Working in the Monastic Enclosure - Wed afternoon

After the Noon meal, we met Br. Scott and Br. Ron and helped out with some moves that are taking place in the monastic enclosure.  The monastery is undergoing a bit of a change in leadership this year and as part of that they're changing around the office spaces to make the work that goes on behind the scenes flow a lot smoother.  So the three of us (Bob, Jose and I) who are on the Come and See program got to help out by moving several bookcases.  (Do you get the impression that monks have a LOT of books?)  Monastic life is evidently a lot of work.

We were able to get that completed ahead of schedule, so we had some free time and since it was sunny and 70, I decided to spend some time on my favorite Adirondack chair.  Currently, I'm reading "finding sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life" (yes it is capitalized that way).  This is a nice concise easy read that describes how to pull aspects from the Rule of St. Benedict into a person's everyday life.  It's loosely based on the TV series "The Monastery".

As 5:00 rolled around it was time to head back to the chapel for Vespers.  I'm starting to get used to my new vantage point.  It's weird looking across to the other monks... it sort of promotes a sense of community, and greatly improves the sound of the chanting (except when I screw up), though I can't really hear the lessons anymore because the podium is set up so the speaker is facing mostly away from me.

After supper, we had some one-on-one time with a brother.  My session was with Br. Julian.  We spoke about all the changes taking place in my life (similar to the conversation with Br. Adam last week and Br. Andrew earlier this week... I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot).

I won't go into details, but since Br. Julian is the photographer of the bunch, we were able to spend a short while chatting about a shared hobby.