
"...all should be
called for counsel [for] the Lord often reveals what is better to
the younger."
Rule of St. Benedict 3.3
When I served as Archabbey Treasurer and Business
Manager just as we were entering the second decade of what still
feels to me like a new century, the community was engaged in the
largest renovation project we'd ever initiated in our, at that
time, almost 160-year-long history.
It was my job as business manager to oversee the
project and be point man for advising the abbot on major decisions
that needed his approval, or the monastic community's approval,
either by vote of the chapter or through the Abbot's Council. I
recall the weight of some of those decisions. Of particular
importance were decisions involving funding the project. We all
knew the need to transform St. Bede Hall's '50s-era school rooms
and student housing into new and up-to-date spaces for our programs
and guest accommodation needs.
Despite the complexity of input such decisions
required, I also remember how easy I could sleep at night when
decisions got made so work could finally get under way - I never
worried much about the advice I offered the abbot and his council.
I knew that whatever I lacked in experience was more than made up
for by the experience of others - our bankers for funding advice,
attorneys to forge a fair contract with the workers, and the
contractors themselves who staffed a whole plethora of experts in
areas ranging from engineering to interior
design.
I also worked closely with experts from other
not-for-profit organizations who generously volunteered their
valuable time on our financial advisory board. All that input and
expertise, along with their enthusiasm to be part of what Saint
Meinrad was about, was enough to convince me that God's grace was
with us, and with me, and that I didn't need to worry or lose any
sleep - which I didn't.
In his rule, St. Benedict advises the abbot to do
the same - to summon the brothers for counsel, explain the business
and listen to their advice. Of course, if there is anything St.
Benedict is adamant about it's this: the abbot makes the decision.
So, after listening carefully, the abbot is to "ponder it and
follow what he judges the wiser course" (RB 3.2).
Benedict seems to advocate "peripheral planning," a term I came
across in a book called "Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry" by
Arthur Zajonc. It involves going out to the periphery to find
others who may have new ideas for creative solutions or inventive
innovations.
As distinct from central planning, peripheral
planning goes out to discover what others have to say about things.
Sometimes we have to plan centrally, but in certain cases it may be
better to improvise and allow the situation to unfold at the
periphery. St. Benedict teaches that the decision maker - the abbot
- needs to be attentive to the advice of the brothers in either
case.
By listening to what the brothers have to say, he
may discover a wiser plan or better advice, which may come from the
younger and least experienced. This is depicted in the Bible
several times. David was just a boy when he was anointed king by
the prophet Samuel; Jeremiah thought he was too young to be a
prophet; Daniel was a youth when he "judged his elders" - but also
Jesus, since he, too, moved at the periphery by engaging people in
chance encounters wherever his travels took him. Jesus allowed the
situation to form his responses that, for his disciples - including
us - were revelatory moments of healing, teaching, and
forgiving.
Grace is often found at the periphery, at the
boundary where the usual and predictable meet up with the impulses
of the new and untried - it's the place where fresh ideas, creative
perceptions and imaginative insights can lead to innovation and new
trajectories. There is nothing more creative or more inspiring than
God's grace shining through the wisdom of the least among
us!