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Chapter 7: Dinner Conversation and Reading (adaptations)

10/7/2016

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Be attentive to the topics of conversation during meals, and throughout the entire day, and listen to readings during meal times, regularly.
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The brothers and sisters of the vowed life are told that they are to maintain silence during their meals and to listen to a reading from scripture or some other holy writing.  This practice is fitting as they have chosen a life of silent conversation with God; that in their silence, they do not eat in ignorant emptiness, like a husband and wife who sit across from one another refusing to say a single word, but in listening to God’s word, they enter into a meaningful and substantial conversation with their Beloved; in the silence, the brothers and sisters are sharing in the important events of their day, they ponder over questions that may be spinning in their minds and share what they have learned.  Meal times for the brothers and sisters are silent, but active: they are learning together, savoring together, recalling together and join the daily sustenance of life on earth, the regular nutrition of the body, with the sustenance of our soul and life in heaven.
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It may be possible that if we look at the meals of the brothers and sisters in this way, not as the empty silence of people who have vowed not to speak to one another, but the dynamic conversation of another and very intentional way, then it is easier to see how we may share in this fruit and what it may offer to us as we sit down to share meals with our friends and families, with co-workers and fellow students, and even when we may be sitting by ourself and outwardly alone.



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Chapter 7: A Common Meal (adaptations)

9/30/2016

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Eat a common meal.
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St. Albert instructs the brothers that they are to each live in a separate cell (chapter 6), “However, you are to eat whatever may have been given to you in a common refectory.”  This gathering together around a common meal is what makes community and family different from a collection of people with similar interests living in an apartment complex or condominiums.  If we sit in our rooms and have our own private meals, we would not see each other very often; or even if we shared a common kitchen and pantry, coming to grab food whenever we felt like eating.  A household coming together at regular times is the foundation of unity that builds our relationships with one another and keeps us from so easily drifting away.


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Chapter 7: One Common Table (desert reflections)

9/23/2016

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“However, you are to eat whatever may be given you in a common refectory, listening together meanwhile to a reading from Holy Scripture, where that can be done without difficulty.”--The Rule, Chapter 7
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This chapter does seem out of place.  What are we to do with the “however,” clause which has absolutely nothing to do with the preceding chapter on the establishment of a “separate cell”?  Or, if we take a moment to pause, does it actually relate to the brothers having separate cells?  Is the Rule, not Albert since this chapter is part of the mitigation that came after the Order’s move to Europe, suggesting that while the brothers are to each have a separate cell, in which they spend most of their time at or in, they are not to eat their meals in their individual cells?  Is the Rule, by its placement saying: You will have your own dwelling, ‘however,’ you will come together to join in a common meal, and you will eat common food while listening to the common Word?  If so, then is this a profound chapter on the source of unity and understanding of community; that we are brought together at the Table where one meal is served and one Voice proclaimed?


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    Carmel's Way...

    is a series of reflections on the Carmelite Rule, the quintessential letter of St. Albert of Jerusalem which has lead Christians to a life in allegiance with Christ and the Perfection of Love for more than 800 years.  The blog brings the tenants of this ancient Way of Life into a contemporary context.
    ​​At the heart is a Way of Life, in the tradition of Elijah, that leads us to stand in the presence of the One who Loved us first and in a most perfect way; and to be transformed into one who loves more perfectly.

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