Chapter 67. Brothers Sent on a Journey
Brothers sent on a journey will ask the abbot and community to pray for them. All absent brothers should always be remembered at the closing prayer of the Work of God. When they come back from a journey, they should, on the very day of their return, lie face down on the floor of the oratory at the conclusion of each of the customary hours of the Work of God. They ask the prayers of all for their faults, in case they may have been caught off guard on the way by seeing some evil thing, or hearing some idle talk.
No one should presume to relate to anyone else what he saw or heard outside the monastery, because that causes the greatest harm. If anyone does so presume, he shall be subjected to the punishment of the rule. So too shall anyone who presumes to leave the enclosure of the monastery, or go anywhere, or do anything at all, however small, without the abbot's order.
When Benedict wrote this, he was dealing with a world in chaos. The barbarian invasions of Italy were in progress, the empire was essentially gone, and life in monasteries was as much of a mess as life outside the monasteries. Sending a brother on any sort of journey was a dangerous undertaking, for being a monk did not guarantee you of safe passage.
When we bring this reading to application for the LCG, perhaps the best thing is to say that when we come to our meetings, retreats, etc., that we leave outside the door all our prejudices, upsets, obsessions and pet causes. Meetings are too easily disrupted if one member is on a campaign of some kind, and prevents the meeting from advancing in an orderly fashion.
We are imperfect people, in an imperfect organization, carrying out an impossible task: to carry to the Love of Christ to the secular world by way of our Lay Cistercian Charism. Somehow, that impossible task becomes possible by the working of grace. We have to trust that as we grow, and develop new rules to reflect the overall changes that will come as a result of our continually drawing closer to some sort of union with the OCSO, that God will provide, and guide us.
So when we come to meetings, we should leave our fears at the door, our causes, our obsessions, and trust the grace of Christ to see to our needs so much more perfectly than we ourselves can ever hope.
May God bring us altogether to everlasting life.
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