When we, as Catholics, pray we should try to be mindful of the fact that we don’t pray as isolated individuals left on our own to do our own thing. We are part of one body, the Body of Christ, and that imposes certain obligations and benefits on us. The prayer of any member of the Body strengthens the whole. In our individualistic society, it seems hard for people to grasp that, and yet what a wonderful thing it is.

The lessons I draw from this short reading are that, hard as it is to see some days, and as tempting as it might be not to put in a little extra effort, everything that Benedict put into the Rule has meaning, and even those of us living in the 21st century, can learn something from what he’s is offering his monks of the 5th century. Also, as hard as it is some days, ensuring there is some structure to our prayer life, and following the discipline we have laid out for ourselves, helps us grow closer to God.

Just as we benefit physically from putting in the effort to exercise and diet, just as we get healthier from doing that kind of thing, so there are benefits to exercising our mental and spiritual muscles to strengthen our relationship with our Lord. It takes some time, and results are apparent over night, but sometimes, even before we know it, good changes begin to appear. Just keep heading to the gym.

Born Again . . . and again . . .and again

Are you born again, brother?

If you have any evangelical Christian friends, I bet you’ve heard that question. I’m no theologian, even worse, I’m a former Presbyterian (I’ll share a story on that, below) but I think one of the key tenants evangelical Christians hold to is the idea of being “born again.” It is so important, many of them will be able to tell you the day and even the time they first accepted Christ.

It might surprise many Catholics, but St. Benedict also emphasized the importance of conversion, although in the Rule, he phrased it in a slightly different way. He called it conversatio. Conversatio is one of the three vows stipulated in Benedict’s Rule for the monk to take on final profession. The exact meaning of the word is difficult to translate in English, but the gist of it is that the monk vows to conform his life to that of the monastery. It means, as Fr. Michael Casey  puts it:

By the vow of . . . (conversatio morum) the monk embraces all the traditional observances that contribute to the building up of the monastic spirit: participation in the Liturgy of the Hours, personal prayer, lectio divina, work, poverty, chastity, solitude and silence, and the whole range of communal activities.

This may seem a slightly different idea than that expressed by our evangelical friends, but it is no less a description of conversion – giving up one’s self-will, one’s independence so to speak, to follow the direction of an abbot and according to the traditions of the community, all to conform oneself, finally, to Christ.

Where there is a difference, it’s in the fact that Benedict seems to see conversion as an on-going, life long process. We would not agree at all that conversion is a one time event that, once experienced, is left in the past. Of all the saints in the Church, he seems to have recognized, even emphasized, the weakness that being human entails. That’s why he points up the need for moderation in all aspects of a monk’s life.

Still, this isn’t to say that conversion, expressed either way, is not a painful and difficult process. Many of us have experienced the fact that, once we experience a major change in our lives, it affects most of who we are and what we do. It can cost friendships that previously seemed unbendable; it can mean change or loss of profession, a whole range of things can happen. The key, as Benedict also pointed out, is courage and perseverance. We won’t earn heaven in an instant, but if we do our best to be unwavering in our commitment, there will indeed come an instant when we are truly born again. It’s sometimes hard to be mindful of this, but well worth the effort.

The Story

A very staid and proper Presbyterian minister was invited to attend a conference of Christians on evangelization. Being somewhat innocent of these matters, he accepted. As it turned out, the conference was put on by a particularly charismatic group of evangelical Christians, and the experience was much more lively than he had expected it to be. At the end, the leader of the conference asked the Presbyterian what exactly was the contribution of the Presbyterian church to the history of evangelization. The pastor thought for a moment and said, “Restraint.”

Obedience in September

I haven’t posted much this month, it has just seemed a hectic time and I have been trying just to maintain some level of sanity. I haven’t needed additional activities.

The result is that I haven’t written much about obedience as I had planned. That doesn’t mean I haven’t thought much about it, I have. The thought has even crossed my mind that not posting here regularly is a violation of both stability and obedience, but we won’t go there.

