The Summer Benedict

Friday the 11th was the summer feast of Benedict, in contrast to the late winter solemnity of Benedict, March 21. We had a feast day supper in the dining room with lots of guests and with Evening Praise intertwined. We've done this a number of times now and it is a very meaningful experience. It's really an experience of the connection between liturgy and a meal.

Later that evening I talked to one of our oblates who lives in northern England. She celebrated a glorious feast because one of our Sunday presiders is there for a week visiting her and taking in the moors of this scenic part of the country. He celebrated Eucharist in the retreat center chapel attached to her home. They extended invitations to numerous friends from all branches of our common Christian faith. She telephoned at 7:00 pm our time (I think midnight or 1:00 am theirs) to exclaim about the event. "We even had eucharistic bread from the Mount," she said, as one of our bakers sent her the recipe.


One of the perks of working for AIM USA is the exposure we get to artists from other Benedictine/Cistercian houses and their artistic expressions within our monastic life. Here is a Benedict and Scholastica from Latin America.