Holy Rule for July 13
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St. Mary's Monastery
Jul 12, 2024, 5:03:25 PMJul 12
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Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 13, July 13, November 12
Chapter 35: On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen (1-11)
Let the brethren serve one another, and let no one be excused from the kitchen service except by reason of sickness or occupation in some important work. For this service brings increase of reward and of charity. But let helpers be provided for the weak ones, that they may not be distressed by this work; and indeed let everyone have help, as required by the size of the community or the circumstances of the locality. If the community is a large one, the cellarer shall be excused from the kitchen service; and so also those whose occupations are of greater utility, as we said above. Let the rest serve one another in charity.
The one who is ending his week of service shall do the cleaning on Saturday. He shall wash the towels with which the brethren wipe their hands and feet; and this server who is ending his week, aided by the one who is about to begin, shall wash the feet of all the brethren. He shall return the utensils of his office to the cellarer clean and in good condition, and the cellarer in turn shall consign them to the incoming server, in order that he may know what he gives out and what he receives back.
REFLECTION
The first thing I ever learned how to cook was (O, wondrous feat!!) boiled carrots. I wasn't even in school yet, so I couldn't have been older than 4 or 5 at the time. I didn't like carrots as a child, either, but we often had them for lunch, and I stoically ate them, just because I was so proud I could fix them myself.
Get the point? Serving our families makes us feel very special, a kind of special that I think humility completely allows. If you have children, for heaven's sake, teach them to cook. As they grow older, it might well result in a night off for you and the child will benefit. Our relationship with any group can suffer when we are only in a position of taking or receiving. To know the full breadth of love, we must be able to give back, in ways no matter how small.
Single Oblates who live alone can brighten many a life by inviting others to dinner. Not only does it enhance one's own living space with a bit of celebration, but it enriches the lives of those who may be lonely themselves (as well as those who aren't!) that we may invite. No one has to look far for an elderly person who probably would be delighted at a shared meal, no matter how simple. It offers us a wondrous chance to serve and a great work of mercy, too! One can still be feeding the hungry, even if they are not starving in a famine somewhere. And don't forget that loneliness, too, is a terrible hunger!
Jesus did not HAVE to serve. He had a lot of followers, some of them downright fawning, no doubt, who would have gladly taken care of everything. Peter raised the roof when Jesus stooped to wash his feet, but Jesus stopped him cold: if Peter was unwilling to be served, he could have no part of Jesus the Servant. Whoa!! What a privilege we have in every chance to serve our own, what a great likeness to God, in Whose image we were made, but Whose likeness we must struggle to maintain and perfect in ourselves.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
March 13, July 13, November 12
Chapter 35: On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen (1-11)
Let the brethren serve one another, and let no one be excused from the kitchen service except by reason of sickness or occupation in some important work. For this service brings increase of reward and of charity. But let helpers be provided for the weak ones, that they may not be distressed by this work; and indeed let everyone have help, as required by the size of the community or the circumstances of the locality. If the community is a large one, the cellarer shall be excused from the kitchen service; and so also those whose occupations are of greater utility, as we said above. Let the rest serve one another in charity.
The one who is ending his week of service shall do the cleaning on Saturday. He shall wash the towels with which the brethren wipe their hands and feet; and this server who is ending his week, aided by the one who is about to begin, shall wash the feet of all the brethren. He shall return the utensils of his office to the cellarer clean and in good condition, and the cellarer in turn shall consign them to the incoming server, in order that he may know what he gives out and what he receives back.
REFLECTION
The first thing I ever learned how to cook was (O, wondrous feat!!) boiled carrots. I wasn't even in school yet, so I couldn't have been older than 4 or 5 at the time. I didn't like carrots as a child, either, but we often had them for lunch, and I stoically ate them, just because I was so proud I could fix them myself.
Get the point? Serving our families makes us feel very special, a kind of special that I think humility completely allows. If you have children, for heaven's sake, teach them to cook. As they grow older, it might well result in a night off for you and the child will benefit. Our relationship with any group can suffer when we are only in a position of taking or receiving. To know the full breadth of love, we must be able to give back, in ways no matter how small.
Single Oblates who live alone can brighten many a life by inviting others to dinner. Not only does it enhance one's own living space with a bit of celebration, but it enriches the lives of those who may be lonely themselves (as well as those who aren't!) that we may invite. No one has to look far for an elderly person who probably would be delighted at a shared meal, no matter how simple. It offers us a wondrous chance to serve and a great work of mercy, too! One can still be feeding the hungry, even if they are not starving in a famine somewhere. And don't forget that loneliness, too, is a terrible hunger!
Jesus did not HAVE to serve. He had a lot of followers, some of them downright fawning, no doubt, who would have gladly taken care of everything. Peter raised the roof when Jesus stooped to wash his feet, but Jesus stopped him cold: if Peter was unwilling to be served, he could have no part of Jesus the Servant. Whoa!! What a privilege we have in every chance to serve our own, what a great likeness to God, in Whose image we were made, but Whose likeness we must struggle to maintain and perfect in ourselves.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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