Welcome!

Sunset at the Glinodo lakeshore.

Three turtles sunning in the pond near the admin. bldg. at Presque Isle.

Hyacinths in our yard.

 Tree in the library courtyard.

Forty-two Peace Pilgrimages

This year marked the 42nd Peace Pilgrimage on Good Friday. They began as a 7-mile three-hour trek from downtown Erie to the monastery. About 6-7 years ago we changed it to a 2-mile walk through downtown Erie, still starting at St. Peter Cathedral and now ending at the foot of State St. weaving around and stopping for "stations of the cross" at various places in the downtown area.

This year's theme was environmental devastation, especially its effects on women and children.

Here are three of our "stations":

Here's the stop at Perry Square at 6th and State St.

At the Federal Courthouse. That's the old library at the corner of 6th and French

for those who know Erie. Behind it is the new Erie Insurance expansion.

And here's the final stop near Dobbins Landing, on a fishing deck.

Holy Week

If you've ever had some personal spiritual direction you know that one of the directors' common techniques is to ask you to reflect on a scripture passage from the point of view of one of the key people in it. For instance, in the parable of the prodigal son you could look at it from the viewpoint of the father, the wayward son, or the obedient son who stayed home. It's a very fine technique and, to look at scripture stories from a women's point of view can also be quite eye-opening, especially for women themselves, who did not write the scriptures!

This weekend I was asked to read the gospel for Sunday--the one where Jesus rides triumphantly into Jerusalem. It made me think about the differing "views" in the story and, in a rather unusual one, the experience from the donkey's viewpoint. I know that sounds very funny, but Mary Oliver wrote a lovely reflection from just that. Here it is....blessings on your Holy Week.

The Poet Thinks about the Donkey

On the outskirts of Jerusalem
the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
leap with delight!
How doves, released from their cages,
clatter away, splashed with sunlight!

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.

Warmer and sunnier days

 

As the snow is staying away, pretty much, and the days are already longer and warmer, we're starting to be able to get into some of our spring/summer patterns--and we got to do one of my favorites this weekend: walk our Seven-Mile Creek path. And while we're walking, slowly, we're studying the creek to see what's new, what's old, what's happened since last October. 

This weekend the water was really "roaring" as we had quite a rainstorm the night before. But it looked quite clear and every time we go down there we run into fishermen and women, often carrying the long fish they've just caught! I think the creek has pretty much been clear all winter, so no ice fishing this year, just regular fishing!

The photo above is a look at a huge old tree that fell across the creek, maybe last year or so, and is just getting smaller each year now. The photo below is the end of the tree on the creek path. Can you see the patterns from insects inside? Very cool.

Finally, just a note about our continuing number of guests that are coming every day now. Very nice people. They enter into all our prayer, meals, etc. Next week will be the apex of the year for them: some overnighters and some locals that just come for the Triduum and Easter Sunday. Welcome all.

Spring Equinox

This is one of those poems by Mary Oliver where she combines her love of nature with the spirituality that she so often expresses so beautifully in her writing. Appropriate this year, as the first day of spring is close to Holy Week. 

Spring

Faith
is the instructor.
We need no other.

Guess what I am,
he says in his
incomparably lovely

young-man voice.
Because I love the world
I think of grass,

I think of leaves
and the bold sun,
I think of the rushes

in the black marshes
just coming back
from under the pure white

and now finally melting
stubs of snow.
Whatever we know or don't know

leads us to say:
Teacher, what do you mean?
But faith is still there, and silent.

Then he who owns
the incomparable voice
suddenly flows upward

and out of the room
and I follow,
obedient and happy.

Of course I am thinking
the Lord was once young
and will never in fact be old.

And who else could this be, who goes off
down the green path,
carrying his sandals, and singing?

The Annual Trifecta is Coming

 A female cardinal that's been frequenting my feeders lately.

So far during six days in early March we've had more snow in those days (6.3") than we had in January and February combined! What a crazy winter this has been. Every time you see a storm on the Weather Channel crossing the country in the upper Midwest you can be sure that it will either hit us (which it hasn't lately) or be pushed by the winds, usually north and east of us. Unfortunately that theory doesn't seem to work as well for Buffalo, as they are currently in first place in the Golden Snowglobe contest which keeps track of the winter snowfall for cities with populations over 100,000.  See the latest here.

Tonight we had a treat: Girl Scout cookies, though we only had four of the 13 listed kinds: thin mints, peanut butter tagalongs, trefoils and samoas. Delicious!

Otherwise things are pretty "every day" around here. Next weekend the pace will pick up a bit as the annual trifecta of March saints will be upon us--and a weekend on top of that: Patrick (17), Joseph (19) and Benedict (21).  We celebrate all of them in some way or another....maybe even with some green beer on the first.

March honors women

Our annual Women's Art Show opened this weekend. If you're local, stop out sometime in the next 5-6 weeks, it's a lovely show this year...."eclectic" the organizer called it!

The west end of the ch. 57 gallery.

The east end.

Sister Valerie's original cross stitch of our stained glass windows. 

My cross stitch of mason jars and wild flowers.

The ice floes that accumulate along our shoreline, down on the Glinodo side 

of our property...but not this year, the lake never froze over for very long.