The idea I keep returning to, when I think of obedience, is attentiveness. Being obedient involves listening, paying attention, to the necessities of the moment. It means being aware of what is going on life and doing what needs to be done in that moment. This can be at times easy or very difficult, even involving sacrificial acts of love. But, at heart, every proper response to the moment is an act of love. As such, it leads us closer to God. Failing to make the proper response to the moment is a act of disobedience and leads us away from God.

The difficult part is that, every day, I seem to be presented with new and challenging opportunities to practice obedience. It seems worse because now I’m aware of the need to practice being obedient and I am not one for whom that comes naturally. I tend to procrastinate, or, worse, to fall back on thinking I know better than another the right thing to do to solve a problem. I simply don’t like having to follow the lead of others. But, I’ve been trying to change that this month.

So, if nothing else, perhaps my focus on the idea of obedience this month has provided some benefits, at least to those co-workers and family members who have had to deal with me. And, maybe, just maybe, I’ll be more obedient to my commitment to post here a little more regularly. I don’t know if that helps you who might read this or not.

Obedience

For no reason other than to impose a little order in my study of Benedictine spirituality, I decided over the next two or three months to focus on one topic important in monastic spirituality each month. This month, the topic is obedience.

I chose this first because, for me, it’s one of the more difficult things to deal with in Benedict’s Rule. None of us likes to lose control of our lives to another. We are told here in America that we’re free and should be able to do whatever we want “as long as no one else gets hurt.” A silly idea, but quite predominant. We like this least of all in spiritual matters, we insist strongly on freedom of conscience.

Too, I’ve read what a number of prominent Benedictine authors have written on the topic and many seem to down play the authoritarian side of this monastic vow. When I started to make notes to myself about this I wanted to too. I wanted to rationalize and say, “Well, it doesn’t mean you have to obey someone or you're under their thumb, it really means (name your option here).

Yet, it’s pretty easy to see that we all live under some form of obedience. Those of us who must earn our living day by day and care for a family have bosses, customers, subordinates, husbands, wives, children who demand our time and attention. It’s not a foreign concept to any walk of life. Then too, in the typical small, enclosed monastic community, not having the authority figure of the abbot and allowing each monk to do his own thing when and where and how he pleases would soon result in the end of the community. It would be nothing but chaos, confusion and eventual dissolution.

I have to conclude that there is an aspect of submission to authority which the monastic vow of obedience encompasses. It’s an ordinary part of every human life and Benedict is the master at seeing the ordinary as the path to the extraordinary.

Benedict also does nothing to hide the difficulties involved.

LISTEN carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

Sometimes, being obedient is a labor, it’s something that must be worked at day in and day out. Benedict sees disobedience as sloth, not for the indolent. Because of the distasteful connotations, however, obedience has gotten a bad name; it’s very little understood, and less sought after or, even, expected. A better understanding of this fundamental Benedictine ideal is much needed, especially by me. Thus, the rest of this month is devoted to it.

The Salt of the Earth

The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes (Ps. 35[36]:2)
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh. (From Ch 7 of the Rule of St. Benedict)

The word “humility”, as many of you will already know, comes from the latin humus which is a root for our English word, earth. The implication is that, by “humility”, Benedict didn’t mean to imply the modern idea of submission and weakness, even mousiness. The idea he had in mind is the trait of knowing exactly who we are in the world. As Fr. Michael Casey put it, the idea is of living in the truth, about ourselves, about others, and most importantly, about God.

People today have lost touch with this reality. The tendency I see all too often, is to try to bring God down to our size. We want to make him a good buddy, a friend and companion, a big sugar-daddy, forgetting all the while just who exactly he is: the Lord, God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. He is something entirely Other from any of us.

Benedict wouldn't agree with our modern tendencies. He would ask us to be mindful of just exactly who we are and who God is. He's not afraid to remind the monk, and the Christian, that there is, indeed, such a thing as “hell fire” and that it is something to be feared. I don't think there can be much doubt that Benedict seems to be talking about real, almost visceral fear, not just “respect” or “love” as I’ve heard it described all too often lately. Benedict means the real thing, because if we forget all this, the consequences will be eternal.


But, when Benedict talks about fearing God and hell fire and brimstone, is he just showing himself to be another Christian fundamentalist extremist whose only desire is to squeeze all the joy out of life? Is he really advocating that Christians must live their lives in fear and terror of an unreasonable and judgmental God?

