You Matter Too

Here Benedict extends obedience beyond the abbot. The brothers are to obey one another because obedience is part of the road by which we come to God. This changes obedience from something imposed from above into a way of loving each other.

In everyday life, this might mean allowing another person's need to interrupt our plans. It might mean listening when we would rather speak, helping when we would rather rest, or yielding when the matter is not worth a battle. Mutual obedience is not weakness. It is the willingness to say, in a hundred small ways, "You matter too." That kind of humility builds community.