What Benedict says next is interesting; it is unexpected. You think now that after he has talked about the fear of God, he will immediately talk about the love of God. Instead, he drops in, abbatem suum sincera et humili caritate diligant. Love his abbot with a sincere and humble charity. This tells us how Benedict sees the abbot. The abbot is the sacrament of Christ. He holds the place of Christ in the monastery [RB 2:2; 63:13]. It is through this sacrament that Christ is present to us in community. There is a oneness in community as the brothers love their abbot with a humble charity. Humble because this guy is a poor, weak, stupid sinner like everybody else. It takes a lot of humility to love him. Benedict wants it to be a sincere love despite his weakness, despite everything else. Sincerely loving him. Why? Because he is the sacrament of Christ, and Christ is the way.
Abbot M. Basil Pennington, OCSO
The Good Zeal of Monks
A talk given on the Rule of Saint Benedict
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery
Thursday, April 4, 2002
