New Skete Monasteries News

  By Sister Cecelia The projected death toll at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted me to read some books about death: A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis and The Liturgy of Death by Father Alexander Schmemann. When someone we love and live closely with passes on, there will always be a time of grieving. It might even take a while before we can take in the loss, but the sadness will come. It is frequently hard to imagine that we won’t always feel this way. If our loved one has been suffering a lot, it is good that the suffering is over and the loved one has reached the unending happiness of being with God.  It helps us on one level to believe in the life of happiness promised us with our infinitely good God, but it is still very painful for us who remain in this life to carry on. And it takes time. That is what I gleaned from Lewis’s book.           Father Schmemann’s expressed hope was that we could understand how our a...

By Sister Cecelia  As I was finishing an Aran wool sweater vest, I wondered: Of the many different ways folks have found to cope with staying home, how many have taken up knitting? I know that some people knit fancy-looking masks (even though knitted masks are not recommended by public health experts because they are so porous, unless there are several layers). It would be interesting to find out what other projects people have come up with.  After the vest, I successfully finished a pair of mittens for myself before the cold weather was upon us. I have Raynaud’s syndrome, which causes the outer extremities to shut down blood flow at the first sign of cold, so mittens are more helpful than gloves. The spiral design was a challenge, as the directions called for 4 double-pointed needles, and I decided to use a circular needle instead. I finally figured how to get the spirals after having to pull out several rows too many times. See how good they look! Sister Rebecca does a lot ...