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The Big 6-0

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by Ida Williams, New Skete Employee This summer I turn the “big 6-0.”   As my oldest grandson said as we were watching fireworks one night, “That’s a big one!” It feels just like yesterday when I was saying, “I’m 50, and I can kick, and stretch, and kick.”   The average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years, so I am in the third-third of my life.    I am pondering about what my life will look like during this final third.   When will I retire; will I travel; will I become a snowbird?   At retirement age, I will have spent more than a third of my employed years working for New Skete.   This monastery that I and so many others love will be celebrating its “big 6-0” in a few years.   Unlike me, New Skete has no thoughts of retirement or scaling back.   During New Skete’s 50th anniversary celebration, we created a commemorative journal highlighting the Then, Now, and Tomorrow of the monastery and its work.    A copy of this journal can be viewed by clicking here. How on
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A Lenten Reflection

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 by  Brother Christopher   There is a healthy tension in Orthodoxy during the weeks leading up to Great Lent. Interestingly, three out of the four pre-Lenten Sundays have forgiveness as their principal theme: the Publican and Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and Forgiveness Sunday. It is as if the Church intends to have us experience the true meaning of forgiveness before Lent even begins, so that our Lenten observance is less one of “earning” God’s forgiveness through our ascetic practice, and more our response of gratitude for the forgiveness we have already received. Now, while that might be a consoling thought, such forgiveness is not the whole story. Sandwiched between the Sunday of the Prodigal Son and Forgiveness Sunday is Judgement Sunday, which offers a salutary counterbalance to any temptation to take God’s forgiveness for granted. So let’s reflect a bit on Matthew’s apocalyptic scene in chapter 25 of his gospel and that scary word “judgement,” which can make us twitch in our
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Monks on the Move

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  by Brother Christopher   It is not often that monks get to travel, given that our focus is on living the monastic life in this particular community. However, occasionally situations come up when travel is warranted, and one such opportunity presented itself recently for Brothers Christopher and Theophan. The Institute for the Study of Eastern Christianity at Catholic University of America was hosting a conference titled “Ascetic Practices and the Mind: Mental Healing in Eastern Christianity” on March 1-2. We found out about the conference when Robin Darling Young, one of the theology professors at Catholic U and an organizer of the conference, paid a brief visit to New Skete last fall. During the course of her visit she learned that Brother Theo had a background in neuroscience, and she mentioned to us how the conference planners were looking for an Orthodox participant(s) whose interests were in both spirituality and neuroscience. She took advantage of the synchronicity to inqui
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Seeking God

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  By Sister Cecelia Seeking to do God’s will in all things is what monasticism is all about. It encompasses all the nitty-gritty happenings in all our lives. At the Nuns’ monastery, after 30-plus years the door and door frame opening to a second-floor deck had succumbed to all the snows and rainfalls and was rotting along the bottom. It took 3 months for a replacement door to arrive and another few months for it to be installed. Further investigation of the deck itself revealed extensive rotting that needed attention. Through many years of repairs to the wooden deck itself, it appeared to be a lost cause. How long would the wood last, since so many coats of stain and preservative had been applied and the wood floor and railing were still cracked with so much snow and rain on it? How long would a repair last before someone leaned against the railing and went tumbling down? Or a floorboard gave when stepped on? We do trust in God, but we also know that God expects us to use our heads w
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Wind on the Trails

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  By Brother Luke Suddenly a mighty wind swept in. (Job 1:19) Winter has truly blown in with a fury this year. We have had several winter storms accompanied by strong winds and the crack of trees breaking and falling in the woods. And when that happens, the trails don't get spared. So, my dogs and I have made, and continue to make, forays into the woods to hike the trails and clear away the debris and branches. Those forays are more like reconnaissance because when the trees themselves fall across the trails, then out comes the chain saw. Sometimes all that is required is to cut a path through a large tree trunk. But other times one tree will bring down another, and a jumble of branches blocks the trail. Much of that can be cleared by pulling the broken branches away from the trail and using a simple hand saw to cut some of the branches. In some cases a tree has fallen, uprooted, and hit another tree, and remains hung up perilously over the trail. Bringing that down requi
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Listening for God's Voice

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  By Brother Luke   It may seem like an oxymoron, but we in the monastic life spend a lot of time talking about silence and listening. Maybe it's not a total oxymoron; one hopes if someone is talking others are listening! And isn't that important? To pay attention when someone is talking, especially when they are talking to you! However, if we are honest we may notice how often our mind wanders even when we are trying to make the greatest effort to stay focused and listen to someone. To listen I have to be silent, both outwardly and inwardly.             Engaging in a conversation with another can produce a challenge of a different order. I can be so fully engaged in the subject of the conversation that I almost end up listening aggressively. Then I have to hold my tongue, and I have to rein in the itch to finish the other person's sentences. And to truly listen I cannot be pondering my response or comment even before the speaker has finished speaking. Otherwise I end
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Wishing the Year Away and the Gift of the Advent Season

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By Ida Williams   Let’s face it: we all wish time away.   Our commute to work, our mundane tasks, meetings, waiting for the dishwasher repairman—which is what I am doing as I write this.   We wish away times we have to wait.   I have been wishing the year away. On November 4, my father passed away.   His illness and suffering had been long.   He had spent his last six and a half years living in a nursing home.   His being a double amputee made it impossible for any of us in my family to provide the care he required.   My mother went to the nursing home every day to be with him.   During COVID she visited him through his window.   I visited him weekly, spending less and less time during each visit as his health continued to decline and he no longer knew who I was.   When he passed, there was a sense of relief.   The wait was over, and his healing could begin. The only scars in Heaven, they won't belong to me and you There'll be no such thing as broken, and all the ol
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