Happy Eastertide!

Here are a few more memories of a beautiful Easter Sunday at the monastery. At the end of the Vigil service, we lustily sing a hymn while shaking noisemakers. All the while, the bellringer rings the tower bell. As guests file out of the church they are invited to try their hand at bell ringing. It is but one of the many signs of exultation on that morning.

From top left, clockwise: Easter blossoms under the tabernacle newly furnished with the Body of our Lord; various guests keep our tower bell ringing joyously; blooms from our gardens at the foot of Mother and Child.

On the evening of Easter Sunday, we closed the Guest House for two days of sabbath.  This recognizes that Holy Week is one of the busiest and most intense weeks of the year and requires quiet and unstructured processing time.

On Easter Wednesday, Sister Elizabeth Broyles (a Companion of Mary the Apostle) and I drove to Gloucester, Massachusetts for an 8-day silent directed retreat at the Gonzaga Eastern Point Retreat Center. This was my third visit to this Jesuit-led retreat center. I love the location, the quiet, the good food and the spiritual direction offered by Jesuits, nuns and lay people who regularly work with the center. There were nine spiritual directors on hand to accompany over 40 retreatants.

Despite the cool and overcast weather (with some rain), I took a long walk every day, keeping up with my daily goal of 10,000 steps. The four-hour drive on both ends gave Elizabeth and me ample time to catch up and share impressions of our retreat. Other than that, we respected each other's silence religiously as it were.

Retreat at Eastern Point. From top left, clockwise: Brace Rock beckons at the end of the garden; a fishing boat returning to harbor; a chartreuse beauty blossoming on a tree; Brace Rock at low tide; Brace Rock and the retreat center seen from the beach; the pleasant dining room and its view of the ocean; a natural spiritual director (we stayed contemplatively in silence together): Eastern Point Lighthouse; in the center, the spring blooms adorning the tabernacle in the chapel.

I give thanks to my community for allowing us each this time of retreat away from home. When we are away our brothers have to pick up the slack to enable the monastery to continue to smoothly function. Coming home after such a luscious dollop of quiet contemplation is a mixed blessing. I dove back with delight into our chanted divine office. But I also swam upstream to catch up with my administrative and pastoral responsibilities. After a couple of hectic days, I'm back to cruise speed.

This past Saturday, we had a community formation event. Our Associate Cheryl Kuchler and her husband Chuck Haughton taught us about Type Dynamics and Type Development in the Myers-Briggs Type Identicator model. This was a follow-up to an initial MBTI training a year ago where most of us discovered what our type is and what it illuminates about our personalities and how we interact. This year's training enabled to go deeper into understanding what the dynamics of our personality functions and attitudes are. More pondering and reading is in order to absorb the rich material.

Community formation. From top left, clockwise: Chuck and Cheryl teach us about type dynamics: Br. Carl studies a chart of how types respond to stress: Chuck answering a question; blooming crabapples between the Refectory and the Little Cloister; the "sacrament of the steaming cup" as one of our brothers calls the first cup of coffee of the day (with garden blooms in the background).

I hope you too find opportunities for lifelong continued formation.

Blessed Eastertide to you!