Making a Difference

Going on Tuesday to Holy Cross Monastery to be part of a three person leader team. We have over 20 signed up for the workshop. Exciting.

Holy Cross was a special place for me for almost 30 years before we started having workshops there. I took members of St. John's there for a retreat for over a decade and took some folks from the Cluster Churches a few years ago. Sometimes I've gone by myself or for one of their programs.

The ministry of the Benedictine Episcopal monks there is 'hospitality'--and they're darn good at it.

One of the first times I was  there with St. John's folks, at the end of Compline, the last of the 7 services of the day, three of the monks went over to a picture of the Virgin Mary and started chanting "Hail Mary, full of grace...."

The parishioner beside me said, under his breath, "Oh, My God!" He was a Congregationalist who married into the Episcopal church.

I patted his arm and whispered, "No, Don, God's mother...."

I also had Spiritual Direction at Holy Cross for two whole sessions.

It was the only time I ever tried spiritual direction (though I was in Jungian analysis for a dozen years). I only did it because I was tired of having younger priests look at me in horror when they'd ask me who my Spiritual Director was and I told them I didn't do it. I thought I'd give it a spin.

I met twice with one of the brothers and it wasn't bad at all. But then he up and ran off with one of the postulants and I decided I wouldn't endanger any other vocations.

(My favorite professor in college was Mr. Stasny who taught Honors English and the Great Books. I had 7 classes from him in 8 semesters which means I could have had a "minor" in Stasny-ology.  He was, by the way, one of the two professors--the other was religion teacher Manfred Otto Mitzen--who nominated me for a trial year in seminary, which I received and got sidetracked on my dreams to teach American Literature in some small liberal arts college.

I knew Stasny so well that I once asked him why he didn't have a Ph.D. He looked at me askance 
and answered, "my dear Bradley, who would test me?"

So when people these days ask me about my spiritual director, I look at them obliquely and ask, "my dear friend, who could direct me?)