It is Maundy Thursday morning. After several days of clouds, rain and snow flurries, the sun has come got and the sky is clear and blue. I’ve delighted in watching spring come to New York: the tiny green leaves on the trees, the wildflowers in the woods, the bulbs beginning to blossom all over the monastery grounds. I’ve been reading Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic which traces, beginning in the 1950s, the increasing materialism of our culture and describes in great detail the negative consequences of this focus on having things for the quality of our lives and the life of our planet.
I’ve been praying with the monks: Matins, Eucharist, Noonday Prayer, Vespers and Compline. (I think we’ve chanted almost the entire Psalter while I’ve been here – and that’s a lot of psalms!) I’ve been moved by the nightly ritual of the Prior sprinkling us all with holy water at the end of Compline which begins the Great Silence that continues until after breakfast. Mostly I’m filled with gratitude - thank you so much for this time. I’ll be thinking of you on Easter morning as you baptize Amira and Zoey in the light of Christ’s resurrection.
Lynne+
It's wonderful that you're able to experience Holy Week and Easter amid the beginning of spring. For a number of years, you've been so immersed in preparing and leading services that I'm sure you haven't had time to see the blooms!
ReplyDeleteIf Holy Cross follows current Benedictine custom, you will indeed go through the entire psalter every two weeks. In his Rule, Benedict prescribed doing it in one week, and even that he thought was a concession, given that the desert monks did all 150 psalms each day!
May you have a blessed and joyous Easter.