WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Chapter 56: The table for the superior and community guests

The superior's table should always be with the guests and pilgrims.

(From Ch. 56 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I know the human tendency to want to feel exclusive, special, like an insider -- but meditation teaches me that inclusivity is the true gesture of the heart.

2 comments:

Roger SessionsAugust 9, 2012 at 7:55 AM
"Let the Abbess's table always be with the guests and the pilgrims."

Every visitor bears a message from God.
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val latonaAugust 10, 2012 at 3:37 AM
The abbot is to be always available to guests at his table. Availability, readiness to put down what I deem more important to receive the person who wants to talk, who needs a visit in the hospital, who needs a ride to work, a husband who needs companionship, a son or daughter who calls just as I am beginning to meditate--that is the table of Benedictine hospitality-ready to receive the guest who is Christ and share the most important food-love.
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