St. Bonaventure University

One of the students who went to high school with the shooter in Butler, PA this weekend gave an interview where he talked about how the shooter was bullied in school. "He was bullied every day, every single day," he said. When pressed by the reporter on why, he responded that he ate alone at lunch and the kids made fun of him because of the clothes he wore and other things. That story and the fact that this is the Feast of the Franciscan St. Bonaventure, took me back to a memory of the one year I spent at St. Bonaventure University, located in western NY about 100 miles from Erie.

I didn't get bullied, but I was pretty lonely those first couple of weeks, and remember eating alone in the cafeteria. Since I was quite shy at that point, it was an odd feeling to not know anyone and have to eat alone in a dining hall full of other students.  It mustn't have lasted too long for I only recall it at the beginning, plus I did make friends, one that I still have to this day! Four of my good friends had entered religious life that year and I was sent off to college. Loneliness and the feeling of being all on my own were my constant companions that year. 

I can't imagine what today's bullying does to children in schools, especially, in high school, where they are in the midst of finding their identity and young adult selves. "Every day he was bullied, every single day."

P.S. What happened to the four friends who had entered when I went off to college? All four left religious life within maybe 10 years; all four married; one divorced and has a new partner; one is a widow; one died a couple years ago after many years of "battling" cancer and the fourth is the primary caregiver for her husband who has Parkinson's disease. And here I am, entering one year later...some 60+ years now, taking picture of leaves after a summer rain! Go figure! 

Sunny weekends

This weekend was just beautiful here in Erie. Sun, warmth, blue skies, slight breeze--just beautiful both days. So Anne and I thought that a walk along the creek path, which we hadn't been on in a month or more, would be just the perfect way to spend an hour or so: down at Glinodo. Here are three of the many things we saw/found along the way.

A downed tree right along the path. Guess the mushrooms found a gold mine!

At the end of the trail was Lake Erie. Here is a mother duck and 6-7 of her ducklings, out for a  weekend paddle--along the shoreline. Wonder if they came from the peninsula or are living along one of the many creeks that feed into the Lake around here?

 And here's the real gem: the children's picnic table is still surviving. Well, not as a usable picnic piece, but at least as a nostalgic remembrance of other years and times.

France and England

 

An unusual announcement in our paper this week: one of the twenty-four houseboats on Misery Bay sf for sale. Most of the time, it said, they are passed on through the families, not put up for public sale. Price?  $300,000  But I know, because of a friend that owned one, the yearly maintenance is the biggest part of ownership--everything needed is underneath the  boat. Keeping it working/in good condition is quite the task!

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Today I share with you some summer entertainment options that we have been enjoying recently.

Through PBSPassport, a benefit when you join your local PBS station (with a minimum of $5/month), you can get access to everything, and I mean everything, that has been broadcast on Public TV. The index of programs is seemingly inexhaustable! Nature, documentaries, mysteries, dramas, news, etc.

We are into the mysteries: the acting is suburb, the settings beautiful and unique (we watch a lot that are set in Europe), and the storylines are great.

Here are two that we've been watching this summer: The Paris Murders and The Tunnel. The first is set in Paris, obviously, and the scenery alone is wonderful. The second is about crime that takes place between England and France, either in the English Channel or in the tunnel under it. Both have closed captioning in English, though the scripts, esp. The Tunnel, have a lot of English in them. The closed captioning doesn't bother us a bit.

We love these shows. The different venues than American cities is refreshing and the relationships among the detectives in each of them make their appeal more than just the solving of a murder.

Still awaiting, however, for the newest seasons of Astrid  and Professor T. ....our #1 favorites!

The "daily" is not so daily...

 Yes, the daily is still with us, but it is not so daily now. It is unique and marvelous. 

Of course we still get up in the morning, attend Morning Prayer, breakfast, get off to work, come home, attend to other responsiblities at the monastery, attend Evening Prayer, go to dinner, and end the day with whatever activities are on for that evening.

But, this week the daily has taken on a special "movement" in the spring/summer "symphony"...the calla lilies have bloomed.

Beauty is everywhere

Beauty is everywhere, which I'm sure is no news to you!

This week I found it in our gardens (thank you to my friend, Charlotte)

 

and along a seam between the grass and one of our asphalt roads.

I hope you're having enough of a combination of sunshine and rain to make your grounds beautiful, too. Our guests, and there are quite the number in the summer, enjoy our land so much. And we enjoy meeting them, too! 

Post-retreat

 

If you read the last post you know that we were on retreat last week and I can "report" that it was a very fine week. The weather cooperated so there were lots of opportunitites to be outdoors. 

I did, however, do a 180 the second day. I decided to change the book I was reading. I went to Ilia Delio's The Emergent Christ which is quite the challenge, but full of great "food for thought."

The first chapter attempts to get readers on the same page as she: understanding the latest science and theology of evolution/the universe, especially from a spiritual perspective. I taught high school physics for 20-some years and I admit that it was a stretch for me to stay with the vocabulary, both theologically and from the quantum world. From chapter 2 on it got simplier and she, probably on purpose, repeats in various ways, her message, using different examples and wording...as any good teacher does, trying to find THE way that each student will understand a concept.

The final chapter on God is her culmination of the ideas and how the concept of god fits in. Very fine.

If you try it, don't be discouraged....take it in small bites and when you get spinning, stop and take a break! It'll be better the next time you pick it up.

June retreat

 Retreat week brings more time with nature as we all walk around the grounds and down to Glinodo and the lake much more than usual.

This scene we will not see, however, as the photo was taken10 days ago or so and since then they have grown and grown and changed and changed and are now gone! What a fun time watching them, half-hidden at the bottom of a bush in one of our gardens. 

During retreat this year I've decided to go back and re-read a book from one of my favorite writers, Cistercian Michael Casey from Tarrawarra Abbey in Australia. He is a retreat leader and lecturer all over the world, on spirituality, especially monastic life, and has even been to our place. 

Here is an excerpt from his book, Stranger to the City, that I'll be browsing through this week.

"Visitors occasionally remark on the sacredness that pervades a monastsery, how it evokes in them a spiritual awareness that is normally latent. In the different ambiance conversions occur, not because of anything that was said or heard, but simply because in stepping outside their familiar world, they are confronted with a different side of themselves. Like travelers in a foreign country they find themselves responding to events in a way that would surprise those who know them at home. For many today, especially those who are unchurched or impatient with institutionalized religion, a monastery can become thier spiritual home."