How important is it to break bread together at the family table? For Benedict, the common meal was more than nourishment; it was almost sacramental. In Sister Joan’s words, “The daily promise at the altar was demonstrated in the dining room.”
At the altar, we receive the declaration that we are one body. At the table, we learn whether we are willing to live as one.
The meal must not be hurried. It is a time for listening and sharing, for learning the stories of those beside us, for bearing one another’s burdens and quietly sharing one another’s lives. The table is sacred space—not because the food is elaborate, but because love is practiced here.
The early Christian community understood this. They devoted themselves not only to prayer and teaching, but also to fellowship and the breaking of bread. Christ himself was continually revealed at tables: welcoming the stranger, eating with the rejected, feeding the hungry, washing the feet of his friends.
Community does not sustain itself. We are responsible for building it, protecting it, and allowing it to grow. We do this through attention, patience, forgiveness, and by allowing ourselves to be called faithfully to the table with one another.
It is within community that we most fully come to life. There we begin to recognize the immeasurable value Christ places upon each person—and the abiding love we are called to offer in return.
Benedict reminds us that we must neglect neither prayer nor community. The chapel teaches us whom we worship. The table reveals whether we have learned to love.
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