In the monastery we have a “House Meeting” once a month. It’s a forum for bringing up the nitty-gritty things inherent in community life: cleaning the lint out of the dryer, leaving the seats back in the cars for ease of entry, turning the glasses over after they’ve air-dried, etc. Once, long ago, I remember the tea cup discussion. Apparently, tea stains and the dishwasher can’t quite do the job. We were asked – “we” being the tea-drinking nuns – to wipe out the mugs before sending them to the dish room. Easy enough to do, I thought. Today’s gospel gives us a similar reminder. The inside of the cup – the human soul – takes more work than the outside. It’s easy to look holy. It is far more difficult to actually be holy. But a little extra effort goes a long way in the spiritual life. One of the nice things about monastic life is the common goal – we are all trying to clean the inside of the cup.
Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki
- Sister Vicki
