What about the house? Health and fitness.
We Benedictines have a strong tradition and love of intellectual pursuits, but that doesn’t mean we believe that we must neglect the body in favor of the mind. Many monks took advantage of May’s pleasant weather by jogging, running marathons, riding bicycles, walking, or gardening.
It’s easy to imagine that monks spend their whole day cooped up in dark cells when they’re not praying in church, but that image is a product of Hollywood, not reality. As a monastic community, we value both taking care of our bodies and enjoying the wonders of God’s creation in the great outdoors.
May Happenings
May was a relatively quiet month in the house, and it offered a welcome respite from the busyness of the spring semester.
May 1-15: On May 4th, we welcomed Christian Lumsden to the community as a candidate. Candidate Christian is a skilled organist. Before entering the monastery here, he served as music director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, Bermuda, and as organist and choir director at St. Theresa’s Cathedral in Hamilton.
Let us keep praying for vocations even as we thank God for answering those prayers! May 12th was graduation day in the Seminary and School of Theology, and so we congratulate the monks and all of our students who graduated this year.
May 16-31: Our community retreat was held May 21-25, and we welcomed Fr. Patrick Caveglia, OSB, monk of Conception Abbey and administrator of Benet Lake as our retreat master.
On Sunday, May 27, we also celebrated the priesthood jubilees of Father Bonaventure (75 years), Father Columba (60 years), Father Noël (50 years), and Father Denis (25 years). Congratulations to all our jubilarians and ad multos annos!