02-07-2021, 03:29 PM
Treatise on The Spiritual Life By ST. VINCENT FERRER of the Order of Preachers
CHAPTER VIII
Rules to be observed at table (pages 25-27)
When the bell rings to summon the Community to meals, having washed your hands with gravity, station yourself in the cloister till the other bell invites you to the refectory. Then, bless the Lord with all your strength, and let modesty appear in your exterior and in your voice. Take your place at table according to the rank which you hold in the Community. Dispose yourself also to listen to the lecture that is read during meals, or, in its absence, to meditate on some pious thought, in order that you may not be altogether intent on eating, lest while you nourish the body the soul should be entirely deprived of its food.
Having seated yourself at table, adjust our habit with becoming decency, and arrange the cappa a little over the knees. Make it a rule never to look at those who sit with you at table, but only at what is set before you. Be in no hurry to begin immediately after taking your seat, but wait till you have said a Pater and an Ave for the souls in purgatory, who are in most need of help.
Strive, as a general rule, that in all your acts and movements modesty may appear. Should several kinds of bread be placed before you, eat that which is nearest you, choosing that for which you have the least relish, and which will minister less to sensuality. Ask for nothing while you are at table, but wait till some one else asks for what is necessary for you; and should he omit to do so, bear it with patience. Rest not the elbows on the table, and let your hands be thereon only with a view to serve you. Neither stretch out your legs nor place your feet one upon the other. Accept not of two portions, nor anything but what is given to each of the other religious. Eat nothing that has been specially put before you, but conceal it as skillfully as you can among the rest, and leave it on the plate.
It is a custom most pleasing to God to receive a little of one’s soup to be given to Jesus Christ in the persons of the poor. The same may be done with regard to bread; preserve the beat for Jesus Christ, and eat the rest. Be not annoyed when any one complains of this practice, provided your Superior be not opposed to it. Usually bestow upon the poor Jesus some portion of your food, and let not this be the worst, but the best. There are people who give to Jesus Christ the very worst of what they have, and thus treat Him, if I may so speak, as they would the animals. Supposing that with open of the portions served to you, you eat a sufficient quantity of bread, the other may be given to Jesus Christ; and thus, with His grace, you will be able to practice and abstinence that will be most pleasing to Him, and at the same time unknown to men.
Should that which is served to you appear insipid and without relish – through want of salt, for example, or some other seasoning – leave it as it is, without wishing to season it yourself; call to mind on such occasions the vinegar and gall which Jesus Christ was pleased to drink. Resist sensuality, and secretly deprive yourself of all condiments, whose properties are only to excite pleasure in eating.
When something agreeable to the taste is brought to you at the end of the meal, deprive yourself of it for the love of God. Act in like manner with regard to cheese, fruits, and such things as liqueurs, and better flavored wines; in a word, with everything which, not being necessary to health, may be calculated to injure it. For it not infrequently happens that what is pleasing to the palate is hurtful to health. If you abstain from these things for the love of Jesus Christ, He will doubtless Himself nourish you with the sweets of spiritual consolation, and you will find all other foods agreeable with which you content yourself for the love of Him.
In order the more easily to abstain form what you have resolved not to eat, imagine when you are at table, that, on account of your sins, you deserve to eat dry bread, and to drink nothing but water. Thus, regard bread as your sole nourishment, and the other food which you take beyond this, as a means only to enable you to eat with less difficulty. If you have the thought of your sins deeply at heart, and the mortification which is necessary for their expiation, it will seem to you that you are treated with great indulgence when anything better than bread is given to you.
Take only a moderate quantity of soup on your plate and be satisfied with mixing bread with it. When you are without a portion, you may eat the whole or half of your brad. On days when two meals are allowed, partake of what is necessary for your sustenance, should nothing else be offered you.
There are many like acts which it is difficult to point out, but which Jesus Christ will Himself teach you if you have recourse to Him with your whole heart and place your entire reliance on Him. It is impossible to express the numberless means which He will make known to you if you hearken attentively to Him.
Be not of the number of those who appear never to finish their meal; on the contrary, cease eating as soon as possible, yet with becoming decency, in order to bestow your whole attention on the reading that is going on. When you leave he table, return thank with your whole heart to the All-powerful Lord, Who has made you a sharer of His bounty, and has given you the grace to overcome sensuality. Spare not your voice in praising and blessing, as soon as possible, Him, Who so liberally dispenses His benefits. Think, my dear brother, that there is an infinity of poor people who would esteem it good cheer to have only the bread that God has bestowed on you,, without the other kinds of food. Be assured that it is Jesus Christ Who has given you all that was served to you, and that it was He who waited on you at table. See, then what modesty, what respect and gravity, you ought to have in a place where you know that God Himself is present! What a happiness it would be for your, were it given you, to witness all these things with the eyes of your soul! You would then behold the Son of God Himself, followed by a multitude of saints, entering the room wherein you take your request, and filling it with His august Presence.
