Welcome to our “little cloister”
where we
EXPLORE MONASTIC WISDOM FOR EVERY DAY LIVING
Drs. Almut & Chuck with little one
Home of
+The Hildegard Seminar,
+Kierkegaard Masterclass,
+Bach Passionweek Consolations,
+The 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations &
+The “Little School” of Spiritual Formation
All tagged monastery
Let’s visit the desert father Abba Moses and see what we can learn from him.
Work is sanctified in the light of Christmas, and is judged to be of worth, on a shockingly different scale than how economists value it. The work that we often value least, service work, women’s work, is valuable because it is done for others. If we see our work this way, we can bring Christmas into our lives all year.
This is the lesson one draws from the Abbey guesthouse: that we should welcome guests in our lives as we would welcome Christ. But today, after our walk, and the evening prayer, I have become aware of so many more levels to this hospitality.
Today, at the day of the turn of the year, when the old is not yet gone and the new is not yet visible, we approach another important night marking the middle of the 12 Days of Christmas. Just as the holy night reminds us of the sacred moment, when light breaks into the dark, the turn of the year invites us into another in-between space of waiting and new beginnings.
A brother came to Scetis in the Egyptian desert to visit Abba Moses and asked him
"Father, give me a word." The old man said to him
"Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."
Pentecost weekend we spent biking into the blue country, the Bavarian country side which has inspired artists of the "Blaue Reiter" (blue rider), a group of early expressionists. Riding on trains and bikes towards the mountains we took in the stunning views and shades of blue and green imaging the excitement of a painter to match them.
Mother Day weekend I spent some time at this gorgeous monastery in the Schwarzwald. I walked through the gardens, tasted the herbs, enjoyed the warm sun and sang with them during evening prayer...
For the past month, I have traveled regularly from our apartment in Munich out to rural St. Ottilien Abbey, a Benedictine monastery about an hour’s train ride from us. I go to meet with one of the monks there for spiritual direction. Sometimes I stay for the night, sometimes I return the same day, but every time becomes a pilgrimage.
