Patience and Hope

Br. Robert James, our Superior, safely returned from Hermanus, South Africa, on Tuesday. He has valiantly dealt with the aftermath of a very long trip and of jet lag. Br. Josép decided against going to visit his mother in Florida for everody's health's sake. Instead he took six days of "staycation" at the monastery.

We have slowly adjusted to life without our guests and visitors. Our life of prayer and worship continues unabated but we are more on our own than is usual even during our seasonal times of closure.

From top left, clockwise: sign of the times ("Closed"); composition with fruit and hellebore blossoms.

Thursday was St Joseph's day. A first class feast, Br. Josép's name day and birthday. And all importantly, this year, the day on which Br. Simon made his initial profession of the Benedictine Vow. Unfortunately, most of his invited guests had to bow out due to the covid-19 pandemic. But it was a beautiful, joyful and hopeful occasion all the same. Our Brother has chosen the profession name of Luc. As always, it will take us a while to not slip into the old name. We are very happy that Br. Luc (I love the French version of his name) is now a professed brother of our Order.

You can listen to Br. Robert James's sermon for Luc's profession here.

Joseph and Luc. From top left, clockwise: Br. Robert James' floral arrangement for the Big Day; Br. Simon's examination;
Br. (newly) Luc being vested in his brand new choir cowl; a votive before a pastel rendering of St Joseph by our Br. Robert James.

As for the pandemic, it seems every day brings its new batch of small or big decisions to be taken on how to handle the situation. Our Guest House is closed since last Sunday. We have a tentative re-opening day of April 15 but that now seems optimistic. Our worship is no longer public, which we are very sad about. We are exploring ways to make some of it accessible online. Keep an eye out for it on our Facebook page.

You can already listen to this Saturday's diurnum and this Sunday's matins. Thanks for the recordings, Br. Josép.

You can always read and/or listen to our sermons on our Sermons blog from the most recent to oldies. Sermons are often posted by Sunday afternoon.

I'm a firm believer that we have to accept reality as it is. Hopefully, we can do this without succumbing to excessive fear or anxiety. We are not in control. But, we can be determined to keep each other as safe as we can. We can endeavor to be patient with ourselves, with each other. We can strive to be realistic about what authorities of all kinds can achieve. We can pray and hope that we will all weather this pandemic the best we can. We can take action to stay connected even through what our Rev. Matthew Wright calls "social spaciousness."

Please pray for all who, in love and /or duty, are striving to mitigate this pandemic. We keep our brethren throughout the Order of the Holy Cross, our staff, our Associates, our guests and our visitors in our prayers.

Be safe, keep healthy.