We had our last Monastic Mondays post last week. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen Abba Monday since. I keep meaning to get around to his mountain, but that would mean walking uphill and then just sitting around while he gave me that look and you know how it goes. So I … More The Legend of Abba Monday
Br. Monday has been through a lot since we first met him. That original wide-eyed innocence has been replaced by wide-eyed horror. But we’re all about healing and hope here, so we aren’t giving up on Br. Monday. Here’s a recounting of his healing process from his retreat to the new mission statement. 1. Design Br. … More The Healing of Br. Monday
I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of place lately. Partially, this is because I feel like an exile in the South. Things are different in Cascadia. We have Fred Meyer instead of Kroger’s. Our summers are properly dry. And we understand the importance of storm drains. But understanding the importance of space is … More On This Holy Mountain
It’s time for the last of the conferences. Br. Monday is already packed to return to the Abba’s. Let’s listen to the last thing the retreat master has to say… It is a false impression, that easy sense we have that we know or can quickly know about other parts of the world, other cultures, … More False Impression
Br. Monday is barely awake, but he’s made it to this mornings retreat conference… In An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum, she is speaking about a man she admires and says, “I think most of us get the wrong idea when we hear the phrase lady’s man–we immediately think of sex. He is a lady’s man, true … More Lady’s Man
Br. Monday may have skipped today’s retreat conference, but doesn’t mean that we have to. There is a sense in which (also and always) we see ourselves from the outside and so make a certain impression on ourselves. for this reason it is very important always to conduct oneself with dignity and grace, even (and … More Dignity
In today’s retreat conference, Br. Monday is about to learn two valuable lessons… When I was five years old, my brother and I burned our garage down. It was a big accident. In the small town where I grew up, in north Idaho, the fire department was volunteer. This meant that a loud siren had … More First Love
Br. Monday is still on retreat to heal after the bandit attack. Let’s join him and the retreat master for a moment… There is a room in a house on the Via San Domenico in Rome where I am sometimes able to go and write. like every part of this house, this room has its … More Design
Br. Monday is still nowhere to be seen. Until he shows up again, here’s a story from a modern monk, Jeremy Driscoll. He tells about his meeting with the poet, Czeslaw Milosz: [Milosz] asked me virtually at the outset, “Do you as a monk find anything useful in my poetry?” I answered him that of course … More Milosz and the Monk
