Abbey News
Saturday, December 9, 2007
Advent Snow Storm
In years past it has often been doubtful whether or not we would have a white Christmas but this year we got off to an early start with a white first Sunday of Advent. Perhaps we are in for a good ole fashioned winter with plenty of snow for a change. Enough of the wimpy winters of recent years!
I'm not so sure Fr. John was quite as enamored of the storm as some of us were. He was returning home from giving the retreat at New Melleray in Iowa right in the middle of it. As it turned out his flight from Chicago to Rochester had to turn around and land in Cleveland when the Rochester airport closed down. The airline company obligingly provided bus service from Cleveland to Rochester which got him into the Rochester airport around 1 AM Monday. Nothing to do but spend the rest of the night curled up in a chair in the airport. No doubt he would have appreciated more of a wimpy storm at that point.
Heavy snow can be as hard for our local deer population as for traveling abbots. It is not uncommon to have deer come right up to the building browsing for food. Including chomping our apparently appetizing bushes and plants.
Community Dialogs
Last Monday we began a series of community discussions on the topic of the effects of modern communication technology on our observance of solitude and silence. The subject was raised during our autumn visitation and it certainly is a complex one and one we have to take a serious look at as a community. There is no question that the spirit and practice of our contemplative life could be severely compromised by the availability of daily papers, Internet, email, cell phones. For better or worse these things are here to stay and our challenge is to be able to incorporate them in such a way that they are a support to our life rather than a detriment to it.
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