The Sabbath is a good God-idea. This morning I went to Mass and afterwards wandered around Harvard Square, if not aimlessly then without any clear aim. I ended up in the Harvard Coop. There I granted myself a latte though I’m off the coffee for Lent. Sunday is, after all, the day of resurrection even in this season! I picked up 2010’s version of The Best Spiritual Writing as well as the The Best American Essays of 2009. And finally, I couldn’t resist getting a copy of The Female Brain. It made a good gift, but I’ll read it too as it seems this is a subject every man should know something about.
At 12 noon I was in the monastery of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist on Memorial Drive. I had been invited for mid-day prayer and a lunch in honor of the 70th birthday of one of the monks, a wonderful man whom I have been privileged to know for over a decade. The prayer was beautiful. The medieval-looking chapel is a spectacular haven of Sabbath peace. And the luncheon menu, chosen by the honoree, was simply marvelous: kentucky fried chicken, green beans casserole, baked potatoes, a cherry-coke jello salad and a Lady Baltimore birthday cake. In my new gluten-free environment, I ate everything but the cake. Good comfort food, all of it, as the monastery’s Superior pointed out.
Of course comfort food leads inevitably to a Sunday afternoon nap, thank God. And the books remain as future wonders to be explored. I’ll report later on what I learn about the female brain.
Believe it. 