Fire up your ovens, sisters! Out come the pies, the freshly-baked bread, and every other savory delight fit for a feast day dinner. For every year on September 3rd—the Feast of St. Gregory the Great—we have our brothers from St. Mary’s Monastery over for a celebration of their superior’s feast day.
Detail from the Life of St Benedict, Antonio Bazzi (1505).
What makes these occasions so joyful? Well, there’s the coming together to share a meal—a very fundamental way of rejoicing in the gift of life. It is a sacred thing to eat together in a monastic refectory, and it reflects the sacrament of the Eucharistic meal. To partake from a common table is to remember our shared dependence on God and one another.
And on top of all that is the added blessing of having a twin community of monks with which to share our Benedictine tradition. It is a foretaste of heaven, where all souls dine together at the eternal banquet. Pray for us, then, that—as St. Benedict puts it—we may come all together to everlasting life!
Leave a Reply