6But if during his stay he has been found excessive in his demands or full of faults, he should certainly not be admitted as a member of the community.
7Instead, he should be politely told to depart, lest his wretched ways contaminate others. 8If, however, he has shown that he is not the kind of man who deserves to be dismissed, let him, on his request, be received as a member of the community. 9He should even be urged to stay, so that others may learn from his example, 10because wherever we may be, we are in the service of the same Lord and doing battle for the same King.
11Further, the abbot may set such a man in a somewhat higher place in the community, if he sees that he deserves it. 12In fact, whether it is a monk or someone in the priestly or clerical orders mentioned above, the abbot has the power to set any of them above the place that corresponds to the date of his entry, if he sees that his life warrants it.
13The abbot must, however, take care never to receive into the community a monk from another known monastery, unless the monk's abbot consents and sends a letter of recommendation, 14since it is written: Never do to another what you do not want done to yourself (Tob 4:16).
We conclude this Chapter on visiting monks with the conditions under which a visiting monk should be asked to leave or the conditions under which he might even be encouraged to transfer his vows.
Saint Benedict is very careful, however, to do the right thing in relationship to the abbot of the visiting monk. The abbot of the house may not accept anyone into the community without the consent of the abbot of the monk and his recommendation.
From experience it is clear that sometimes abbots do not recommend monks who are actually quite good monks and sometimes abbots recommend positively monks who simply do not work out in a new community. Saint Benedict has no comments on that type of situation. He is here simply making sure that abbots respect the vows and the rights of monasteries. And that is as it should be.
One aspect of this Chapter that is hardly ever used in practice is to change the order of the monks, the seniority of a monk. So those who come from other monasteries end up in the same seniority that they would have had if they had entered their new monastery from the beginning.
Over many years the tradition seems to say to the abbot and to the community: don't move people around in their order within the monastery because it creates problems.
So let us ask our Lord to show us how to receive visiting monks. More importantly may the Lord guide us to lead strong and holy monastic lives.
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