The Associates Fall Retreat

This week, Br. David Bryan came home from his vacation in England and North Carolina. Br. Raphael came home from HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston and is recovering from his hip replacement surgery. Br. Scott is recovering from knee replacement surgery at Hudson Valley Rehabilitation Center in the nearby village of Highland.

Monastery scenes. From top left, clockwise: Asters and Mums blossoming in front of the Guesthouse; Br Raphael exercizing his new hip on the enclosure porch; asters and cosmos from the gardens (2 pictures).

This weekend, we welcomed 14 of our Associates for their Fall Retreat. Bros. Bernard, Josép, David, and Daniel addressed them on various themes related to life as an Holy Cross Associate.

Associates Fall retreat. From left, clockwise: Br. Josép addressing the Associates about the requirements for being an Associate in good standing: Br. Josép leading the Associates in some chanting accompanied by his shruti box; Associates discussing thematic questions in small groups (2 pictures).

As is customary on Associates Retreats, we had a reception with for the monks and Associates to socialize.

The Associate reception. From top, clockwise: Associates group picture with past and present Associates Directors (Bros. Josép and Bernard); Br. Josép photo-bombing with Associates Liz Haak from Manhattan, NY and Kelly Fairweather, from Mahopac, NY; Associates Eloise Monzillo-Hiris, from Verona, NJ and Kathleen Murray from Cranford, NJ; Br. Robert Leo with Associate Marjorie Swett, from Silver Springs, MD; Associates Joan Golan, from Bronxville, NY and Julett Butler, from Ellenville, NY, cooperating on a jigsaw puzzle: Associates Rick Backlund, from Topeka, KS, Nicholas Peake, from Washington, DC, Oliver Alkins, from Yonkers, NY, with Br. Jacob.

Do you wish you were a Holy Cross Associate? Find out more on our Associates webpage and contact Br. Bernard if you have questions on what you find there.

Peace and every good to you.

Associates, bees and turkeys

This week, we were observing contemplative days. Bros. Scott and Raphael both underwent surgery on Tuesday. Br. Scott got a bilateral knees replacement and Br. Raphael got a hip replacement. The surgeries went well. They recovered for a few days in hospital. They are now both headed to a rehabilitation home for a couple of weeks, 8 miles South of the monastery. Please pray for prompt and full functional recovery for both of them.

This week, we also received two new Associates. On Wednesday, we received Eloise Monzillo-Hiris, from Verona, NJ, and the Rev. Justin Johnson, from Croton on Hudson, NY. Eloise was accompanied by her husband, who, due to contemplative days, got the mostly silent treatment ;-)

This weekend, Br. Ephrem is visiting the Friends of St Benedict at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, in Chestertown, MD. and at Trinity Episcopal Church, in Washington, VA, teaching on "Benedict's Way of Peace."

New Associates. From top left, clockwise: Br. Bernard with the Rev. Justin Johnson; Eloise Monzillo Hiris reading her Associate pledge; Br. Bernard making concluding prayers: Eloise and her husband after her reception (2 pictures).

On Thursday, Br. Francis prepared the hives for collection of the honey supers. On Friday, he robbed the bees. Then, with the help of Bros. Jacob and Bernard, he harvested a large quantity of honey. After which, the spun frames with lots of unspun honey left on them were returned to the beehives. The bees will diligently recuperate whatever honey is available on those frames and clean them up for reuse.

Harvesting honey. From top left, clockwise: Br. Francise handling uncapped honey frames; Br. Jacob uncapping a honey frame; Br. Jacob spinning two honey frames in the honey extractor; the honey extractor dripping unfiltered honey in a pail; honey slowly filtering into the pail underneath the mesh filter.

The bees are still foraging the gardens. By now, they are mostly focusing on asters and goldenrods.

Monastery scenes. From top left, clockwise: a Monarch butterfly doing its pollinating best; morning sunshine through one of the Creation stained glass windows in the ambulatory behind the church; light, shadow and reflections of arches in the crypt; Br.Jacob playing the mandolin during Sunday communion; our electric golf cart with the spun honey frames due to return on the beehives; Br. Bernard selfie as a beekeeper; Bros. Bernard and Francis zooming towards the beeyard to return the harvested honey frames to the hives.

These last several days, we have had several visits from a rafter of wild turkeys.

A visiting rafter of turkeys (3 pictures): near the enclosure, in the monks' parking lot and in the meadow.

Autumn colors are beginning to appear and river cruiseboats are doing their leaf peeping rounds.

Autumnal scenes. From top left, clockwise: tree leaves starting to change colors; wispy clouds above color changing canopies; a cruise boat taking passengers where the change of colors is more marked up North; flaming sunrise over the Hudson; monrning vapors floating over the river.

Peace and every good to you.

Blessing the bees on the feast of St Francis

This past week, Br. Ephrem was visiting his family in Raceland, LA. He got home on Thursday, in time to teach a formation to the community before driving off to a parish mission in MD. He is now back home. Br. David-Bryan is in his second week of visiting friends in England.

This Sunday, we celebrated the feast of the Dedication of our St Augustine Church. It is now entering its 106th year of sheltering our prayers and worship. This was also the feast of St Francis. Our Br. Francis organized a blessing of the bees. After mass, we trundled up the hill to the beeyard, sang hymns, read scripture and said prayers. Bros. Francis and Randy donned protective headgear before entering the beeyard with holy water to sprinkle our four beehives.

Blessing the bees. From top, clockwise: Bros. Jeff, Josép, Jacob, John (all the J's to one side :-), Daniel, Bruno, Francis and Randy; Br. Francis reminding us of the saints under whose protection each beehive is named; Bros. Francis and Randy getting geared up to enter the beeyard; Bros. Randy and Francis sprinkling holy water on hives (2 pictures); a statue of St Francis near the beeyard.

On Saturday, we received Gergő Balázs, of Astoria, NY, as our latest Associate. If you have wondered about the Associates program, get in touch with Br. Bernard.

Receiving Gergő as Associate. From top, clockwise: Hudson River traffic (2 pictures: a tanker and a yacht): Br. Bernard reading prayers for Gergő and all our Associates; a "usie" with Br. Bernard and Gergő; Br. Randy praying the offertory with Br. Francis as server.

And finally, pictures taken by Sr Greta, of the Community of Divine Love, during her retreat with us last week. Thank you, St. Greta; come back soon.

Sr. Greta's pictures. From top left, clockwise: the monastic choir singing the incense rite at the start of Vespers; Pilgrim Hall; Greta's selfie with the Guesthouse in the background: Greta's selfie with our Route 9W sign at dusk; detail of the labyrinth; calligraphed quote from our Founder's Rule.

Peace and every good to you.