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.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Chapter 35: Weekly servers in the kitchen and at table (paragraphs 1-2)

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.)

How I do simple, humble, repetitive kitchen tasks is a good indication of my spiritual well-being.

2 comments:

val latonaMarch 15, 2013 at 5:48 AM
Such words as ,"all the rest serve one another in love", and "wash the feet of everyone," make clear that I can neither be selective or exclusive in my service. Altar servers help the priest at the altar during liturgical services before the tabernacle where Christ is enshrined. Am I not then an "altar" server at the altar of the world in which Christ is enshrined? He is in me and in everyone and I cannot judge where I think He is not.
ReplyDelete
Replies
NonaMarch 17, 2013 at 1:06 PM
I find great joy in cooking and kitchen duty for our parish funeral dinners. It is always a spiritual day.

ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment