We have had rain all day long -- thunder and lightning in the early morning; steady strong rain ever since. I got soaked walking down to the bakery this morning to help make fruitcakes. I weigh each cake to make sure it has sufficient batter; when the first batch was baked, I put on heavy mitts and arranged the hot pans on the table; I used a paint brush to cover the tops with apricot glaze. This was work that will be usual for a Monday morning from now until September.
The two weeks away are a memory. All the juniors (monks and nuns in temporary vows) from the American region met at Gethsemani for a conference. The first week we had sessions with Mother Agnes, the former abbess of our monastery in Wrentham, MA. She read a series of meditative reflections she had written several decades ago. They stimulated a lot of conversation and shared experiences. The second week, Dom Thomas, the former abbot of our monastery in Vina, CA, presented classes that covered issues from The Life of Benedict by Gregory the Great.
In the afternoons we were able to do a lot of different things: tour the monastic work areas, study in the library, hike the local knobs, visit Merton's hermitage, pull weeds, and so on. One evening, we listened to a piano recital (Mozart and Liszt) by one of our juniors; we also watched Wise Blood, the movie based on the novel by Flannery O'Connor. (The monks at Gethsemani are listening to Brad Gooch's recently published biography of Flannery.) It was a pleasant break in routine; I was glad to be home, even if it means I will no longer have a private bathroom with long, wide, fluffy bath towels.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dee there is this thing called an Umbrella its usually used when its raining out...it will help you stay dry too...might want to see if there is one of those things laying around for the next time it rains. :-) I'm sure Rick will be glad to hear that fruit cakes are back in production
ReplyDelete