November 10, 2012

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.


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1 comment:

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.