silent gluttony and today's agenda

Gluttony is, as you know, one of the seven mortal sins in Catholic reckoning, and I engaged in it at the Benedictine refectory this morning. I was out of my room by 6:50AM, but didn't know where the refectory was, so I wandered about the campus for a bit. Luckily, the monks came filing out of the church around 7AM (morning mass, I assume), and with Father Paul were Matt and Lisa, who had obviously gotten up much earlier than I had. We headed to the refectory together, and Fr. Paul reminded us that, unlike how it goes in the normal cafeteria, the monks eat in silence.

The refectory was set up buffet-style, with a variety of standard American breakfast foods on offer. I greedily nabbed some fruit (banana, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple), a slice of French toast, some hash browns, a lump of bacon-laced scrambled egg, and three sausage links.

Then I looked over at Fr. Paul's plate and saw he had taken only a bagel. I looked at my plate. I looked at Father's plate. My plate. Father's plate. Oy.

I didn't feel guilty for long, though; the food was too tasty. We four ate at the guest table in companionable silence, though Fr. Paul did occasionally whisper to us about proper procedure (as he did for our benefit at certain moments during vespers yesterday). As the monks finished their meals, they rose from their respective tables and exited, leaving their plates and silverware where they were. I shrugged and did likewise.

I managed to get Fr. Paul, who is a busy man, to stand still long enough to take a picture in the hallway outside the refectory; I've already posted the photo.

Because I'm about to go on my walk, I'll be missing lunch, but will be back in time for dinner. The buffet format combined with the monastic atmosphere produces a sort of stomach-centered cognitive dissonance: I want to wolf down three platefuls of food, but feel I should show some restraint. Ah, well... the way I see it, the discipline is probably good for me. As I did yesterday and this morning, I'll continue to content myself with a single go at the buffet station-- no seconds.

So I'm off on a 20-miler in a few minutes-- exploring the campus, exploring the local bike trails I heard about yesterday, and generally making up "lost" distance. Once I'm back, I hope to spend some time on a computer in the nearby 'brary, maybe get a haircut, and think about doing another load of laundry. If it turns out I'm unable to do the latter two items today, I'll do them tomorrow. No rush.


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