Spring decluttering and spring blooms

Garden blooms in the church and the guesthouse. From left, clockwise: pink dogwood gracing the paschal candle; tulips and fresh fruit welcoming guests to the coffee corner; tulips for St Augustine.

With wave upon wave of beautiful blossoms submerging our gardens, the blooms have made their way into the monastery; in the church, of course, in the guesthouse, but also in the workspaces of the monks. It is a lovely thing to just raise my eyes from my desk work, to notice the lilac and the columbine that grace my office. Just when my earlier sprigs of lilac had wilted, Br. Aidan showed up with fresh blooms. God's abundance is displayed to great effect this spring.

From top left, clockwise: parrot tulips and plain tulips contrast and enhance each other; tulips on the West Atrium's dining table where our Assisted Living Brothers have supper every evening: lilac and a double columbine on my desk: another bouquet of lilac on my desk under the gaze of Teilhard de Chardin (pastel portrait by Br. Robert James).

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This week, we had our quarterly Contemplative Days. We remain in Greater Silence from Tuesday to Friday morning. We have a simplified liturgical schedule and we are encouraged to let go of non-essential work. It is a good time to slow down in God's embrace and appreciate the multitudinous graces in which we live. We admit about 15 guests in the Guesthouse at that time. Those who come appreciate the deeper calm and silence of Contemplative Days.

From top left, clockwise, Br. Aidan's handknit socks drying alongside a new piece of knitting blocking; Br. Roy in his studio selecting the right piece of paper to receive a new calligraphy; Br. Bernard's find of abandoned chickadee eggs; the great white oak leafing in the little cloister in the background; in the foreground, the ambulatory, the church and the belltower as seen from the enclosure.

I got to finish a good Michael Casey book "Strangers to the City: Reflections on the Beliefs and Values of the Rule of Saint Benedict." Casey is an Australian Cistercian that has written many good books about monasticism and Benedictinism. And I also got back into what is considered one of the best South African novels. "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay. Br. Daniel our Grahamstown Prior had suggested it to me when I asked about a good novel about South Africa.

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In the last few weeks, spring energy has resulted in the reclaiming of cluttered spaces in our enclosure. Our maintenance contractor, Jamie Morano, has been reclaiming an office out of a disused cell that had accumulated junk. Br. Josép has been coordinating community work crews to declutter a large storage room behind our Chapter Room. We went in in teams of three and went through old files and abandoned stationery items. Some items were given to the good care of our archivist, Br. Robert Sevensky, but a lot of old files just went the way of recycling. A couple dozen boxes of decades-old financial files will go to a document management firm for shredding.

Now we have a brand new office ready for the next administrative function that will require it and we can actually see and find useful stuff in our Chapter storage room. Not only does it free up physical space but it creates psychological roominess to expand our future into. And in the process we achieved results as a community doing manual labor: St Benedict would approve.

I personally got inspired and proceeded to my seasonal changeover of clothes. While looking for my summer clothes in the storage space near my cell, I decided to take out everything I've ever put in there in 14 years and decide what deserved keeping. Well, some stuff went but I was relieved to realize I hadn't accumulated as much junk as I suspected.

Spring is an excellent season for this type of work. I wonder what spaces we will free up next... Have you done some spring cleaning too?

Ascensiontide blessings!