Tag: Food

Monastic Poverty Regarding Food

May 10, 2023

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

The idol of body image is very common in the world today.  If people cared half as much about what their souls looked like as what their bodies looked like, we would be one holy people!  But the monastic diet is different—we receive whatever we are given, and with gratitude.  It is one of the ways in which we express monastic poverty.  Monastic poverty regarding food is to accept what you are given with thanksgiving (except if you have a serious allergy!).  According to St. Benedict, there should be balance and moderation in all things, and that means there is a time for fasting, and a time for feasting.  Haven’t you heard that the acronym BMW stands for “Benedictine Moderation Works”?  For we know from St. Gregory’s writings that the Lord sent a priest to St. Benedict on Easter Sunday with prepared delicacies, in order that His servant (St. Benedict) got a share in the feast day meal.  So it isn’t that God doesn’t want us to have feast days, but rather that He doesn’t want our bellies to be our gods.  Let us be aware of this temptation, so that we can fight the idolatry of body image in our world.  It is a great witness today that we are just grateful for everything we get, and in this way we not only feed our bodies, but our souls as well.

A feast day specialty — a berry tart in honor of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Nourished by the Word

April 30, 2020

A reflection on the Gospel reading for April 15, 2020 (Luke 24:13-35) by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

After His Resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples and asks if they have anything for Him to eat. We can see by this that He so wants to be at home with them, wants them to recognize that it’s really Him, and they do not need to fear. I can imagine Christ saying, “I’m here with you, I’ll eat with you, I’ll do all things with you…Do not be afraid.”

Then we hear that “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). I think this is the key to Lectio Divina—it’s not something we do of ourselves, but something Christ does. All we need to do is be present. He can open the Scriptures for us. He can bring to life those words. You are going to hear it straight from Him. I pray that whole world would experience this grace, because His words are life. They are the sword that can cut away all evil, and the very thing that is light and gives light. Take the time to read the Scriptures and delight in them, because God meets you in them, and He delights in you.

Christ gave us His very self, and what will we give Him in return? I hope we will offer Him our very selves, over and over again. That’s what we can do every time we read the Scriptures: “God, I offer you myself again.  Let me be that vessel You fill up.”

Our scheduled time for sacred reading is from 5:40-6:40 am, but we are encouraged to revisit the Scriptures throughout the day in order to be continually nourished by the Word.

…my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst…and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

John 6:32-38, abridged