"Reservations"
| The dining room chairs that are tilted at an angle before the first meal indicate that they have been "reserved." | |||
The seat that you first occupy in the chapel, the dining room, and the lecture hall will be your seat for the duration of your retreat. If you have a true need to sit somewhere special, arrive early and take care of that need. By tradition, you can "reserve" your seat in the dining room by tilting your chair at an angle against the table or writing your name on the paper napkin in that place. In the chapel and lecture hall you can reserve a seat by leaving your retreat book on the seat.
Then again, your retreat will not be enhanced by who you sit next to, so you may just want to be aware of the significance of these unusual practices when you see them on your next retreat at Manresa. 