Chapter 38: The weekly reader
Everyone on the community should be attentive to the needs of their neighbours as they eat and drink so that there should be no need for anyone to ask for what they require. (From para. 2 of Ch. 38 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
St. Benedict asks for complete silence, without even whispering, total attention to the reader, and simultaneous attention to the needs of neighbors while eating one's own meal. I don't think this is multitasking. I think this is like what a pilot might call "situational awareness", but in the best sense of being totally present to the reality in which the love of God is interpenetrating.
It is a thread, one of those gold threads, that is found woven through a pale scarf making it shine and attracting the buyer. Benedict weaves the gold thread of love, that one of mutual love and service, through the life of his community. There is no grandstanding, or wild applause, or profound statements made. I am reminded to live my life with attention to the lonely, the elderly, the sick, the hungry, those who are immediate and close at hand. It is the love of God which comes to me through human encounter whether receiving or giving that I cannot refuse. I pray to keep my eyes on Christ and for Him to keep His eyes on me so that I do not miss the opportunity to give love or refuse it and wear Benedict's pale scarf with the gold thread.
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