Louisville Process Theology Network

“The great paradox of Superiorship is that no one can be a
Superior unless he is fully worthy, and yet no one is fully worthy. There is
only one solution: that Christ Himself, in us, must be the Superior for He alone
is worthy. And we must be content to struggle to keep out of his way.

Above all, as you say so wisely, we must be glad if those
under us see our defects and are even aware of our sins in some way. Because
that means that they will not expect too much from us and will put their hopes
in Christ.

The crux of the whole problem of being a Superior is right
there; in the shame we feel at letting everyone down, the shame at not being up
to the task, the shame that everything will be known, that our nothingness will
be seen and realized.

So many Superiors, thrown into panic by this fear, become
harsh and demanding or suspicious and resentful. And that is not to govern but
to dominate. The same thing works the other way, of course, a hundred times
over. Because there are subjects who want to dominate, and do not want the
Superior to know their shame, and who try to get in the first blow. May God
spare you from such.

In the end, though, the solution is Love – you have said it.
And love, it seems to me, implies the realization that perhaps already those
subject to us know our failings very well and accept them with love and would
not dream of holding them against us, because they know these things do not
matter.

This is the great consolation; in the job of being known and
forgiven, we find it so much easier to forgive everything even before it
happens.