1In choosing an abbot, the guiding principle should always be that the man placed in office be the one selected either by the whole community acting unanimously in the fear of God, or by some part of the community, no matter how small, which possesses sounder judgment.
2Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot, even if he is the last in community rank. 3May God forbid that a whole community should conspire to elect a man who goes along with its own evil ways.
But if it does, 4and if the bishop of the diocese or the abbots or Christians in the area come to know of these evil ways to any extent, 5they must block the success of this wicked conspiracy, and set a worthy steward in charge of God's house. 6They may be sure that they will receive a generous reward for this, if they do it with pure motives and zeal for God's honor. Conversely, they may be equally sure that to neglect to do so is sinful.
Saint Benedict spoke in the previous Chapter about the rule of the abbot being to hold the place of Christ in the community. Now he turns to the election of the abbot in the community.
Having the community elect its own abbot is a daring method of choosing a leader. Often the abbot would prefer to have a particular monk succeed him—but if the abbot follows the Rule, he allows the community to make its own choice.
The guiding principles for electing an abbot are these important qualities: goodness of life and soundness of teaching. This is such an important teaching! It is so difficult for all of us to vote for a person whom we may not particularly like, but who has this goodness of life and wisdom in teaching.
Saint Benedict does allow that a community might choose a smaller group of its members to make the final choice. This has happened at some points in history, but it is very rare.
The worst thing that a community can do is to choose an abbot who will simply do what they want him to do. This is not the role of the abbot. The abbot has to follow God and follow the Rule and draw men to be faithful to monastic life.
Because it is easy to elect someone who will make our life comfortable, such elections have happened historically. Rarely do the local bishops intervene or anyone else. There is a huge pressure to let a monastic community make its choices freely, even when the monastic community does choose an abbot who is not worthy.
Almost always, in history and today, no one wants to take a strong position saying: "That man you elected as abbot is unworthy!"
Let us pray that each of us will have courage and wisdom when we must participate in an abbatial election!
1 comment:
hi kuya dom. im back at work kaya back to blogging ulet. thanks for the prayers, the Big Day goes very well. I posted some pictures pero di yun ung official. i still dont hav the copies yet. ingat lage!
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