Cookout and Corpus Christi

This week we observed two anniversaries of ordination: 37 years of priesthood for Br. Bob and 3 years of priesthood for Br. Aidan. We give thanks for their priestly vocation which expresses itself both within our community and in our region.

On Monday, we had our traditional Memorial Day cookout. The weather was the coolest I've known it for this cookout but the food was delicious and the company cheerful. We give thannks to Br. Josép who is the instigator, organizer, shopper, preparer and cook of these cookouts. He gets lots of help setting up and taking down but he does most of the work.

Memorial Day Cookout 1: the preparation. From top left, clockwise: a deliciously spicy pasta salad; the Griller-in-Chief getting started (Br. Josép); getting the charcoals lit; goodies on the grill; the community lines up to fill their plates (2 pictures)

Our friend Ben Hansknecht was visiting from Boston for the weekend. Ben was our intern two years ago.

Memorial Day Cookout 2; the guests. From top left, clockwise: overview: Ben and Br. Robert James; another overview; Yanick Savain and Matthew Wright; Bros. Aidan and Bernard digging in: Bros. John and Richard in the forefront: overview from the lawn.

Later that day, Br. Josép was seen taking care of his beloved rosebushes.

Outside. From top left, clockwise: Br. Josép tending the rose garden near the parking lot of the enclosure (3 pictures); an unidentified flowering bush (azalea?) on the pond of the John Burroughs Sanctuary; irises and peonies in the garden.

I invited our two anniversary priests to a game of Scrabble with a martini on Thursday between supper and compline. Br. Bob is a Scrabble champion and I managed to be within a point of catching up with him at the end of the game (Yeah Bob anyway!).

Monastery people. From top left, clockwise: Bros. Aidan and Bob playing Scrabble with me (behind the camera); our volunteer Susan Barbarisi in a vacuum cleaner duel with Br. John in the Monastic Library; the same two dusting the shelves; the Brothers in their habits for Sunday dinner waiting for the bell to call us inside the refectory with Ben Hansknecht.

On Thursday, we celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi.

Br. Josép received our latest Associate this past Saturday; Joseph Conlon of Washington, DC. Br. Josép has received so many new Associates in the last few years that I suspect he could do this with his eyes closed. These last few weeks we have received a couple of Associates in person, but throughout the last 15 months we have also done this on Zoom.

Reception of an Associate and Corpus Christi flowers. From top left, clockwise: the promises, the cross and the aspergellum ready in the church (2 pictures); Bro. Josép receiving Joseph Conlon as an Associate of Holy Cross (also in the center picture); peonies on my desk in my cell; Br. Robert James' arrangement of several types of peonies and irises mixed with sages and baptisia and phlox (3 pictures).

It is so good to see more familiar faces showing up in church for the divine office or mass, particulary when they no longer need to wear a mask! We have missed each one of them during these past months of confinement. We look forward to seeing both familiar and new guests in the fall. Make sure to get vaccinated to stay at the Guesthouse. Getting the jab saves lives (ours and those of uncounted others).