Our Weaknesses

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If, however, the cause of the offense is secret, let him disclose it to the Abbot alone, or to his spiritual Superiors, who know how to heal their own wounds, and not expose and make public those of others.
 [St. Benedict (2011-04-30). The Rule of St. Benedict (Kindle Locations 791-792). PlanetMonk Books. Kindle Edition.]

Our spiritual elders are to be our confessors, and they are “to heal their own wounds” and make us whole.  These lines brought to mind the image of my aneurysm, which is a bubble in the artery caused by a weakness in the arterial wall.  Our failings and our flaws are the weakness of our character, the bubble in our walls.    

Unfortunately, under duress an aneurysm will burst.  When my aneurysm burst, it took eight weeks to heal well enough to drive and cease napping every day – and I was a lucky victim.   To heal an aneurysm, the surgeon wound a small platinum plug through the arteries in my groin, through my heart, and coiled into the broken part of the artery in my brain.  This plug was coiled into the bubble of the artery and clotting ensued; this clotting, a scab, prevents bleeding and heals the whole caused by the burst. 

Our spiritual advisors or confidants are the surgeons to whom we present our flaw, the weakness in ourselves hidden deep within our conscious.  They will help us work from the actions of our lives into our hearts until we are able to create a patch on our spirit that will enable our spirits to grow in strength and endurance. 

Like physical healing, this kind of healing requires a commitment to the work, a consistent effort at increasing the strength of the muscles, a new lifestyle to maintain healing, and the support necessary to enable the healing.