Jerodmac's Thoughts on Stuff

Dinner with the brothers

When we finished prayers, Brother Mel, once again motioned for me to follow. He bowed at the cross, and took off again into the dark hallways around the Abbey church. At an intersection in the hallways, we waited as if heeding an invisible traffic light as monks in habits streamed by. When they were past we ventured on. Everyone was quiet and knew exactly where they were going. I stayed close on the heels of my guide, because I knew that I didn’t want to be alone in these dark halls. He whispered from time to time, “We are going to the monk’s dining room.” And, “there is talk that the abbot will let us speak tonight.” Apparently, as I learned later, the brothers usually take their meals in silence. Occasionally on special days, this day being All Saints Day, the Abbot will allow the monks to speak at supper. Brother Mel whispered again, “We won’t know until we are all seated, but we are hoping…”

We formed into a silent line, 40 or so monks in black habits, and me, in a t-shirt and blue jeans. Inside the dining room, we served ourselves cafeteria style. The food was simple but tasty. You could have roast lamb or roast beef. The side dish was roasted potatoes, carrots and onions. There was bread and salad. To drink there was coffee, tea, wine and fruit juices. I followed Brother Mel to a table where we sat with two other monks. About a half minute after everyone had sat down, a bell rung and quiet conversation sprung up at all of the tables in the room. Before long, I heard the monks laughing. There seemed to be a lot of laughing in the room.

So there I sat in a room with 40 celibate men, myself extraordinarily happily married with 4 wonderful children, listening to jokes, talking about computers, baseball, the presidential election. It was pretty weird. I saw how human these men were. Those at my table told me of their families and where they were brought up. I was able to see that they were just real guys. They didn’t speak to each other in Latin and they actually smiled a lot. Although a few minutes ago, in the monk’s choir, as they chanted praise to God, I thought I was in the presence of ascended masters of the spirit life, I now felt like they weren’t too different from me.

O.K. sure they were different from me in everyway imaginable. But they had made their choices in life so that they could serve God. Jennifer and I have done the same.