Chapter 39: The amount of food to be made available
Nothing is so opposed to Christian values as overeating, as we can see from the words of our Lord: take care that your hearts are not weighed down by overeating. (From para. 2 of Ch. 39 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
These are strong words against overeating -- an indulgence all too easy to do in an affluent and fast-paced culture. But I hear St. Benedict in these words affirming the staunchly incarnational -- embodied -- nature of prayer and service. My body must be part of the integrated whole of selfless attention, and my body must be fit for selfless service.
What Benedict reminds me in these chapters on the proper amount of food and drink is that when I do overindulge I am overindulging in "me-consciousness", a consciousness that overwhelms and I get lost in it. What happens then? I lose the consciousness of the other. In both chapters there is an awareness of the sick, the elderly, the young, and those who "may not be able to eat one kind of food..." It is never just about me, even in prayer, even in meditation and I am reminded not even in daily life.
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