Meals

A good rule includes time to be together, whether in conversation or absorbed in a common activity. For most of us meals are the privileged place of spending time with one another. It is meant to be a moment of real communion, a fact reflected in our monastic architecture- our refectory is built parallel to the Abbey church and we cross ourselves and process into both!

This fact is so true for St. Benedict that the first sign of a brother who, through his worldly ways, has removed himself from the communion (excommunion) of the monastery, is that “he will not be allowed to share the common table” (RB 24:3). This discipline is less of a punishment and more a concrete expression of what really happens to us when we affirm ourselves rather than God, and so helps the brother understand the nature of his fault and more swiftly enter into amending his ways and returning to the table, i.e. to communion. Here at the monastery we speak at lunch and keep silence at dinner, listening together to a brother who reads something edifying for the heart and mind while we eat. During the Triduum we listen to particular passages from the scriptures to help us meditate on the Paschal Mystery.

SUGGESTIONS:

• If you are with others, eat meals together. If it is a “talking meal” have one conversation. Speak about what you have seen this day in your experience of this retreat. What has moved you? What has changed you? Why?

What questions have these days provoked in you? Share and explore these together.

• If you are by yourself make meal time a special time of communion with our Lord. Set the table, perhaps light a candle, put attention into preparing your meal and take your time eating. Consider what your answer is to the questions above. Bring that to our Lord in silent, prayerful dialogue. • As you plan your meals for this week join us in marking Holy Thursday’s dinner with special festive dishes, to celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. Since this is night of Passover, lamb is appropriate. • On Easter pull out all the culinary stops, for on this day Our Lord conquered sin and death and raised everything to a new life. In Him all of life tastes fuller and sweeter! If there are special recipes in your family this- the most special day of the year- is the day to use them. Try out traditional easter recipes too, like hot cross buns.

• Have table reading at dinner.

• We recommend reading the Gospel for the day, or a portion of it. • If it is more appropriate, have a shorter table reading for part of the meal, and then discuss what struck you about that passage. • Pick one person who can read well to read while others eat. If you are by yourself read your selection before beginning to eat. And then “chew on the Word” along with your food, slowly and thoughtfully. • St. Benedict provides further suggestions in his chapter on “The Reader for the Week”: Let there be complete silence. No whispering, no speaking–only the reader’s voice should be heard there. The brothers should by turn serve one another’s needs as they eat and drink, so that no one need ask for anything. If, however, anything is required, it should be requested by an audible signal of some kind rather than by speech… Brothers will read and sing, not according to rank, but according to their ability to benefit their hearers. (RB 38: 5-7, 12)