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).