The Rest of the Weekend

Kristen arrived an hour after everyone else left, and we spent a rainy Friday afternoon over at the CIA across the river. While everyone knows about their long waiting list for reservations, few people know about the "Apple Pie Bakery" cafe which you can stand in line (for about 20 min) to eat at. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures.

Friday evening we got acquainted with the weekend guests from St. Mark's in Brooklyn and St. George's in Hempstead.

Saturday, between services and meals, we ran across the river (using the bridge) and toured the grounds of the Vanderbilt Estate and after Dinner (had to get back to the monastery for that), we went back across to the FDR home and library.

On Sunday we had to leave right after Eucharist (I know... we missed the Dinner!), but we had time to briefly stop by the Walkway Over the Hudson state park before I had to get to QO duty at the NJAA.

Interlude

We have a brief interlude after lunch ends at 1:00 until the weekend guests (one of who is Kristen) start arriving after 2:00. Right now it's very quiet.

Final Youth Workers Session

We had our final session this morning. This was a nice time of sharing what we each learned from the retreat and how we might use it going forward.

I forgot to point out earlier that we did a lot of singing. Fran(cis) is an accomplished songwriter & song leader and it was nice to blend voices with a group of enthusiastic singers.

After a quick break, we moved to the chapel and cleared out the center part for some final song and sharing.

I was amazed at how quickly this community was built, and how fast our time together went. But judging from the number of email contacts I've seen being exchanged, I suspect we'll be able to remain in contact.

We finished with Dinner and the last of those leaving (pretty much everyone from the retreat except me) said their goodbyes. If it's like last time, the monastery will be quite a different place during the weekend.

The Daily Office

Here at the monastery, it seems that everything is set by the Daily Office worship times. We wake up in time for Matins at 7:00 AM, followed by breakfast. The Eucharist is celebrated at 9:00 AM and Diurnum at Noon. Dinner, the main meal of the day follows Diurnum. We then have a pretty long break until Vespers at 5:00 PM, followed by supper. Finally Compline gets us ready for bed at 8:30, and the Great Silence follows until 8:30 the following morning.

It may sound odd to willingly attend 5 worship services each day, but each has it's own flavor and they really do set the mood for the various parts of the day. They also change a bit according to the hour. For example, Matins is mostly spoken (I guess voices aren't quite ready that early in the morning), the Eucharist is the warmest service with an extended peace, Diurnum has an extended period of silence after the scripture reading, Vespers is quite beautiful with some of the words of the service, and Compline is quite calming. I especially like the water blessing at the end (after singing a wonderful tribute to St. Mary).

Creation Liturgy and Potpourri

After Vespers and Supper (our main meal is Dinner which is held at Noon), we met together again to continue our Creation Liturgy. This again was a framework for us to share experiences with each other.

I'm aware that our time together is drawing to a close and again I'm amazed how how quickly friendships form at the monastery. Our last session will be held tomorrow morning and after lunch - sorry I meant Dinner (held at Noon), the youth workers will quickly disperse. I can see how committed these people are to their individual ministries and I can also realize why so many of them seem to return year after year for this retreat.

I really appreciated Fran's singing and guitar skills. It made me realize that I always missed that with our last group of kids... none of them seemed into music (especially anything that might be labeled "Christian"). I'll need to explore with my new group to see if they're open to music.

After the liturgy we had a few moments in the craft room - a place I had not really explored (just not really my thing) - to make potpourri sachets to take home and remember the experience.

A Talk with Brother Adam

When I made my reservation, I requested time to meet again with Brother Adam for a spiritual conversation (see post below from last year). We met again in Saint Mary's Lounge, a sort of private sitting room at the base of the stairs to the rooms in Middle House. I won't go into detail about our discussion, but it was nice this year to already know what to expect. I realized that he probably talks to hundreds of people in the course of a year and might not remember a conversation from October 2009, so I went back to my journal from last year and refreshed my own memory so I could refresh his accurately. What is a spiritual conversation? Well we discussed some events in my life this past year which sort of continued on the theme from a year ago. I really appreciated his insight into my interpretation of these events (which was wrong... pretty much completely wrong), and we discussed how God interacts with us and the whole concept of God's will as it relates to life, death and how we respond to God through our lives. In the end, he pronounced me "more mature than last year". I don't think anyone has ever told me that...

Gift Shop

No self respecting monastery would be caught without a gift shop and Holy Cross has an incredible one run by Br. Charles with the help of a bunch of the other brothers. This one is two rooms of every possible book on spirituality and various hangings, prayer beads, trinkets and of course the Holy Cross Incense. I picked up some of the Japanese incense (less smoke so I could use it in class without setting off the fire alarm), and I also picked up a Benedictine prayer book.

Oh, and of course some Devine Chocolate.

A Rainy Day

I woke up today to the sound of rain - lots of it. So I guess we're staying indoors, which upon thinking isn't necessarily a bad thing (at least my knee will thank me).

The youth leader sessions continue to be both eye opening and challenging. My new friends seem to come from all over the USA (closest is from 5 miles south the most distant that I know of is from Dallas, TX). Quite a few are from huge churches with 100s of kids in their youth groups, and where they are one of several professional staff members. I'll spare you another picture of 20 adults sitting around a circle and instead, we'll look at the rain on the Hudson.

One thing I've noticed from talking to the other participants is that generally, it seems that churches don't really treat professional youth workers very well. All of them seem to have some really harrowing tales to tell... in a few cases they're working hard to deal with some pretty complex issues.

Today's session was personally challenging because we got into how do we reach out to the "unchurched" youth in our midst. These could be kids nearby that are the wrong race or class for "our" church to reach. But I think it could be expanded to include the kids who just don't come from a church background. I was thinking of the guys who use our church steps for a skateboard park. They're so well trained to scatter on the sight of an adult walking into the church, that it's hard to reach out to them. Of course, I've seen too many adults yelling at them over the years that... well they're well trained.

Still, God seems to sending these kids to the church. Should we take the hint??

Creation Walk

After dinner, we had our last session of the day which was a "Creation Walk". A long rope was set out in a spiral from a central candle. We started with the big bang (played partly by yours truly - I operated the strobe light) and then the "holy spirit" lit a candle. As she progressed around the spiral, we heard readings about the creation timeline, and the spirit lit a candle at each point in the spiral. There were long gaps between some of the early events like the formation of the universe, and a string of candles that were at the end listing major events in human history.

Thinking About Light

After my walk to the river, my knee was screaming, so I attended this morings session wearing an ice pack. Jenifer pointed out that it was nice that the weather cooperated this day since we were talking about light, and the God's light in our lives. So we were thankful that the day was sunny.

Again, we had a powerful session where people from all walks of life who are united by their work with youth shared some incredible things about themselves.

Afterward, we broke into smaller groups... our's went outside to do a Lexio Divina on John 8:12. (By the way, Jenifer, our leader is the woman in the center.)

Walk to the River

Matins was at 7:00 followed by breakfast (breakfast is taken in silence). The "Great Silence" which begins after Compline (around 9:00 PM) ends at 9:30 during the communion service. So during the quiet period after breakfast, I decided to try to get down to the river.

I say "try" because I just had knee surgery a few weeks ago, and it's quite a steep hill to walk down, not to mention the cliffs at the bottom. As you get down into the woods, you realize that many people have used this space for worshiping - however they may desire to worship - and... well some aren't that great about cleaning up after themselves. But it wasn't that bad this year and the space "down by the riverside" is amazing and beautiful.

My Fellow Retreaters

This year, I'm not doing an individual retreat, but rather joined a "Retreat for Adults Who Work with Youth". This retreat is led by Jenifer Gamber, who happens to be the author of the "My Faith, My Life" book that so many churches use for confirmation.

Our opening session had some singing, some reflective readings and everyone shared a little bit about themselves. It was an incredible blessing.

After that session we rushed into Compline (after being told not to rush into the services at the last minute - I'll hope the monks are the forgiving sort). I love Compline... it's a really serene service and does a good job of preparing you for the end of the day.

After Compline, I sat for a bit in the dark chapel (I told you, I love that space) and then picked up my gourd in pilgrim hall. Yes, you got that right. After i finish here, I get to meditate on a gourd.

Have a good night.

It's good to be back

It's been almost exactly one year since my individual retreat at Holy Cross Monastery, and it was great to get back. The drive from NJ always represents the bits of shedding one does when you undertake a retreat. The parkway narrows every so many miles, and soon you're just driving up the Hudson River valley through quaint towns - and some troubled cities (God has a way of always reminding you of the need of our brothers). But eventually you make your way up Route 9W and really get into God's country.

I arrived at the guest house a little after 4:00 which was just in time to find my room (Saint Martin) and get settled a little bit before Vespers. This year my room is palatial (from a monastery point of view) since Kristen will be coming up to join me on Friday). Vespers was held in the incredible chapel they have here at the monastery (pics to follow, or look below for last year's - it hasn't changed much), and it only took me most of the service to find my way this time.

Following Vespers was dinner in the refractory (I hope I spelled that one correctly - not sure the blogger spell check will have that one). They must still have a chef from the nearby CIA as it was an incredible vegetable lasagna, a chick pea mozzarella and tomato salad and some fresh bread.

It is good to be back.

Another Visit!

Hey, I get to head back to Holy Cross for a Youth Worker's Retreat with Jenifer Gamber, author of "My Faith, My Life". I've been thinking about doing this for several months, but torn between this and a church trip to Ecuador that's happening at the same time.

Knee surgery a month ago decided it for me... I'm not ready for trudging through the rain forest (if Ecuador has one), but I'm back enough to make my way around the monastery. Supposedly twenty other youth workers from around the country are joining me so it should be a great time.

So after a night's sleep, I just have to get through a half day's work and then I can start the journey.