New Skete Monasteries News

by Diahann Hiser, New Skete Candidate There is a beautiful Akathist called "Glory to God for All Things."* It was introduced to me by my parish priest during a particularly painful spiritual counseling session a few years ago.  That was a difficult time in my life, and I found myself falling into despair.  Father looked at me with deep compassion, understanding the pain, and asked me if I had ever prayed "Glory to God for All Things."  I had not heard of it, and shook my head no.  He handed a copy to me and I took it home and read it, with tears streaming down my face. As Father instructed, I prayed the Akathist. But lying on the floor.  Face down.  Now, Akathists are supposed to be chanted while standing.  However, I could not stand.  The words of thanks poured forth from my soul, mixed with salty tears.  Giving thanks in times of trouble seems like something only holy people would do....

Reflections by Brother Luke             There is an old proverb: “What you don’t know can’t [or won’t] hurt you.” One intention behind this statement is that by concealing something from someone you are protecting that person from being hurt by it. Another implication is that somehow ignorance protects us from harm. By bitter experience, many people have discovered that things don’t always turn out that way.             The deterioration of the Transfiguration Temple roof reached a point in 2004 where we had to make a critical decision. If we did not at least fix the roof, leaks damaging the interior would begin to undermine the integrity of the building. So a crossroads was reached: if we wanted to keep the monks’ original worship temple, we had to replace the roof. Obviously, much more work remained to be done to restore the space, but that could be put off until we cou...

By New Skete’s Kahn Von Schloss Rugland Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication          After years of working in the puppy kennel, I needed a challenge and opted to try my paw at a new job.  A part-time position had opened up in the marketing and communications office, and with all the puppy mouths I need to feed, I thought, “Hey, why not; I’m pretty good at communicating.  I bark when I want attention, whine when I don’t get it, and when I stare at someone long enough, they let me outside to answer nature’s call.” The first few weeks were a little slow.  Before going into my office I would make my rounds to say hello to my co-workers; Karen in advancement and stewardship, Carey in finance, Robin in IT, and Anastacia in purchasing.  Each person would ask if I was given a cookie that day, and I would use the “sad eyes” and “drooling” communication tools to relay that I had not, wink - wink.  This tactic worked for ...

Douglas E. Christie, The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) pp 464, ISBN-13 978-0-19-981232-5 What makes The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology a significant and original contribution in recent spiritual literature is how it skillfully brings together traditional monastic contemplative thought and practice with the concerns of the modern ecological movement, renewing our awareness of the world as a sacred place. The author, Douglas Christie, is a professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. His first book, Word in the Desert, was a theological tour-de-force that demonstrated (against prevailing scholarly assumptions) how the early Christian desert monks were thoroughly steeped in the biblical word, and how theirs was a culture that was the product of monks meditating deeply on it. Through the course of that book he showed how the early monks used scripture in crea...

  By Brother Stavros Right after the snow storm that opened February, I visited some friends and benefactors of the monastery in Seattle: the Henry James family, who have enjoyed German Shepherds from New Skete for nearly two decades, and Pam and Gary Mauseth, enjoying their first Shepherd. Pam created the mosaic of St. Francis and the wolf that visitors now enjoy when they join us at table, and she showed me a new work just completed for the new Training Center, an art quilt of three saints and their animal companions. I then moved south to Portland and out to the Pacific Coast for a three-day silent retreat at a little hermitage overlooking the surf at Rockaway Beach at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. In addition to the obvious spiritual benefit and renewing seclusion, I was able to enjoy some spectacular hikes among the gigantic trees of the coastal rain forest, the best of which was a two-and-a-half-mile trail to the tip of Cape Lookout. At times it bordered vertical drops of s...

Reflections by Brother Luke As we approach our 50th anniversary year of 2016, I am reminded of the celebration of our 40th anniversary in 2006. Back then we contemplated a variety of activities: a pilgrimage, a gathering of all our members at a nearby retreat center to celebrate memorable moments in our individual and collective lives, publishing a retrospective issue of our journal Gleanings , a renovation of the entrance to our Holy Wisdom Temple by adding a new ramp and a meditation garden, and possibly a benefit concert. Brother Marc had visited Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina and discovered that their abbot, a very accomplished organist, had inaugurated a concert series in their monastery. It proved to be very successful and popular with their neighbors. This opening to their surrounding community was something that we also wanted to encourage. How could we do this, and whom could we approach about such a project?  We had a foretaste of such an event with the local Batte...

By Sister Rebecca I have lived forty years in monastic life.  It is from this background and perspective that I will be sharing with you a glimpse into the process of spiritual direction as I have experienced it over many years.  My life’s journey has taken me over several countries: born American, Roman Catholic, with a military background, and living within the four corners of the United States and abroad: in Guam, Quebec, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and France. My first experience of spiritual direction was during my ten years of teaching in Hong Kong. I profited immensely from meeting with a retired French Bishop of Mongolia, a truly wise and holy person, whose spiritual teaching and pastoral care have influenced me to this day.  My second most important spiritual guide, a true spiritual mother, was the Foundress and Prioress of a monastery in Southern France, where I was a member for twelve years.  From its very beginnings it found its roots in the early Desert...