BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//eriebenedictines.org//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.30.10//
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
UID:36175881-0c5d-4522-b024-2c3724dec410
X-WR-CALDESC:The members should serve one another. Consequently\, no mem
bers will be excused from kitchen service unless they are sick or engaged
in some important business of the monastery\, for such service increases r
eward and fosters love. Let those who are not strong have help so that the
y may serve without distress\, and let everyone receive help as the size o
f the community or local conditions warrant. If the community is rather la
rge\, the cellarer should be excused from kitchen service\, and\, as we ha
ve said\, those should also be excused who are engaged in important busine
ss. Let all the rest serve one another in love.\n\nBenedict leaves ver
y little to the imagination or fancy of the spiritually pretentious who kn
ow everything there is to know about spiritual theory and think that is en
ough. Benedict says that the spiritual life is not simply what we think ab
out\; it is what we do because of what we think. It is possible\, in fact\
, to spend our whole lives thinking about the spiritual life and never dev
elop one. We can study church history forever and never become holier for
the doing. There are theology courses all over the world that have nothing
whatsoever to do with the spiritual life. In the same way\, we may think
we are a community or assume we are a family but if we do not serve one an
other we are\, at best\, a collection of people who live alone together.\n
\nSo\, Benedict chooses the family meal to demonstrate that point of life
where the Eucharist becomes alive for us outside of chapel. It is in kitch
en service that we prepare good things for the ones we love\, and sustain
them and clean up after them. It was woman's work and Roman men were told
to do it so that they\, too\, with their own hands and over their own hot
fires could know what it takes to spend their own lives to give life to th
e other.\n\nOn Saturday the ones who are completing (the kitchen) work
will do the washing. They are to wash the towels which the members use to
wipe their hands and feet. Both the one who is ending service and the one
who is about to begin are to wash the feet of everyone. The utensils requi
red for the kitchen service are to be washed and returned intact to the ce
llarer\, who in turn issues them to the one beginning the next week. In th
is way the cellarer will know what is handed out and what is received back
.\n\nCommunity love and accountability are focused\, demonstrated and
modeled at the community meal. In every other thing we do\, more private i
n scope\, more personal in process\, our private agendas so easily nibble
away at the transcendent purpose of the work that there is often little le
ft of the philosophical meaning of the task except our own translation of
it. In the Middle Ages\, the tale goes\, a traveler asked three hard-at-wo
rk stone masons what they were doing. The first said\, 'I am sanding down
this block of marble.' The second said\, 'I am preparing a foundation.' Th
e third said\, 'I am building a Cathedral.' Remembering the greater cause
of why we are doing what we do is one of life's more demanding difficultie
s. But that's not the case in a kitchen\, or in a dining room that is shap
ed around the icon of the Last Supper where the One who is first washes th
e feet of the ones who are to follow. 'Do you know what I have just done\,
' the Scripture reads. 'As I have done\, so you must do.'\n\nIn Benedict's
dining room\, where everyone serves and everyone washes feet and everyone
returns the utensils clean and intact for the next person's use\, love an
d accountability become the fulcrum of community life.
X-WR-RELCALID:eb74f457e3c6c45e72917725e213332e
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20231105T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
RDATE:20241103T020000
RDATE:20251102T020000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
RDATE:20250309T020000
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:c285cd34-969d-4397-9b05-58f83ba571b8
DTSTAMP:20260409T134416Z
DESCRIPTION:The members should serve one another. Consequently\, no memb
ers will be excused from kitchen service unless they are sick or engaged i
n some important business of the monastery\, for such service increases re
ward and fosters love. Let those who are not strong have help so that they
may serve without distress\, and let everyone receive help as the size of
the community or local conditions warrant. If the community is rather lar
ge\, the cellarer should be excused from kitchen service\, and\, as we hav
e said\, those should also be excused who are engaged in important busines
s. Let all the rest serve one another in love.\n\nBenedict leaves very
little to the imagination or fancy of the spiritually pretentious who kno
w everything there is to know about spiritual theory and think that is eno
ugh. Benedict says that the spiritual life is not simply what we think abo
ut\; it is what we do because of what we think. It is possible\, in fact\,
to spend our whole lives thinking about the spiritual life and never deve
lop one. We can study church history forever and never become holier for t
he doing. There are theology courses all over the world that have nothing
whatsoever to do with the spiritual life. In the same way\, we may think w
e are a community or assume we are a family but if we do not serve one ano
ther we are\, at best\, a collection of people who live alone together.\n
\nSo\, Benedict chooses the family meal to demonstrate that point of life
where the Eucharist becomes alive for us outside of chapel. It is in kitch
en service that we prepare good things for the ones we love\, and sustain
them and clean up after them. It was woman's work and Roman men were told
to do it so that they\, too\, with their own hands and over their own hot
fires could know what it takes to spend their own lives to give life to th
e other.\n\nOn Saturday the ones who are completing (the kitchen) work
will do the washing. They are to wash the towels which the members use to
wipe their hands and feet. Both the one who is ending service and the one
who is about to begin are to wash the feet of everyone. The utensils requi
red for the kitchen service are to be washed and returned intact to the ce
llarer\, who in turn issues them to the one beginning the next week. In th
is way the cellarer will know what is handed out and what is received back
.\n\nCommunity love and accountability are focused\, demonstrated and
modeled at the community meal. In every other thing we do\, more private i
n scope\, more personal in process\, our private agendas so easily nibble
away at the transcendent purpose of the work that there is often little le
ft of the philosophical meaning of the task except our own translation of
it. In the Middle Ages\, the tale goes\, a traveler asked three hard-at-wo
rk stone masons what they were doing. The first said\, 'I am sanding down
this block of marble.' The second said\, 'I am preparing a foundation.' Th
e third said\, 'I am building a Cathedral.' Remembering the greater cause
of why we are doing what we do is one of life's more demanding difficultie
s. But that's not the case in a kitchen\, or in a dining room that is shap
ed around the icon of the Last Supper where the One who is first washes th
e feet of the ones who are to follow. 'Do you know what I have just done\,
' the Scripture reads. 'As I have done\, so you must do.'\n\nIn Benedict's
dining room\, where everyone serves and everyone washes feet and everyone
returns the utensils clean and intact for the next person's use\, love an
d accountability become the fulcrum of community life.
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240713T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240713T235900
LOCATION:Chapter 35
SUMMARY:Kitchen Servers of the Week
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR