Chapter 41: The times for community meals
The principle is that the superior should manage everything so prudently that the saving work of grace may be accomplished in the community and whatever duties the community undertakes they may be carried out without any excuse for murmuring. (From para. 1 of Ch. 41 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
St Benedict uses ordinary examples such as amounts of food and drink, and meal schedules, to offer a basic principle of leadership: managing wisely. Using mundane examples, he offers compassionate disciplines for personal growth and community well-being, ones that fit well into my own life. But I should not be distracted by making judgments about what seems simply ordinary, nor how wise management benefits me. The purpose of wise management is so that in everything the saving work of grace may be accomplished.
"Indeed at all seasons let the hour, whether for supper or for dinner, be so arranged that everything will be done by daylight." This made me reflect how busyness can distort the rhythm of life like eating. I guess by being disciplined on eating on time follows other disciplines.
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