Some go, some come

This weekend we lost our five newest members to attendance at workshops. Two stayed rather close, traveling 85 miles or so south to Villa Maria Conference Center. A Western PA inter-formation group has been sponsoring national speakers there for many years. Men and women in formation in communities from Pittsburgh up to Erie are invited. I first heard John Allen and Ilia Delio there and they were great. This weekend it was a speaker on race and racism in the USA.

The other three traveled considerably farther to central Indiana and a Benedictine conference for all members of the four federations under age 55, the group is appropriately named "55 and Under." 

So we lost their presence, their voices and their energy but we gained the same from the guests that joined us for the Lenten vigil Saturday night, this morning for Sunday's liturgy and even some who are staying in the guest hall and hermitages.

And what else did we gain? The daffodils and tulips may still on the verge of  popping out, ditto the forsythia, but these "friends" are coming around more and more. Here are three that were grazing and romping on the east side of the Mount this afternoon.  Welcome back!

Lent week 4

We're three weeks into Lent and I forgot to share this hilarious Lenten graphic back on Ash Wednesday, but because I think it's so clever---and funny---I'm sharing it now. How do people think of these things?! Were they just sitting around on an Ash Wednesday with a bunch of friends, and they got into one of those conversations about going for ashes as children (or that very day), sharing how their parish priest gave them out---and one thing lead to another, someone started to doodle on a napkin, and this emerged at the end.

If you haven't had a chance to contribute to any cause that is helping the refugees from the war in Ukraine and have been meaning to do so, here's a place you might consider: Caritas International. David Muir, on the daily ABC news, has been sharing a UNICEF website, too, as the number of children displaced hit 4 million this week. Amazing.

One more Lenten reference: this weekend we re-opened for guests, after 10 days of closure, and it was so nice to see our friends and other guests at both the Saturday night Lenten vigil prayer and at Sunday Mass. 

Weekend sharings

A turn down Carter Beach Rd. this weekend showed us the progress on the first of the houses there. Things have really picked up now that the winter weather is quickly passing. In a large cleared area you can see lots of cemented pieces and lots of wooden markers to assist the builders, I guess. It's exciting to know that we will have a new home there, probably this summer. I'll keep giving you updates as the months progress.

 

Coming over the Catholic News Service (CNS) this weekend was the heart-warming and quite awe-inspiring news that Polish sisters in over 1,000 convents in Poland are helping thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have fled the war. The story is amazing. Read it here.

All I can think of is that these women must have grown up hearing the horror stories of WWII from their parents and grandparents and seen the lifelong lasting effects of that suffering on their people. Now it is their turn and the whole country seems to be responding generously and without hesitation. 

Why be transfigured/transformed?

This second weekend of Lent brought the familiar gospel story of Jesus going up the mountain with three of his disciples for a spiritual "event,"  the transfiguration. The disciples are overwhelmed with the joy of the experience, so overwhelmed in fact that they wanted to stay, suggested erecting tents,  staying in the moment, savoring the experience. 

I think we've all been there. And you do want it to go on forever. But as the gospel goes on to say, as does the poet Jan Richardson, these moments are for "coming back down."  

Dazzling

Believe me, I know
how tempting it is
to remain inside this blessing,
to linger where everything
is dazzling
and clear.

We could build walls

around this blessing,
put a roof over it.
We could bring in
a table, chairs,
have the most amazing meals.
We could make a home.
We could stay.
 
But this blessing
is built for leaving.
This blessing
is made for coming down
the mountain.
This blessing wants to be in motion,
to travel with you
as you return
to level ground.
 
It will seem strange
how quiet this blessing becomes
when it returns to earth.
It is not shy.
 
It is not afraid.
 
It simply knows
how to bide its time,
to watch and wait,
to discern and pray
 
until the moment comes
when it will reveal
everything it knows,
when it will shine forth
with all it has seen,
when it will dazzle
with the unforgettable light
you have carried all this way.

What a week!

It was a busy week for us in many ways...some exciting, some sad, some in between.

Lent started, of course, and with it comes special psalms, readings and songs that liturgical seasons such as this bring. We had a nice Mardi Gras party Tuesday night, with puzzles and prizes. The prizes for the winners were a pack of one dollar bills that we all promptly deposited into a special box we just put out that day to collect money to send to the Benedictine sisters in the Ukraine. The American communities are responding to the sisters' present and near future needs by collecting funds here and sending them to a community in Poland who can get them to the Ukrainian communities when they can.

The first full weekend of Lent found us opening the monastery to our publics--both for prayer/liturgies and overnight guests. The latest closer lasted two months. It was a very happy and excited group that joined us Sunday morning. Erie County entered the "low" rating on the CDC's latest scale this week. Alleluia--oops, Lent...no shouting Alleluia!

And finally, the weather took a turn bringing late winter teasers---not only did we experience 50s and even 60s, but warm sun and the formation of ice floes in the creeks and along the lakeshore. Here's the view along our own Glinodo shore this weekend. These huge blocks of ice that build up every year at this time never cease to amaze me.

See our community website for the prayer card and obituary for our Sister Bernadette Sullivan who died Thursday. She was a true Irish leprechaun in personality, we will miss her.

Erie's Winter Carnival

The fountain in Perry Square is all decked out and

the fish beside it reminds me of the city-wide fish art project of years ago.

A very large bear!

An ice sculpture heart with a heart in it.

 

The pineapple of hospitality.

The universal peace symbol. 

Monday morning we begin reciting the World Peace Prayer at Morning Prayer each day 

that peace may be restored in the country of Ukraine. We have a number of 

Ukrainian immigrants in Erie, along with two of their Christian church congregations.

They're back

 

After many, many weeks have gone by with no sight of our deer population at all, finally, when small areas under the pine trees cleared one day last week, voila, three deer appeared one afternoon and much to my surprise, "settled down" for an hour or so. What a lovely pre-pre-spring sight.

Red Bird Explains Himself

Yes, I was the brilliance floating over the snow
and I was the song in the summer leaves,
but this was only the first trick
I had hold of among my other mythologies,
for I also knew obedience:
bringing sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

But don't stop there, stay with me: listen.

If I was the song that entered your heart
then I was the music of your heart,
that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed there,
with all its followers:
gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

And this was my true task,
to be the music of the body.
Do you understand? for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul.
And no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and I am both of the earth
and I am of the inexplicable beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent,
to teach this to your heart.

Mary Oliver

On the other hand, these guys show their best stuff with the snow!