A new associate and a departure

This week was bittersweet. On the happy side, we received our newest associate, Joan Golan, from Bronxville, NY.

But we also made our goodbyes to Vance Greenway who decided to withdraw from the postulancy. Vance will take some family and retreat time before returning to the Vedanta Center of Greater Washington, DC in Maryland. We are grateful for his trying his vocation with us and wish him the best in his continued vocation in Vedanta.

A new Associate. From top left, clockwise: Joan Golan, from Bronxville, NY being received as an Associate by Br. Josép Martinez-Cubero; Guests enjoying dinner in the refectory as a barge is parked on the Hudson in the background; Joan, no sooner received as an Associate, is put to work in the pantry...

Throughout the week, the Guest House was in silence to make space for the Individually Directed Retreats that were taking place. The weekend was silent as well for the Lenten retreat led by Martin Smith. All this silence makes for lively conversation at the dinner tables when the silence is lifted.

This week, I got sick for a few days. I am recovering but mindful that a number of my brothers suffered relapses with this particular bug. So I am making sure to get enough rest and hydrate abundantly.

On Friday, the community had its monthly House Meeting. There were several items on the agenda. One was a discussion of what are appropriate forms and quantities of entertainment for modern monks. This was a very worthwhile conversation to have.

We had no appetite for rule-making in this regard but we discussed principles that enable individuals to determine what is enough and what is too much. As can be expected in our time, we mentioned "screen time" as potentially disruptive of our monastic way of life. Most of us have to balance one or more of a personal computer, a smartphone or an internet-connected TV. Even the best-intentioned monk can disappear in a rabbit hole once in a while...

We agreed that one benchmark is to look at whether rest time, study time, exercise time and personal prayer time was given short shrift by excessive absorption in entertainment activities. All of these times have to be balanced with our corporate prayer and our work responsibilities to make for a healthy monastic balance. I felt we came out of the conversation reinforced in what constitutes a wholesome use of entertainment in our leisure time.

I always appreciate it when our common deliberations bring up useful wisdom to live by.

Happy St Patrick's Day to our Irish friends!