CHAPTER 46
86 The Rule, Chapter 46
CHAPTER 46
Faults Committed in Other Matters "If someone commits a fault while at any work— while working in the kitchen, in the storeroom, in serving, in the bakery, in the garden, in any craft or anywhere else— either by breaking or losing something or failing in any other way in any other place, he must at once come before the abbot and community and of his own accord admit his fault and make satisfaction/'
A monastic community, like the members of your own household, needs to be informed when something is broken or lost. An apology is expected from the person who is responsible. If the guilty party conceals the fact and knowledge of the accident or loss is made known by someone else, the offender is usually entitled to a good chewing out. "If it is made known through another, he [the one who broke or lost something] is to be subjected to a more severe correction/' Have you ever spanked a child for not telling you about his or her misdeed? Why didn't you tell me? Haven't you asked that in either a bubbling or advanced state of anger?
This explains why the chapter of faults was instituted in monasteries. Rather than go before the abbot "at once" to confess his fault, the clumsy monk, along with his brothers who are prone to disaster, confesses his wrongdoing in a ceremony known as the "chapter of faults," or public culpa. We have retained the custom in my monastery. Although other observances have disappeared in the age of updating, culpa has remained because monks continue to have faults. We are always breaking things or losing them.
St. Benedict lists certain areas of the monastery where faults are committed: the kitchen, storeroom, bakery, garden. But there are other places, he says, and other faults besides breaking or losing things. Some monks need to apologize for being
The Rule, Chapter 46 87 inexcusably absent from community prayer, for failing to do their part in this community work. Other monks sometimes confess laziness in tending to both prayer and work. Monks have numerous faults that handicap the monastery's operation. A lot of things get broken in the monastery. I broke the vacuum sweeper twice in the same careless way. But it's not just material things that get broken. Charity is destroyed sometimes, and this must be confessed too. Our faults even accompany us when we are away from the monastery. "For faults committed outside the monastery" is often heard at our culpa.
I always wait for the details, but seldom are they given.
There are certain matters that we cannot admit in public.
St. Benedict takes this into account. "When the cause of the sin lies hidden in his conscience, he is to reveal it only to the abbot or to one of the spiritual elders, who know how to heal their own wounds as well as those of others, without exposing them and making them public."
The Rule of St. Benedict is designed to help us improve our lives. "Conversion" is the term that best describes this procedure. Benedictines make it a vow. Oblates accept this same responsibility when they promise to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict. Conversion is an ongoing process for all of us.
It is not accomplished by leaps and bounds. Conversion is a daily practice. It requires perseverance. St. Benedict is realistic when he tells us we have to work at our conversion "until death" (Prologue). We plug along. Admitting failure is a good indication that we are sincere about this work of conversion.
St. Benedict wants his followers to be humble and honest enough to admit they are not saints. Yet.