Abbey News

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Visitors
Our first visitor of the week was Jack Frost himself decking roofs and grounds with the first sparkling frost of the season. Autumn has arrived! A few days later his visit was followed by our first sprinkling of snow which quickly evaporated with the light of dawn. In between we were happy to have Fr. Bernard Murphy, superior of the Friars of the Renewal, along with Br. Matthew, with us for a week of retreat.

Here in the Genesee Valley autumn invites tourists to visit beautiful Letchworth State Park all decked out in her fall finery. Our monastery has become one of the featured stops for tours busses on their way to or fro Letchworth.

This past week we welcomed five such groups for a brief presentation on monastic life and the opportunity to purchase fresh Monks' Bread in our discount store. This coming week another five busses are due. Fortunately for the monastic community the reception room is so arranged that the brothers are usually unaware of all the folks out front.

Speaking of the bread store the hours when it will be open will change slightly with the end of daylight saving time. From November 1st to March 14th the store will close at 5 PM instead of 6 PM.

Meeting
Tomorrow, our prior and guestmaster, Fr. Jerome, heads south to Atlanta, Georgia for the annual meeting of the Legal Resource Center for Religious Institutes. He has been attending annual meetings for a few years now and finds them a helpful resource for "enhancing the living of religious life by providing integrated education, advocacy, and consultation to meet current and emerging stewardship responsibilities" as stated in their mission statement.

He'll return home this Friday in time for the Solemnity of the Dedication of our Abbey Church on Saturday the 24th. We'll be celebrating it as a full solemnity liturgically and in the refectory but we'll have to make due with morning work in the bakery. No problem really, when we realize that without our bread industry there would be no dedication to celebrate.

Living in the presence of God does not mean constantly thinking about God. That would split us internally and be too much for us. Rather, it is a matter of opening oneself to a reality, surrendering oneself to the God who surrounds one.

Thus practicing the presence of God does not consist of training in concentration, but on the contrary of relaxing, letting oneself rest in the reality of God, in whom we move and are. Therefore this practice must be carried out not so much in the head as in the body.

Our hearts are to rest in the God who is present; our behavior, our posture, our way of speaking, standing, and walking, our internal collectedness in everything we do should witness to the experience of the God who is present.

Benedict of Nursia - His Message for Today
Anselm Grun, OSB