Sleep in a room dedicated to intimacy and holiness.
Here may begin some of the provisions of The Rule that seem utterly foreign and alien to day-to-day life outside of the Order: “each one of you is to have a separate cell.” Is it a rule of life that each family member should have his or her own bedroom? Am I suggesting that even parents, not only have separate beds resembling 1950s television shows, but sleep in altogether different rooms? And what of single people who already rent or own a private apartment or home, and are already enjoying a two or three bedroom cell? Is the Rule encouraging us into isolation and a luxurious way of living in grandiose homes and apartments? Rather than taking the Rule according to its literal meaning, let’s take a brief moment to consider what the cell is in the tradition of the monastery and what it provides to the life of the brothers and sisters.
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