et vobis fratres

Yesterday at our house chapter one of the friars brought up a tradition I had never heard of. He said that at one time, when a friar was transferred from one place to another, he would kneel in the middle of the refectory before leaving, asking pardon of any of the brothers whom he might have offended and announcing his forgiveness for anyone he might have sinned against.

It seems to me a pity to have lost such a thing.

Maybe I'm being overly dramatic or indulging temptations to shame, but I think of my various transitions in the Order, my moves from one place to another, and I can't help but imagine that my heart and my vocation would be more at peace if, before leaving a place, I had the chance to kneel in the middle of the refectory and ask the brothers' pardon for any way that I had sinned against anyone, and to say that in whatever way I was able to accept the grace of forgiveness from God, I desired to forgive them too.