Daily Reading for July 11 • Benedict of Nursia

This, then, is the good zeal,
which monks must foster with fervent love:
They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other,
supporting with the greatest patience
one another’s weaknesses of body or behaviour,
and earnestly competing in obedience to one another.
No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself,
but instead, what he judges better for someone else.
To their fellow monks they show the pure love of brothers;
to God, loving fear;
to their abbot, unfeigned and humble love.
Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ,
and may he bring us all together to everlasting life.

From The Rule of St. Benedict, quoted in Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict by Esther de Waal (Liturgical Press, 1984).