ABBEY NEWS
NOTICE: THE ABBEY CHURCH AND BREAD STORE WILL BE CLOSED
FROM MONDAY, SEPT. 30th TO SATURDAY, OCT. 5th
DUE TO CONTINUING RENOVATIONS.
HOPEFULLY THEY WILL REOPEN SUNDAY, OCT. 6th.
UPDATES WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THIS PAGE.
Down And Out
Due to severe winter storms a year or two ago the roof of the dairy barn began collapsing. Since it was no longer in use and it
would be far to expensive to repair the decision was made not to go ahead with repairs and to dismantle it when we were able to do so. The barn was completed in 1956 and functioned very well for several years. Some time in the 70’s it was decided to discontinue our dairy operation and concentrate our efforts on our Monks’ Bread bakery. So, down it came, the end of any eye sore on the horizon.
Dialogue Continued
Following up on the recommendation made by our Father Immediate, Abbot Elias of Gethsemani, we are continuing our community dialogues on the abbey’s master plan for necessary renovation of some of our buildings. Yesterday we had our first meeting to discuss his recommendation that we consider the need for a senior wing for those seventy-five and over.
Lectio Notebook
St. Paul said, I die daily (1 Cor. 15:31), and this dying referred not only to the physical dangers his life was exposed to but especially to the kind of self-divestiture that the following of Christ requires. It meant dying to self and all that is implied in selfishness, self-will, and disordered self-gratification.
This is the kind of mystical death the contemplative is called to. If it has been achieved before death, then the death of the body becomes a kind of superfluous pro forma acting out in the spatio-temporal world of what has already taken place on the spiritual plane. In the ideal order, physical death should be viewed as something holy, as a sacrament, since it stands as an outward visible sign of an interior process.
The Mystical Sense of the Gospels
James M. Somerville
Comments are closed.