Christian Mission and Poverty

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Christian Mission and Poverty

But let all except the very weak and the sick abstain altogether from eating the flesh of four-footed animals.

8. Of the Quantity of Drink “Everyone has his proper gift from God, one after this manner and another after that” (1 Cor 7:7). It is with some hesitation, therefore, that we determine the measure of nourishment for others. However, making allowance for the weakness of the infirm, we think one hemina 8 of wine a day is sufficient for each one. But to whom God grants the endurance of abstinence, let them know that they will have their special reward. If the circumstances of the place, or the work, or the summer’s heat should require more, let that depend on the judgment of the Superior, who must above all things see to it, that excess or drunkenness do not creep in. Although we read that wine is not at all proper for monks, yet, because monks in our times cannot be persuaded of this, let us agree to this, at least, that we do not drink to the full, but sparingly; because “wine makes even wise men fall off” (Sirach 9 19:2). But where the poverty of the place will not permit this much wine to be had, but much less, or none at all, let those who live there bless God and not murmur. This we charge above all things, that they live without murmuring.

8 Hemina – a unit of liquid measurement, totaling about ten fluid ounces 9 Sirach – a book from the Apocrypha, a collection of Christian writings from the intertestamental period (between Malachi and the Gospels). Roman Catholics include the Apocrypha in their Bibles; Protestants see the Apocrypha as helpful writings but not as canonical (not to be included in Scripture).