Social Distance Like a Monk and Nun

-


by Ida Williams

It has been a month.  30 days since I drove up the mountain road and saw the “closed” sign.  30 days since I have seen my co-workers, the dogs, and the monastics.  There have been emails and phone calls, but no face-to-face time. 

For me, there has been work for the monastery to be done, and then there are things around home.  I have my horses (very well-groomed horses), I bake, clean, make phone calls to old friends, family, and people in my community who may need something picked up from the grocery store, and I go a little stir-crazy.

It is easy to do these days.  

What have I learned from the monks and nuns that can help me live this (temporary) cloistered life?

Turn off the television.  

The monastics have a television in each of their monasteries, but it is not on from the moment they get up until they go to bed at night.  It is not needed for background noise, blah, blah, blah.  Enjoy the silence.

Turn on music.

Listen to it.  Really listen to it.  Don’t use it as background noise.  Experience it as you would a live performance.

Read a book.

Over the years the brothers and sisters have mentioned books that they have read.  Here are three they have written reviews on:

Contemplating Christ: The Gospels and Interior Life by Vincent Pizzuto
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
How to Be a Sinner by Peter Bouteneff

Now is also a good time to catch up on missed newsletter articles.  There are 189 articles on the New Skete Blog.

Watch a movie, at home.

I know that the monks and nuns plan a movie night every now and then.  They always select a movie that they can hold a group discussion on afterwards.   My husband and I have been married for 20 years.  We have been to the movies 3 times.  When it came time to pick a movie to watch at home, we had many to pick from.  So far, my favorite is Temple Grandin.  “Nature is cruel, but we don’t have to be.”   I will have to ask the monks and nuns to share some that they have watched.

Turn off the computer, lay down the phone.

I heard that Brother Luke plays a mean game of Canasta.  If you are social distancing with someone, pull out a board game, a deck of cards, or dominoes.  I walloped my husband in a rousing game of Yahtzee the other evening.  

Speaking of computers, I am thankful for technology at this time.   Through Zoom meetings I have been able to reconnect with my sister Girl Scouts, and I attended a Google Meeting with our county fair board last night.  I watch the livestream feed church service on Sunday mornings.  I miss my mom’s hug at the end of service.

I find peace in knowing that the bells are still ringing at New Skete, that when I return to work, I will hear the brothers in the small church for matins as I walk by to go to the office, and that the dogs will still remember me, and I will get play with puppies.


Popular posts from this blog

Liberty and Belonging

-
Image
  By Br Brennan Just over a year ago I was planning an early retirement with an eye to monastic life. While I can’t say that I had one of those great careers and was at the top of my game, I had come to know some really amazing people over my years in the last job. Among those, I always enjoyed truly close relationships marked by great mutual respect. However, I was also one of those artists with a day job, and as a dancer/instructor/choreographer I had come to notice in recent years a certain status of “esteemed eldership” of sorts (at least in my particular genre, that of East European ethnic dance), however awkward I felt about it. After numerous visits to New Skete over the years, I knew the transition to postulancy and novitiate would involve quite a shake-up in my sense of self. And I was correct. First, I was not going to jump in and wow anyone with any diligence, knowledge, or finesse, as I might try to do in a new job. All I could do was pay attention, and learn what this
Read more

A Strong Ministry Continues

-
By Brother Gregory   Back in 1983, a group of chapel community members at New Skete felt very strongly about the monastic witness lived by the monks and nuns of New Skete. These married couples wanted to join in a closer relationship with the monks and nuns as a third monastic community, and they became known as the Companions of New Skete. With their financial resources and the help of the monks and nuns, Emmaus House was built on the property of the monks’ monastery. For the next 30 years, the Companions at Emmaus House added their voices and zeal to the witness of New Skete as a monastic presence in America. The Companions helped in many ways with the hard work needed to keep New Skete alive. They painted icons, trained dogs in the Adult Dog Training Program, made dog biscuits, added their singing voices to the daily monastic services, offered hospitality to guests visiting New Skete, and gave in so many other ways that the Companions developed their own ministry identity. One
Read more

What Is New This Fall?

-
Image
  By Sister Cecelia September 1 begins the Orthodox liturgical new year, and that made think of all the NEW things that have happened and will happen in the near future. It is new that the foliage is not very spectacular this year. That is the first for me in over 50 years! For the first time, the eleven apple trees in our orchard produced only one apple because of the late freeze in the spring. For the first time, the three hazelnut trees bore nuts—and with a very bountiful crop. We will roast our own hazelnuts for the first time. It will be a tasty treat. In October the monks welcomed their second novice this year, and that is a welcome new sight. The nuns have recently received several inquiries seeking monastic life—so, new faces soon, perhaps. New faces reminds me that in September a beautiful well-mannered German Shepherd named Tori was lent to me to care for as long as she is in the breeding program.  Our walks are energized by her running gracefully through the fields chasing a
Read more