This will be a wild and wonderful weekend.....as 90-some oblates "come home" for the October Community Weekend. This annual event includes a ceremony for new initiates into our oblate program..this year 18 of them, as well as the annual re-commitment of all oblates.
Of our 200 oblates, a number live outside of Erie and do not make the trip to the Mount very often. The oblates who live in Erie we see quite a lot. Some come every Sunday for liturgy. Some work in community ministries. Some are part of standing committees/groups such as Benedictines for Peace. Some participate in community peace rallies, Take Back the Site vigils, etc. Quite a number are former members of a religious community, so have "come back" to a community connection again. All of them are committed to living Benedictine spirituality in their everyday life.
There is a surge of books these days on that very subject:
How to be a monastic and not leave your day job--Tvedton;
The monk in the world: cultivating a spiritual life--Teasdale and Wilber;
Finding sanctuary: monastic steps for everyday life--Jamison;
The Family cloister: Benedictine wisdom for the home--Robinson;
Illuminated life: monastic wisdom for seekers of light--Chittister;
and Kathleen Norris has a new book due out in December:
Monk habits for everyday people.
Why did I title this wild and wonderful? Because, although they are all wonderful, there are a few that are totally w-i-l-d women....loads and loads of fun...but it takes a few days to recover from their visit!
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