At first glance, it might look that way. But a further reading of Chapter 7 gives a different picture. At the end of the chapter, Benedict writes:

Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will
presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear.

At this point, those souls will have attained that perfect loves that drives out fear. It becomes clear that Benedict sees the Christian journey as just that, a journey on the road to final beatitude. In keeping with what he wrote in the Prologue, he sees this life as a “school” of service to the Lord. In the early, simple stages of development, the initial motivation might be little more than fear of hell. But this first step is the necessary prelude to further growth – it’s what first gets our attention. The goal is the driving out of that fear through love. And progressing along this road, if that is the right term, means that we come to know and accept more of the truth about the reality of our existence. It means growing in humility.

A False Peace

“Not to give a false sign of peace.” (Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 4)

I grew up a Presbyterian and one characteristic of Presbyterian preaching that I always enjoyed was the penchant for ministers to come up with pithy, easily remembered, sayings that conveyed a basic truth. If you are familiar with Scott Hahn you will have heard plenty of examples of this. One thing I remember him saying is, “Yes, God does love you just the way you are. But he loves you too much to leave you that way.”

Shortly before I came into the Church, I was listening to a sermon and the minister threw out this comment: “If you are having a hard time getting along with someone, pray for that person. You’ll be surprised how much you will change.”

I think that’s the point Benedict is trying to get across in Chapter 4 of the Rule. You might think the obvious meaning here is more like, if you’re not getting along with someone, don’t let them think you’re taking it. Let’em have it! But no, Benedict didn’t get to be a saint thinking like that.

As I reflect on this sentence, I think Benedict is telling us to look to ourselves when faced with difficult relationships. He wants us to ask ourselves what we are doing to improve the situation. Or better still, what have we done to make the situation worse? He doesn’t want us to be holding a grudge against anyone after the sun goes down. We should deal with these things right away.

Another lesson that might come from this little bit of the Rule is that we shouldn’t pretend to get along with someone when we don’t. We don’t want to just try to get along enough so that we don’t have to face the problem. He wants us to face the issue and do our best to resolve it.

It all comes back to what I heard in that sermon. We need to pray for the people in our lives who we find difficult to get along with, and hope that, somehow, God will change us.

Instant Messaging, or Gossip at the Gates?

At the gate of the monastery

let there be placed a wise old man,

who knows how to receive and to give a message,

and whose maturity will prevent him from straying about. (Rule of Benedict, Ch 66)

My first thought when I read this the other morning was, what the heck does receiving and giving a message have to do with being the Porter, or guestmaster, of the monastery? The words seemed to jar me awake, they were incongruous and out of place.

Then I thought about a monastery in Benedict’s time, or for, say, 500 years thereafter. From the little I know about the history, it seems there was an almost daily stream of guests who showed up at the monastery gates looking for hospitality, at least for a safe place to spend the night. One of the functions of the Porter was to act as a buffer between these guests and the monks living an enclosed existence within the gates of the community. Benedict seems to have thought it better to have one person in contact with the world than have the entire community exposed and perhaps distracted by these visitors.

Still, in those days before cell phones and the internet, it’s certainly possible that some of those guests had business with the monastery, perhaps with the abbot, or with the cellerar. They might not expect to meet with either of those officials in person, but were probably forced to rely on the Porter to convey whatever message they might wish to be conveyed. It would be very important that the Porter be able to reliably receive the message and convey it to the intended recipient. Also, and this may be a more important issue, those messages might not be appropriate for the whole community to be informed of. It would be important to have a “wise old man” as the Porter because he would, presumably, be someone who could be relied on to keep his mouth shut. He wouldn’t be a gossip.

When I thought about all this, the passage made a bit more sense. But then, I wondered how, or if, this might apply to someone following the Rule today. It seems to me to apply in a couple of different ways. First, Benedict is obviously anxious that as many of the monks as possible maintain their “life style” as much as possible. He doesn’t want them to experience unnecessary exposure to temptations or distractions from the quiet life they have chosen. The role of the Porter is intended to assist with that. Oblates today, don’t have a Porter to help them maintain a sense of separation from the culture we live in. We have to create our own “buffer” against all the noise and distraction of modern life. We have to try to maintain a sense of what we are about as Benedictines and be self disciplined enough to make the right choices; it’s not easy, but we should try to learn discernment in the situations we find ourselves in and the people we choose to associate with. As I said, it’s not easy.

