RB Reflection 20 July 2008

No, you're not safe from the rule even on Sunday.

Chapter 41. The Times for the Brothers' Meals

From holy Easter to Pentecost, the brothers eat at noon and take supper in the evening. Beginning with Pentecost and continuing throughout the summer, the monks fast until midafternoon on Wednesday and Friday, unless they are working in the fields or the summer heat is oppressive.

On the other days they eat dinner at noon. Indeed, the abbot may decide that they should continue to eat dinner at noon every day if they have work in the fields or if the summer heat remains extreme. Similarly, he should so regulate and arrange all matters that souls may be saved and the brothers may go about their activities without justifiable grumbling.

From the thirteenth of September to the beginning of Lent, they always take their meal in midafternoon. Finally, from the beginning of Lent to Easter, they eat towards evening. Let Vespers be celebrated early enough so that there is no need for a lamp while eating, and that everything can be finished by daylight. Indeed, at all times let supper or the hour of the fast-day meal be so scheduled that everything can be done by daylight.

Benedict's concern for the health of his monks is evident in this chapter. Heavy meals in the summer make for a listlessness that will surely slow down any work that needs to get done. Summer is the time of harvest. He takes into account those brothers working in the fields and their need for the extra calories just to get them through the day. He is also aware that if you aren't in the fields, then you do not need so much food.

As Lay Cistercians we have to consider our use of food, of course, but we also should consider, as Benedict does, the health of others. All good virtues begin at home, and perhaps we should extend that to our local Lay Cistercian group, and even further into the world of day to day life that we can personally affect. It should be very hard for the Lay Cistercian (or any Christian) to know of a brother or sister in need of food, and not make every effort to provide that food for them.

There is a lot of concern for the starving in other nations, and God knows we should help them. Let us also help the starving and needy in our own town. Cistercian communities of monks and nuns are enclosed, and their charity is first felt and practiced right in their own community. Can we do any less in our communities?

Once I tried to set up something to benefit a national feeding of children, and was asked, will it help the children here in Nelson County? Well, that answer had to be no! Then why would I put my efforts to saving children somewhere else, when there are children right here to be helped?

Now some of my readers might wish I would interpret the dietary rules according to our personal lives and how we might eat rather like the rule says. Fine, but in that case the rule has spoken for itself and does not require anyone to explain what it means. We are not monks, we are not nuns, we do not work in fields, and we do not have to worry about lighting lamps. We should worry about our use of electricity. Since utility bills remind us of our stewardship of electricity I don't think anyone needs to be told to turn on only those lights that you need at that moment.

May God lead us altogether to everlasting life.