CHAPTER VIII
Rules to be observed at table (pages 25-27)
When the bell rings to summon the Community to meals, having washed your hands with gravity, station yourself in the cloister till the other bell invites you to the refectory. Then, bless the Lord with all your strength, and let modesty appear in your exterior and in your voice. Take your place at table according to the rank which you hold in the Community. Dispose yourself also to listen to the lecture that is read during meals, or, in its absence, to meditate on some pious thought, in order that you may not be altogether intent on eating, lest while you nourish the body the soul should be entirely deprived of its food.
Having seated yourself at table, adjust our habit with becoming decency, and arrange the cappa a little over the knees. Make it a rule never to look at those who sit with you at table, but only at what is set before you. Be in no hurry to begin immediately after taking your seat, but wait till you have said a Pater and an Ave for the souls in purgatory, who are in most need of help.
Strive, as a general rule, that in all your acts and movements modesty may appear. Should several kinds of bread be placed before you, eat that which is nearest you, choosing that for which you have the least relish, and which will minister less to sensuality. Ask for nothing while you are at table, but wait till some one else asks for what is necessary for you; and should he omit to do so, bear it with patience. Rest not the elbows on the table, and let your hands be thereon only with a view to serve you. Neither stretch out your legs nor place your feet one upon the other. Accept not of two portions, nor anything but what is given to each of the other religious. Eat nothing that has been specially put before you, but conceal it as skillfully as you can among the rest, and leave it on the plate.
It is a custom most pleasing to God to receive a little of one’s soup to be given to Jesus Christ in the persons of the poor. The same may be done with regard to bread; preserve the beat for Jesus Christ, and eat the rest. Be not annoyed when any one complains of this practice, provided your Superior be not opposed to it. Usually bestow upon the poor Jesus some portion of your food, and let not this be the worst, but the best. There are people who give to Jesus Christ the very worst of what they have, and thus treat Him, if I may so speak, as they would the animals. Supposing that with open of the portions served to you, you eat a sufficient quantity of bread, the other may be given to Jesus Christ; and thus, with His grace, you will be able to practice and abstinence that will be most pleasing to Him, and at the same time unknown to men.
Should that which is served to you appear insipid and without relish – through want of salt, for example, or some other seasoning – leave it as it is, without wishing to season it yourself; call to mind on such occasions the vinegar and gall which Jesus Christ was pleased to drink. Resist sensuality, and secretly deprive yourself of all condiments, whose properties are only to excite pleasure in eating.
When something agreeable to the taste is brought to you at the end of the meal, deprive yourself of it for the love of God. Act in like manner with regard to cheese, fruits, and such things as liqueurs, and better flavored wines; in a word, with everything which, not being necessary to health, may be calculated to injure it. For it not infrequently happens that what is pleasing to the palate is hurtful to health. If you abstain from these things for the love of Jesus Christ, He will doubtless Himself nourish you with the sweets of spiritual consolation, and you will find all other foods agreeable with which you content yourself for the love of Him.
In order the more easily to abstain form what you have resolved not to eat, imagine when you are at table, that, on account of your sins, you deserve to eat dry bread, and to drink nothing but water. Thus, regard bread as your sole nourishment, and the other food which you take beyond this, as a means only to enable you to eat with less difficulty. If you have the thought of your sins deeply at heart, and the mortification which is necessary for their expiation, it will seem to you that you are treated with great indulgence when anything better than bread is given to you.
Take only a moderate quantity of soup on your plate and be satisfied with mixing bread with it. When you are without a portion, you may eat the whole or half of your brad. On days when two meals are allowed, partake of what is necessary for your sustenance, should nothing else be offered you.
There are many like acts which it is difficult to point out, but which Jesus Christ will Himself teach you if you have recourse to Him with your whole heart and place your entire reliance on Him. It is impossible to express the numberless means which He will make known to you if you hearken attentively to Him.
Be not of the number of those who appear never to finish their meal; on the contrary, cease eating as soon as possible, yet with becoming decency, in order to bestow your whole attention on the reading that is going on. When you leave he table, return thank with your whole heart to the All-powerful Lord, Who has made you a sharer of His bounty, and has given you the grace to overcome sensuality. Spare not your voice in praising and blessing, as soon as possible, Him, Who so liberally dispenses His benefits. Think, my dear brother, that there is an infinity of poor people who would esteem it good cheer to have only the bread that God has bestowed on you,, without the other kinds of food. Be assured that it is Jesus Christ Who has given you all that was served to you, and that it was He who waited on you at table. See, then what modesty, what respect and gravity, you ought to have in a place where you know that God Himself is present! What a happiness it would be for your, were it given you, to witness all these things with the eyes of your soul! You would then behold the Son of God Himself, followed by a multitude of saints, entering the room wherein you take your request, and filling it with His august Presence.