Digging, digging, digging

Brother Robert Leo and I were both away this week to provide spiritual direction at Yale Divinity School and General Theological Seminary respectively.

Our Superior's Visitation to the monastery ended this Friday. Over the course of a couple of weeks, Br. Rob interviewed all the members of the extended community. He offered a report of his findings and suggestions for improvement to our communal life. This is not an exam, but we agreed we are doing quite well and that there is room for improvements.

After the Superior's report, Br. Aidan led us for our monthly faith sharing around the theme of desire. This follows a series of suggested meditations for our whole Order in preparation for our annual chapter in June.

The work on the elevator shaft in the Guest House continued. We have encountered an unexpected setback. A 7 ft deep pit needs to be dug in our basement to form the bottom of the elevator shaft. We had scheduled 2 or 3 days of digging for that. But it turned out that we hit the solid schist foundation of the monastery within a few inches of digging. As a result, our general contractor team has been jack-hammering away at the pit for a week and a half. I can now stand in the pit and look a the ground of our basement. Ah, the joys of renovation work on old buildings... Luckily, the next phases of demolition and construction will be less noisy.

Everyday scenes. From top, clockwise: a low attendance at the Sunday night movie (Steven Spielberg's Hook); a bloom of amaryllis with Br. Richard having breakfast in the background; this pit has a bottom that we have finally uncovered (bottom of the future Guest House elevator shaft); "God's fingers" - sunrays through the incense smoke at Sunday Diurnum.

A monastery is rarely without guests. This week, we welcomed several groups and lots of individuals. We also hosted Br. Sean Glenn, n/SSJE for a week of retreat. This weekend, Br. James Koester, Superior of SSJE arrived to spend a couple of days with us before returning to Cambridge, MA with Br. Sean. We love to go on retreat to each other's houses (SSJE and OHC). A good retreat is easier to have if you are not in your usual setting (as our guests well know).

Guuests. From top left, clockwise: a Superiors conference - Br. Rob Magliula, Superior of OHC talking with Br. James Koester, Superior of SSJE (while Fr. Huntington, OHC's first Superior looks down from his portrait); Nancy Haensch, from Brewster and Chris Palmer, from Somers, both parishioners at Good Shepherd, Granite Springs, NY; Br. Bernard with Associate Probationer, John Decker from NYC; Nancy and Chris determined to make progress on a new jigsaw puzzle; Bros. James Koester, SSJE and Sean Glenn, n/SSJE.

Happy (Chinese) New Year! I remembered to wish it to my new niece-in-law.
May you have a healthy and serene Year of the Rat.