Chapter 35: Weekly servers in the kitchen and at table (paragraphs 1-2)
None should be exonerated from kitchen duty except in case of sickness or the call of some important business for the monastery, because serving each other in this way has the great merit of fostering charity. (From para. 1 of Ch. 35 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997).
I think it's not just the act of kitchen help, but the illuminating desire to be of selfless service that makes small jobs opportunities for great love.
I think it's not just the act of kitchen help, but the illuminating desire to be of selfless service that makes small jobs opportunities for great love.
Servers at table prostrate themselves and pray before and after their service. Reminds me that the purpose of monastic life is to stay awake, awake to you, Abba, here within me and within everyone I meet today—to embrace the “grand poverty”, and the joy, of being a prince, your child, your well-loved little one.
ReplyDelete"Those should also be excused (from kitchen service)who are engaged in important business." That is a challenging sentence to pride. The daily grind of kitchen work, cooking, preparing meals, washing up after how can that compare with "important business" which puffs up if one allows it, the arrogant ego who feels that he/she is above the mundane. The kneeling Christ with sleeves rolled up, washing feet, comes to mind. Prayer and humility shine their dual rays blessing this often hidden and demanding work which Benedict has made a prominent part of the Rule knowing our grumbling and pretentious and lazy hearts.
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