What is it about establishing a rule that regulates eating times? Why am I so disturbed by this chapter of The Rule? Where are the edges of my submission? What is the source of this feeling of infringement? These questions would never enter my mind, if this chapter had not been written by our monastic father. Is it his fault? Certainly not! Am I wrong for feeling unsettled? I don’t think so. Perhaps this part of St. Paul’s teaching on the law, “since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”[1] In lesser manner, The Rule of St. Benedict offers a standard of practices that enable the adherent to gain disciplines that soften the heart toward obedience to God.
The simplest practice, when practiced steadfastly with an attitude of humility, may offer profound lessons. Sr. Joan Chittester writes, “The first principle of Benedictinism, too, is to do what must be done with special care and special zeal so that doing it can change our souls into the kind of beauty that comes from simple things.”[2]
This chapter taught me a valuable lesson of Benedictine spirituality. Times for eating are rather meticulously established. They are based on the seasons. From Easter to Pentecost the community would eat lunch and dinner. From Pentecost until the end of Summer, a single meal was eaten at midafternoon on Wednesdays and Fridays. Otherwise, they ate at noon. However, the hallmark of Benedict is flexibility. The goal appears less to be strict adherence to a daily eating schedule and more a goal to desire discipline. Eating becomes less a priority when considering the routine of community; work, study, and prayer. So, a refreshing idea of this precept that regulates eating times is prioritizing the joy of other aspects of life in community.
As I begin to regulate my daily habits, my desire for comfortable routines begins to groan. Perhaps my desire for the comfortable disturbs and limits me from realizing new and greater graces. The journey through The Rule helps me explore the edges of my will to surrender. However, in surrender I discover new and fascinating experiences of life. When my selfishness tells me that submission is weakness or a governor on the potential to experience joy then I hear the hiss of the snake telling Eve in the Garden, “You will not surely die.”
Benedictine spirituality is a voluntary journey with our Lord. Benedict does not demand compliance to the letter, but encourages me to try it and see what is revealed in this life. Try regulating when I eat my meals, but if I find myself tempted to grumble then eat and be satisfied. What was it about this chapter that disturbed me? Looking back after thinking about it – nothing.
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[1] Romans 3:20b.
[2] Joan Chittister, The rule of Benedict: a spirituality for the 21st century (New York: Crossroad, 2010), 193.
