RB Reflection: 19 July 2008

Chapter 40. the Proper Amount of Drink

Everyone has his own gift from God, one this and another that (I Cor. 7:7). It is, therefore, with some uneasiness that we specify the amount of food and drink for others. However, with due regard for the infirmities of the sick, we believe that a half bottle of wine a day is sufficient for each. But those to whom God gives the strength to abstain must know that they will earn their own reward.

The superior will determine when local conditions, work or the summer heat indicates the need for a greater amount. He must, in any case, take great care lest excess or drunkenness creep in. We read that monks should not drink wine at all, but since the monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to the point of excess, for wine makes even wise men go astray (Sir 19.2).

However, where local circumstances dictate an amount much less than what is stipulated above, or even none at all, those who live there should bless God and not grumble. Above all else we admonish them to refrain from grumbling.

This is a new bent for Benedict, "with some uneasiness that we specify the amount of food and drink for others." I haven't been struck thus far with his reluctance to specify everything in the smallest detail. In Benedict's defense, and I don't know but suspect Abbots and Abbesses might back me up on this, running a monastery could be much like herding fifty cats. They say the devil is in the details. That is true, but we must also say that God is in the details, as well.

A half-bottle of wine is a lot of wine by anybodies standards. And of course, what Benedict wanted to guard against, just like with the food, is over indulgence. Which brings us directly to the applications for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani or elsewhere. Having already discussed that yesterday, today we shall look at how Benedict uses the first scripture quotation as his reason for being reluctant to dictate who gets to eat and drink what and how much.

"Everyone has his own gift from God, one this and another that (I Cor. 7:7)." That verse comes smack in the middle of the chapter dealing with marriage, and how it's so much better to not marry at all. We cannot question a man who passed to the nearer presence of God more than a thousand years ago, about his use of scripture out of context, but we can wonder if there is a connection in some way that isn't immediately obvious to us.

The previous verse says, "This I say by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all were as I myself am." Paul was talking about staying unmarried; Benedict was talking about not drinking wine. There may well be nothing to make of this comparison, but I offer it because when scripture is lifted out of its natural context and used for something entirely different, I get curious. Clearly Benedict was very reluctant to allow the drinking of wine...at all, but because he knew human nature, and that modern day monks could not be convinced otherwise, he allowed half a bottle of wine.

Maybe the lesson for us here is to not judge others according to our own standards. God alone will judge. As Lay Cistercians it is our charism to bring that refusal to judge others to our daily lives and encounters.

May God bring us altogether to everlasting wine. Teetotalers and Sippers alike.