My Retreat — 2015: Setting the Scene

This year I again went on a five day self-directed retreat at St. Anselm Abbey, similar to the one I took in 2014, and blogged about back then. Like last year, it was also going to be a chance to visit my monk friends. I was there from late afternoon (before Vespers) on Sunday, August 9, through early evening (during Recreation) on Friday, August 14.

The "house schedule" of Vigils and Lauds at 6:00, Breakfast at 7:30, Mass at 8:30, Daytime Prayer at 12:00 followed by Lunch, Vespers at 5:35 followed by Dinner followed by Recreation, and Compline at 7:30 was the same as last year. But my use of the intervening time didn't follow quite the same pattern. For one thing, the book I had brought along to be the guide for my retreat, a retreat with Gerard Manley Hopkins & Hildegard of Bingen: Turning Pain Into Power, was in seven sections and so did not lend itself to neat division among five days. Although I had the idea I'd go through the introductory material on Sunday afternoon and then do three chapters every two days, it didn't work, and I still hadn't finished by the time I left on Friday.

I had brought along other books besides the on that I was basing the retreat on: John Paul II's Theology of the Body, Eric Voegelin's In Search of Order, and one or two more for use in preparing my blogposts about scripture readings at Mass. So I spent some time reading them: John Paul II between breakfast and Mass; Voegelin in the early afternoon.

Unlike last year, I also spent time in the morning reading the Boston Globe in the chapter room. (Unfortunately, they get an early edition, and the results of Red Sox night games weren't in the paper.) I also went to the chapter room to read the Voegelin book. There I'd see Fr. Cecil (pronounced with a short "e"). He had been in charge of the applicants at the monastery for the first 1 1/2 years I was there, so I was pretty well acquainted with him. But on earlier visits he had seemed standoffish. But we had light conversations during the encounters this year, and by the end of my retreat, it felt as if the ice had been broken and he considered himself on good terms with me.

The Abbot was away while I was there, which was unfortunate, since he's one of the ones I know best from my time as an applicant. He was a college student thinking of joining at the time, so there was some interaction. But the monks get two weeks per year to visit family and friends, and he had scheduled his to begin Sunday morning. Sunday evening during recreation I learned that on Monday morning the junior monks I had met last year would leave on Monday morning for five days at Squam Lake. That was disappointing, since I had enjoyed meeting them last year and had been looking forward to further contact. In fact, I had developed something of a crush on one of them.

The Prior of the monastery also happens to be the Junior Master, so he was going with the juniors to the lake. With both the Abbot and the Prior away, the Subprior, Fr. Peter, was in charge from Monday morning to Friday evening. He's a nice guy, and one of two organists in the community. When I arrived at an applicant nearly 50 years ago, he was away at grad school, but when he got back he seemed to develop an instant liking for me, which is still there.

This is long enough. I'll break off here and do another post about what else happened and what I got from the Hopkins & Hildegard book, which was the centerpiece of the retreat.