I am retreatinig - sort of
Next semester I will be on sabbatical for the semester. That means I teach no classes, grade no papers, attend no department meetings. Instead I will haunt the libraries, research arcane topics, think deep thoughts while seated at the desk in my study - yeah, right. Well, it could happen. I will have no responsibilities until next August.
At school I have become the lamest of lame ducks, having a difficult time concentrating on doing anything. I think that is why my department chair realized I needed a little break. It may also be one reason why I've let the better part of the week go by without any posts.
So I have decided to try a big experiment - go on a spiritual retreat at a Trappist monastery. Or rather, as they are now known, the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (which sounds a bit too much like the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility). After some investigation and thought I selected Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia, the heart of Mosby's Confederacy and only about twenty miles from where I grew up.
In January I will spend the 8th through the 12th in the abbey's guest house in an unstructured retreat. I am looking foward to it, much more than I thought I would when I first thought to do it. If any of you have done anything like this before, and would like to give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. It would be especially helpful if you have any suggestions for books to take with me - I am not going to take any novels or even any history books. I want to be as far removed from my daily life as I can be.
Since the monks go to bed at 7:30 pm and get up at 3 am, I think that last point is a given.
posted by Clemens @ 12:05 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
What better way to honor the tradition of Monks than some of the best trappist ales of Belgium?
Rochefort 10 is probably the easiest one to get your hands on.
--Joey
I just returned from a week at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque,Iowa. I've spent a couple weeks there each year since 1980. Usually the week before Advent and the week after Easter.
I spend my time letting God's Word wash over me in the monastic choir, seven times a day, from 3:30 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. I seek to be conscious of God's presence from morning to night. I watch my mind and heart leap every which way to avoid God. I express to God my distaste for being with him so much and ask for a heart open to his love.
This is the year of Luke in the liturgy. I spend many hours simply reading the gospel of Luke over and over becoming familiar with the extraordinary person of Jesus Christ presented in those few pages.
I enter into God centered conversations with others who are staying there, and one or two of the monks during the week.
God will bless your going in. God will also bless your going out.
Bob Boudewyns
Boudewyns@Gmail.com
Bob-
Welcome to Sententiae and thanks. This is the kind of insight from those who have done something like this that I want.
And Joey - I have every intention of honoring such Trappist traditions.
I think I may take the Vulgate and get back to my translation of the gospels. It's slow going because my Latin is not as good as it should be, but it does force me to carefully consider every nuance of every word.
Addendum:
The last part of Bob's message reminds me of the words of Robert of Sable when leaving for the First Crusade in 1098. He asked the monks of Marmoutier to pray for him 'going out and coming back.'
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