“It’s been a quiet week…” at Lost Lake (the small, glacial lake on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery!) – both literally and figuratively. In the Retreat & Guest House we are hosting 40 Appamada practitioners for a silent meditation retreat. The days have been cool, and the skies have often been gray, and much needed rain has soaked the earth and brought down many fall leaves. Inside the pulse of life is felt and surrounded by the gracious space of quiet, Benedictine hospitality.
We offered an Exploring Benedictine Community retreat last weekend, which included an extended stay during the week for one retreatant. Several friends joined us throughout the week for our Liturgy of the Hours and Centering Prayer. Our Milwaukee Oblate group joined us for a day of retreat at the beginning of the week. A Lutheran and a Presbyterian group will be with us tomorrow. A wedding will be celebrated here at the monastery tomorrow as well. Quiet, but busy!
And so we pause at the end of this day and this week with gratitude and a sense of blessing reflected in these lines from our evening hymn, written by Sister Delores Dufner, OSB:
As ev’ning falls we turn to you
With thankfulness for life and grace;
We lay aside anxiety
To rest at peace in your embrace.
. . .
To you whose power works in us
Much more than we could dare to dream:
All glory, praise and honor be
Our song and everlasting theme!