Seeking the heart of our daily work

Seeking the heart of our daily work

Chuck Huff

How do we know the proper value of work?  How do we decide its role in our lives?  In a monastic community the value of work is not measured in how much someone will pay to have it done.  It is not seen in narrow economic terms.  The value of work is instead measured in the contribution of that work to all the aspects of daily, shared, life. For monastics that means daily shared spiritual life – because ALL of monastic daily, shared life is our spiritual life.  In the gospel, all life is seen through the ultimate lens of love of God and love of neighbor.

St. Benedict's Cave

Chuck Huff
pilgrimage

On Monday of last week, we visited a cave in a valley near Subiaco, a one-hour drive directly west of Rome, into the Apennine mountains that run down the center of the peninsula. Benedict’s story begins in this cave where, as a young man he spent 3 years as a hermit, with a local monk lowering him food in a basket.

Thin places in time

Thin places in time

Chuck Huff
pilgrimage

How looking beyond the present makes a walk more meaningful

One can stand in a place and feel the presence of other times, of momentous and of ordinary events.  Every place one stands is old beyond reckoning.  But some seem more likely to call you into the past – or perhaps the past lingers here like a ghost or a kind spirit...

New Year's Blessing

Chuck Huff

"Oh God, our provider and sustainer! Your end has no end, but we find ourselves ending and beginning a new year. We ask that your compassion protect us this year from evil, that you call us sweetly to follow you, that you give us a longing to leave our old self behind, and that you guide us to walk in your love. May your grace bless the universe and shower us with favor."

-a prayer for the New Year, adapted from Rumi