New Life

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By Brother Christopher

One of the consequences of our yearly celebration of Great Lent is to heighten and focus our longing for the new life of Pascha. We discover that the forty-day season of repentance is less about being negative towards oneself and more about opening to the opportunities that Pascha will bring forth. This helps us to receive the mystery of Pascha with hearts and minds anchored in God’s reality, open to what God is bringing about. Pascha is about new life, the new life that God intends each of us to continually experience, year after year.

That said, this year’s newness feels a bit different for me, as if it is coming from different directions simultaneously. For the past six months, newness has been popping up all over, even in the midst of a stark, difficult winter. Without being rigidly chronological, I believe it started last fall with the beginning of a new phase in our dog training program: the breaking ground for our new training facility. After so many years working out of the old kennels, it is hard to describe the hope contained in this project: hope for the future, hope for our work moving forward in new ways. The new training center will allow us to deepen our commitment to dogs and their owners, as well as to explore additional ways to serve them.

Late last year also saw the publication of our new book, Bless the Dogs, which appeared in time for Christmas. It deepens our reflection on the spiritual dimension so present in the human–dog relationship, and it seeks to inspire owners to claim that reality in their own lives. We know that when people connect with this reality, not only is their relationship with their dog renewed; they themselves are renewed as well, feeling with new appreciation the marvel of the natural world.

For those familiar with the history of monastic life, it is a reality that is anything but static. At the start of our February retreat, the community devoted a couple of days to reflecting on our typicon, our rule of life. It is our hope to fully renew and rework this central document that we live by, and these days were an important step forward in that process. It was inspiring to hear each monk and nun weigh in on their deepest beliefs about this life and their hopes for the future.

But perhaps the transition that has most affected me personally was being asked by my brothers to serve in the position of Prior for the coming six years. This happened right before Christmas and invites me to reflect deeply on how we respond to the grace of God in the now, realizing that this will shape the way our future unfolds. Humbly, I see it as an opportunity to serve my brothers and to guide and encourage our collective gifts for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

May the Risen Christ lead us all to the experience of new life, and may we taste the joy this reality brings!









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