Another point is that we do well to avoid gossip and, as the old saying goes, mind our own business. We should know what concerns us and what doesn’t. I’m learning that’s a sure way to ensure greater peace in my life.

One quick disclaimer. When I mention that Oblates practice a certain “withdrawal” from our culture and that we should discern who we associate with, I don’t mean we should isolate ourselves. After all, the Porter is the agent of welcome and hospitality in the monastery. His role is to allow selective contact with the world, he’s not a guard meant to keep the world out.

So, once again, with words that seems completely out of place, there is still a valuable lesson to be learned from Benedict’s Rule. He’s worth paying attention to.

The Partners

from, Chapter 65: On the Prior of the Monastery


It happens all too often that the constituting of a Prior gives rise to grave scandals in monasteries. For there are some who become inflated with the evil spirit of pride and consider themselves second Abbots. By usurping power they foster scandals and cause dissensions in the community. Especially does this happen in those places where the Prior is constituted by the same Bishop or the same Abbots who constitute the Abbot himself. What an absurd procedure this is can easily be seen; for it gives the Prior an occasion for becoming proud from the very time of his constitution, by putting the thought into his mind that he is freed from the authority of his Abbot: "For," he will say to himself, "you were constituted by the same persons who constitute the Abbot." From this source are stirred up envy, quarrels, detraction, rivalry, dissensions and disorders. For while the Abbot and the Prior are at variance, their souls cannot but be endangered by this dissension; and those who are under them, currying favor with one side or the other, go to ruin. The guilt for this dangerous state of affairs rests on the heads of those whose action brought about such disorder.


(DISCLAIMER: The following is a fictionalized account of several meetings I actually participated years ago in while working as a CPA advising businesses on financial concerns. Any characters mentioned are truly the work of my imagination.)

I knew it would be a long meeting when the senior partner of the company I was working with turned bright red, stood up, leaned across the conference room table and punched his co-managing partner in the nose. The two were at an impasse, each refusing to budge from his position in the least, and the old gentleman had had enough. He dealt with an impossible situation in the only way that seemed to remain after attempts at persuasion had failed.

When I think back on this and similar instances I’ve witnessed, I think how they could have been avoided had any of these folks been familiar with this portion of Chapter 65 from St. Benedict’s Rule. They would have known a simple truth, in a monastery or in a business, you can’t have two bosses. Problems inevitably arise when two “equals” disagree on the proper course of action for their organization. Only confusion, disorder, and finally, failure can ensure from such a situation.

But, this isn’t the only important point to be learned from this chapter. For instance, Benedict is clear that the responsibility for a bad decision should rest with the one making the decision. I’m sure we have all worked for bosses who were more than ready to blame subordinates when some plan of theirs failed. More than likely, those are the same folks more than willing to take full credit for great successes achieved by those same subordinates. In either case, Benedict will have none of it. He sees the danger to an organization when such things occur and states firmly that those responsible for bad decisions should bear the responsibility, and the consequences, when things go wrong.

Benedict would also say that those who select lower level managers should be very careful in their choice. They should select someone who is not overly ambitious or out only for him or herself. Lower level managers should also be perfectly willing to accept pre-established limits to their new authority.

In this chapter, Benedict shows keen insight into principles of organizational behavior and management, even though he lived some 1,500 years ago. Yet, the Rule is not really intended as treatise on management. It is a guide for Christian living. Benedict sees that the poor handling of the management of the Abbey can endanger the very souls of all those involved. I think the truth of this can be seen in the incident of the two business partners I described above. The older man displayed a very high level of anger and frustration that could hardly have been good for his eternal future. It is that very type of situation that Benedict is so anxious to avoid.

Oh, you may be wondering what the argument I described above was all about. It was over whether a newly available reserved parking space should be given to the next manager in line, in accordance with long established policy, or whether it should go to the wife of the senior partner to use on her frequent trips downtown for shopping. Hardly seems like an issue to endanger your soul over, does it?