I am reading The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris (a protestant Benedictine Oblate/poet/writer/teacher/wife). The book leaves me with lots to ponder...
First, I am struck by Kathleen Norris's remark: "get a life, current slang [suggests] that life itself is a commodity..." This she compares to a Biblical perspective - "my life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:5)...
Second, as she writes about life among monastics (as a married woman affiliated with the Benedictines), she comments that "the skills of celibate friendship - fostering intimacy through letters, conversation, performing mundane tasks together (thus rendering them pleasurable), savoring the holy simplicity of a shared meal, or a walk together at dusk- ... can help a marriage survive the rough spots." (p. 118)
The expression "holy simplicity of a shared meal" jumps out at me. As mother (and overseer) at family dinners, I so often found myself jumping up to bring things to the table that I wondered at times if I shouldn't simply stand in the kitchen to serve, while everyone else ate, then eat later, alone - as I remember my grandmother Bartz doing... I am drawn to the expression "holy simplicity of a shared meal" and wonder how to to keep mealtime simple so that the meal shared will feel "holy."
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