As Christ's representative on earth, Benedict asks the prior and prioress to see the world through His eyes.
The world instinctively creates ranks. We distinguish by wealth, education, influence, family, achievement, appearance, and social standing. Benedict quietly dismantles all of that. Within the community, none of these things determines a person’s worth. The one born free is not greater than the one born a slave. The powerful are not more important than the obscure. Before God, we stand on the same ground.
We are all one in Christ.
This is more than a statement about equality. It is a demand that we learn to see one another as God sees us. Each person shares equally in the service of the one God. No one possesses a privileged path to grace. No one is beneath the attention of the community. There can therefore be no favoritism, because favoritism would mean assigning a value to someone that God has not assigned.
Yet Benedict does recognize differences among us. They are not differences of status, but of spiritual maturity. In God’s sight, he says, we are distinguished only by good works and humility.
That places an enormous responsibility upon the leader. Equality does not mean treating every circumstance identically. Benedict calls for the same discipline according to merit. Justice sometimes requires different responses to different people. The prior or prioress may even alter a person’s rank—but only when justice demands it, never because of affection, influence, friendship, or prestige.
Here lies the deeper spiritual lesson.
Christian leadership must constantly ask: Am I seeing this person through the eyes of Christ, or through the prejudices and preferences I have brought with me?
The monastery becomes holy when worldly distinctions disappear and each person is encountered simply as a child of God.
There are no favorites at the foot of the cross.
There are only brothers and sisters, standing together before God, learning humility, practicing love, and becoming one in Christ.
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