October 2006 Archives

continued from the previous entry...

After my hike on Friday afternoon, the rest of the weekend was filled with pretty much the same stuff.  I did some reading, worked on a couple poems and reflected in silence.  All the while keeping the monastic hours.

The monastic day officially starts at 4:15am with Vigils and ends at approximately 8pm with Compline.  It was surprisingly easy to adjust to this schedule with the relaxed nature of the weekend.  Despite getting up at 4am each day, I woke up refreshed.

I didn't really come out of the weekend with any answers (though I didn't really expect to either).  I'm fairly certain that the trappist ideal is not a possible vocation for me.  While I am perfectly comfortable in the silence, I think part of me needs to have a connection to the community at large.  I identified one of the major reasons that it would be difficult for me to ever consider converting to the Roman Catholic church.  It is my belief that mass should be shared with everyone, whether they of a different denomination or even if they aren't Christians.  If someone wants to come to the table, they should be able to participate fully.

I'll definitely do something like this again, it was a great way to recharge.

grey skies hide this
reflection of myself
overshadowing

---

painted trees fall
in silent acknowledgment
of passionate love

---

empty union
too often mingles with
no one (thing)

---

to love: follow
blindly. give everything.
discover grace.

more unseen deep breaths at one deep breath.

...or close to it.

Friday morning, October 20th, my friend and I left the apartment building at 5:15 am.  She had graciously agreed to drive me out to Lafayette for my weekend retreat.  The goal was to get there before the beginning of the Lauds at 6:30am.

I was to spending the weekend at Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey.  I had set up the retreat initially to talk to one of the brothers about participating in the Monastic Life Retreat the abbey offers.  However, by the time the weekend rolled around, I knew that this would not be the focus of my weekend after all.

At home I left most of the trappings of my day to day life.  I brought with me only a change of clothes, some books for reading and reflection and my moleskine notebook in which to write (I even left my watch at home).

The abbey itself is located on approximately 1400 acres of land on the west side of the Dundee hills.  This is an area now famous for its numerous world famous vineyards (in fact Sokel Blosser's vineyards border the east side of the abbey's land).  The abbey's land is however largely forested with the exception of some farm land at the base of the hill.  The monks use this land to grow vegetables they use for food.

Back to my story...

After Laud's (which is actually the second service of the monastic hours), I had to wait until my room was available.  During this time I sat out on the deck of the reception area and read a bit from the collection of poetry by Rumi I had brought with me. Shortly before noon, I was told my room was ready.  The room I would be staying in over the weekend was simple.  A twin bed, a desk and a rocking chair.  Perfect simplicity.

12:30 brought the Sext service.  After which came a silent dinner with other retreatants.  We would be eating a vegetarian diet for the weekend (as the monks themselves do).  After supper I decided to head off to the trails above the abbey's buildings.  Near the top of the hill there is a shrine to the Lady Guadalupe that made a good goal.   While there were defined trails, they were still not the heavily used trails I was used to.  At times the trail even had a blanket of growth covering it completely. 

One of the best things about this short hike, was that I didn't run into anyone else on the hike.  It was just me and the trees.

More to come later... 

I'm really going to try to finish a few posts about the time at the abbey in the next day or so.

New Jersey's Supreme court has ruled that the NJ constitution requires the state to provide the same set of rights and privileges to same sex couples as it does to "married"(straight) couples.  More details on Crooks and Liars: NJ Supreme Court: Gay couples entitled to equal spousal rights

Another Special Comment from Keith Olbermann:

Advertising Terrorism

An excerpt:

But to forgive you for terrorizing us, we would have to believe you somehow competent in keeping others from doing so.

Yet, last week, construction workers repairing a subway line in New York City, were cleaning out an abandoned manhole on the edge of the World Trade Center site, when they stumbled on to the impossible:  human remains from 9/11.

Bones and fragments.

Eighty of them.

Some as much as a foot long.

The victims had been lying, literally in the gutter, for five years and five weeks.

The families and friends of each of the 2,749 dead--who had been grimly told in May of 2002 that there were no more remains to be found--were struck anew as if the terrorism of that day had just happened again.

And over the weekend they've found still more remains.

And now this week will be spent looking in places that should have already been looked at a thousand times five years ago.

For all the victims in New York, Mr. Bush--the living and the dead--it's a touch of 9/11 all over again.

And the mayor of this city, who called off the search four-and-a-half years ago is a Republican.

The governor of this state with whom he conferred is a Republican.

The House of Representatives, Republican.

The Senate, Republican.

The President, Republican.

And yet you can actually claim that you and you alone can protect us from terrorism?

You can't even recover our dead from the battlefield--the battlefield in an American city--when we've given you five years and unlimited funds to do so!

 

Early tomorrow morning (as in 5.15am) I am heading out to Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey for a weekend retreat.  I'm leaving the cell phone, the laptop and the bustle of the city behind.  What I'll be taking with me, a couple books, my moleskine and an open mind and spirit.  It'll be a weekend of silence and discernment.

The books I'll have with me:

• The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
• Jesus the Son of Man by Kahlil Gibran
• The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about the weekend when I get back on Sunday!

The President finally signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006.  This is a scary bill, that hopefully will get wiped off the books, either by the Supreme Court or by the next Congressional session.  A lot of the stuff going on at the governmental level reminds me of the Antibalas' song "Who is this America?"  Honestly I don't know.

A Special Comment by Keith Olbermann.  See below the cut for the text of Olbermann's comment.  (He says this much more eloquently than I could)

Glenn Greenwald's take. 

from Crooks and Liars (via MyDD)

Paul Evans is the real deal. City Councilman in Monmouth, Oregon at age 18, Evans has been twice elected as the city's mayor, served in the Air Force and the Air National Guard and been a teacher at Western Oregon University and Oregon State University. Evans is currently running as a Democrat for the State Senate in Oregon, his campaign representing one of the party's best pick-up opportunities in the chamber this year. And now he has been informed that he will be shipping out for duty in Afghanistan on November 5, as Peter Wong reports for the Salem Statesman Journal.

When Election Day rolls around three weeks from today, Oregon Senate candidate Paul Evans will learn his fate from afar: Afghanistan.

Evans, a veteran of the Air Force and Oregon Air National Guard, will be en route to the nation with the 116th Air Control Squadron.

He is scheduled to leave Nov. 5, 10 days ahead of his original deployment date. His mission will last 60 days -- which means he would be back for the opening of the legislative session on Jan. 8 if he is elected Nov. 7 to the Senate District 10 seat.

[...] In a written statement, he said, "When my commander said I was needed, there was no question of whether or not I would go. Duty calls."

[...]He likely is the nation's only candidate who will be on active duty in the Middle East on Election Day.  (Read More from the Statesman Journal)