Holy Rule for March 14

[St. Mary's Monastery]

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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule

March 14, July 14, November 13
Chapter 35: On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen (12-18)

An hour before the meal let the weekly servers each receive a drink and some bread over and above the appointed allowance, in order that at the meal time they may serve their brethren without murmuring and without excessive fatigue. On solemn days, however, let them wait until after Mass

Immediately after the Morning Office on Sunday, the incoming and outgoing servers shall prostrate themselves before all the brethren in the oratory and ask their prayers. Let the server who is ending his week say this verse: "Blessed are You, O Lord God, who have helped me and consoled me." When this has been said three times and the outgoing server has received his blessing, then let the incoming server follow and say, "Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help me." Let this also be repeated three times by all, and having received his blessing let him enter his service.

REFLECTION

Families, and parents and caregivers, listen up! There's an important lesson here. No task is too small to be blessed by prayer. More than that, no task is so easy that it can be done without God's help, so remember to thank Him. Of ourselves, we can do nothing, literally nothing. All our strength and power comes from God.

Making dinner or washing the dishes? Take a quiet moment in the midst of either to say "Help!" and "Thanks!" Two simple, one word prayers. No matter how chaotic your household, everyone will find time for at least that. God knows the details, knows your heart and can readily fill in the blanks! We may think God needs essay-length prayers, but He doesn't. He may enjoy hearing from us, but trust me, we NEVER tell Him anything that's news to Him.

This chapter is not simply the humility and charity of service, it is also the honest acknowledgment of complete helplessness without God. For most folks, only sickness or debility will teach them that. It may seem like nothing to bend down and pick up a pin off the floor until a bad back makes that impossible. Handicaps hone our perceptions of being in charge very, very well.

Of course, there is another side to simple things like serving table, picking up pins and the like. One could not have done anything without God's help, but ah, if one does them out of love and care! Bingo! Double coupons, so to speak! If that pin got carefully picked up because of a barefoot running child, or a beloved pet who is prone to "tasting" whatever she can find on the floor, simplicity becomes a much greater matter, indeed. Now it is very close to the heart of God, and that is a wonderful place to be.

By the way, though some might think me daft for saying this, it is not at all that crazy. There is no reason why families could not bless whomever is assigned to a domestic task for a week or month or whatever. A simple prayer asking God to help them serve us all and get over any rough times could be tastefully done without a lot of fuss. This could really help drive home the message of the worthwhile merit to be had in doing small things with love!

Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)