Chapter 35: Weekly servers in the kitchen and at table (paragraphs 1-2)
Everyone in the community should take turns serving in the kitchen and at table. None should be exonerated from kitchen duty except in the 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.)
St. Benedict links service among household members with charity. Often service is taken for granted -- I've felt that way about my own service and am sometimes negligent in honoring others' service. But to link service with charity means that my action will loving and therefore invaluable, despite whether or not it gets "noticed".
Often the daily work if it is the same, such as preparing meals,washing dishes,entering data into a computer can become drudgery if my ego-focus is on self-satisfaction and rewards. In this chapter Benedict reminds me that I am called to love-love the work-love the beneficiaries of the work-love the opportunity to work for others,and to love and cherish these moments of service which are precious because they increase and foster more love in others as well as myself.
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