Chapter 53: The reception of guests (paragraphs 5-6)
The kitchen to serve the superior together with the guests should be quite separate, so that guests, who are never lacking in a monastery, may not unsettle the community by arriving, as they do, at all times of the day. (From para. 5 of Ch. 53 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
My household isn't large enough to contain two kitchens. And yet, I respond to the parallel arrangement that Benedict describes, of hospitality and stability standing side by side.
My household isn't large enough to contain two kitchens. And yet, I respond to the parallel arrangement that Benedict describes, of hospitality and stability standing side by side.
"Whenever they are free, they work wherever they are assigned"(RB 53:29),is a noticeable sentence that gave me pause for reflection. Retired from daily work, I wonder where is my assigned work and who assigns me? Two reflections came to mind. One is the very first line in today's, April 7, John Main reflection found in Silence and Stillness in Every Season. "It is nothing less than essential to meditate every day". There is the very first and most important assigned work for me. It is the twice daily meditation. From the meditation the second assignment necessarily flows. If I am centered in the heart and my heart is open to "listening", I will "hear" work assignments for me. I do not doubt it for a minute. And they do come. I must live by the labor of my hands, Benedict advises in The Rule, Chapter 48 on Daily Manual Labor, and not be idle which is the "enemy of the soul." House work, kitchen work, "providing adequate bedding", meal preparation, washing floors are all a necessary part of daily manual labor. And there are outside assigned duties as well which call for prayerful reflection before embarking upon them. While in house builds up family and environmental space in which individuals may find peace and nourishment and joy the same can be said of outside work in the community. And now that I am free, I look for that "assigned work" from God and neighbor.
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