Winter Visit to the Monastery, Part 2

The first service each morning is Vigils and Lauds, at 6:00. It runs until about 6:45. I generally wake up around 5:00 and go to the refectory to get a cup of coffee. Then there's time for a bit of reading before Vigils and Lauds. Afterwards, more reading until breakfast at 7:25. After breakfast, in no set order, I'd go to the chapter room to look at the newspapers, stroll around the campus (including a visit to the cemetery on Tuesday), take pictures, and back at my room to read some of my books. Daytime prayer was at noon and was followed by lunch. Then I'd go to the chapter room to read my book on Voegelin . On Tuesday Bishop Joseph and Father Cecil, two of the oldest monks, were there and we had a brief conversation. On Wednesday Father Peter stopped in. Since a big snowstorm was predicted for Thursday, he suggested it would be wise for me to leave on Wednesday evening, rather than staying until Thursday as I had planned. After spending a while in the chapter room, I'd go back to my room, maybe take a nap, and read some in my other books until it was time for haustus at 3:30.

On Tuesday, Father Peter, Abbot Mark, and Brother Francis, the junior monk, were at haustus as well. After the other two left, Abbot Mark stayed for a while and we had an interesting conversation about some of the issues he faces as Abbot, particularly concerns regarding the college.

Mass each weekday was at 5:15, followed by dinner and recreation. Vespers was at 7:00, after which I'd do more reading in my room and retire around 10:00. On Tuesday at recreation, I kibitzed at a bridge game played by Bishop Joseph and Fathers Cecil, Peter, and Anselm (a fairly young monk). I'm not very good at bridge, and it turned out, to my surprise, they aren't very advanced either. On future visits, if invited to play, I'd be comfortable joining them.

It had snowed overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, so I took some pictures of the campus in the snow, including some pre-dawn and daytime shots of the cloister, sunrise looking from the front of the church, my car, after I had partially cleared it, and other places. Unfortunately, I've forgotten how I smuggled photos into the previous post, so I'll do another post if I can ever figure it out again.

On Wednesday, I was thinking about the predictions of heavy snow on Thursday afternoon. Since I had a ticket for the Boston Symphony concert (including their first performances of a piece they had co-comissioned, I was considering leaving Wednesday evening instead of Thursday afternoon as originally planned. The alternative was to skip the symphony and stay through Friday. The advantage of staying through Friday was that the day is the feast day of St. Scholastica, who was the sister of St. Benedict; that means it's a big day for the Benedictines. Eventually, I decided that hearing a piece preformed for the first time by the BSO was a bigger deal — after all, I could go to Mass at home on St. Scholastica's Day. So I cut the visit about 18 hours short and drove home Wednesday evening after Vespers.

The ride home was easy. I did some unpacking and checked my e-mail. Included was an e-mail from the BSO informing subscribers that they had cancelled the Thursday concert in light of the heavy snow being forecast. The storm turned out to be less than spectacular, but decisions were made prematurely about closing school. In my parish, when school is called off, daily Mass is called off. So it turns out I was confounded: no symphony, and no St. Scholastica's Day Mass. Still, I think at the time I made the decision, it was prudent.

All in all, it was a good visit. I'm glad to have met the postulant and to have had the nice conversation with the Abbot. Monday evening recreation was kind of dull, but apart from that it was worthwhile and enjoyable. I'll probably go again sometime.