For every religious community - even the most cloistered - the cafeteria is not just a place to eat, but a place of community. In fact, one of the traditional names for the cafeteria was the "fratery" or "frater house" - from the Latin word for brother (the true but all-but-lost meaning "fraternity" and "frat house" in college).

The Cafeteria of your Inner Abbey represents your vocation. Jesus gave us our vocation after His Resurrection when he told His disciples, "A new commandment I now give you. Love one another as I have loved you." Your specific vocation is the particular "school of love" that God calls you to - your marriage and family, or your call to the priesthood or religious life - where you learn to love like Christ.

Rebuilding your Cafeteria means strengthening the key relationships within your vocation, understanding what Jesus means by his "new commandment" and ultimately learning to love as Jesus loves. To do this, we need to cooperate with the grace of our vocational Sacrament (Holy Matrimony or Holy Orders) and draw on the help of the Holy Spirit in the form of the Theological Virtue of Charity.

Watch the video below to find out more about the Cafeteria of your Inner Abbey and to get started reclaiming it!