Caput XLIII. Claustrales non debent pauperum et hospitum cura distendi.
Mary's Better Part
Those entrusted with Martha's care are not called to Mary's contemplative rest.
And this is the concern of those to whom Martha's role has been entrusted, not of those who rest in the wholesome leisure that belongs to Mary.✦
Freedom from Anxiety
Cloistered souls should release all worry about material provision and be nourished by sacred things alone.
So those in cloisters shouldn't feel anxious about the poor or be distracted by receiving guests — for they themselves shouldn't worry about tomorrow or be concerned with food and drink. Let them instead be nourished by spiritual things and fed on what is sacred.✦
The Corruption of Earthly Office
Those who hold contemptible judgment embrace filth, and the lazy among them are pelted like oxen.
But more deeply still: those who are appointed to judge yet are contemptible in their office — they embrace filth.✦ They themselves are oxen — and the lazy one among them is pelted with dung.✦
Read the original Latin
Et hoc illorum interest, quibus pars est Marthae commissa, non qui salutari otio vacant cum Maria. Ita claustralibus nulla debet esse pro pauperibus sollicitudo, nulla pro hospitibus suscipiendis distentio; quippe quibus nulla debet esse de crastino cura, nulla cibi vel potus providentia: nutriantur potius in croceis, spiritualibus pascantur. Altius autem hi qui contemptibiles sunt constituti ad judicandum, amplexantur stercora. Ipsi quippe sunt boves, quorum piger stercoribus lapidatur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.10.38-Luke.10.42 — Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Luke.10.39 — She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his word. Luke.10.40 — But Martha was distracted by much service. She came up and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Luke.10.41 — But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.' Luke.10.42 — Few things are needed, or only one. For Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
- ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- ↩Lam.4.5 — Those who once dined on delicacies now perish in the streets; those who were raised in scarlet now embrace ash heaps.
- ↩1Cor.9.9 — For in the law of Moses it is written, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it for the oxen that God is concerned?
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice