Volume 31 • Number 2
Easter 2005
Cover photo: The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, the Presiding Bishop, and Br. Paul Wessinger, whose 90th birthday we celebrated the weekend of January 7th. Bishop Griswold, a long-time member of our Fellowship of Saint John, presided and preached at a festive liturgy on January 8th. Upon graduating from Harvard College in 1936, Br. Paul matriculated to The General Theological Seminary in New York, graduating in 1939. Thereafter he entered SSJE and subsequently served as our Superior from 1972 to 1983, a time of enormous change in the life the church. He led SSJE in enthusiastically embracing the gift of women’s ordination and leadership in the church. He was succeeded in office as Superior by Br. Thomas Shaw, now the Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Br. Paul has served as a pastor and spiritual director to many church leaders, seminarians, and other seekers. In 1985 he preached at the consecration of the new Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Chicago, Frank T. Griswold. Br. Paul was awarded the D.D. honoris causa by the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1998. Our current Superior, Br. Curtis Almquist, says that “Br. Paul’s zeal and courage is an ongoing inspiration to all of brothers. We cherish him.” It costs SSJE $20.00 annually per subscription to produce and mail four issues of Cowley. We would welcome a tax-deductible contribution to our community’s ministry, which would help defray this expense and ensure continued delivery of our newsletter. Checks should be made payable to “SSJE” and sent to the monastery at 980 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA. ©2005 by The Society of Saint John the Evangelist, North America
A Letter from the Superior Dear Members of the Fellowship of Saint John and Other Friends, Curtis Almquist, SSJE
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onks are professional listeners. We hear a great deal from the world around us; we also listen to many people who come to us seeking help to find God’s presence and direction in their lives. In listening to others, we often witness a paradox: a person’s awareness of God’s presence, God’s light, God’s love, God’s consolation when, at the same time, they are absolutely consumed by suffering. For us Christians, this is the paradox of the cross. We are not spared suffering, but rather shared suffering by Jesus, who promises to be with us in it all. Down through the ages, so many of the saints witness to this truth. Among them is Catherine of Siena who, at a time of enormous suffering of body and torment of soul, felt that God had abandoned her. Her heart was broken. It was only later, when the immediate darkness had passed, that she cried out to Jesus in a prayer of anger and anguish, “Where were you when my heart was so tormented?!” And Catherine heard Jesus respond, “I was in your heart.” The cross is always before us, even in Eastertide, and we brothers pray and labor to be faithful and courageous ambassadors of the risen Christ during these difficult and opportune times. We continue to grow as a commuThe Society of Saint John the Evangelist
nity, both in our numbers and in our vision for our distinctive monastic witness of prayer and our work of spiritual formation, helping people “pray their lives.” Life in community is very challenging; it is also exceedingly graceful. Increasingly, we are being brought into settings where we are
Br. Paul Wessinger
asked for help on how people can be together, make decisions, work, and thrive, especially where there is a diversity of values and opinions. It is possible to live an abundant life together. On the weekend of January 7th, we celebrated our Brother Paul Wessinger’s ninetieth birthday. Br. Paul, our Superior from 1972 to 1983, bears such authentic witness to the love of Christ, new every day, and our celebratory weekend was a festival of love and 3
thanksgiving. Our Rule of Life says, “we pray that seeds planted in many years of faithful life will bear fruit in old age. Our older brothers will then be able to contribute their experience of what is essential in our life with God, a sense of perspective, wisdom, their appreciation for the community and joy in the younger members.” Next to Paul, all of us brothers are “younger,” and he helps anchor us with hope for our future. We brothers delight in sharing our life with so many of you who visit us at the monastery and Emery House, and whom we meet as we lead conferences and retreats throughout North America. We also look to you to direct men who might have a vocation to the religious life to be in contact with us. Br. Geoffrey Tristram serves as our
Vocations Director and Novice Guardian, and is reachable at the monastery. Many of you will know of our disciplined work to find a faithful focus and adequate funding for our future. We are now shaping our long-range plan for how to courageously and generously live into God’s invitation for our future. We will continue to need your help. We are sustained by the gifts of your prayer for us, your friendship, and your financial support, without which our shared life would not be possible. We are very thankful for you. Faithfully yours,
Curtis G. Almquist, SSJE Superior
Doug DeMark
Brs. Eldridge Pendleton and Kevin Hackett, in the cloister garden.
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Sermon
January 8, 2005
Sermon on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Paul Wessinger, SSJE Society of Saint John the Evangelist Readings: Isaiah 44: 1-8, Psalm 92, 1 John 5:1-13, John 20:1-9 The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold
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t is a great joy and privilege to preside at this celebration. I am grateful for the opportunity to acknowledge on behalf of many – Brother Paul’s Community, his family represented by his niece and nephew Barbara and Henry, and the friends past and present whose lives he has so deeply touched – I am grateful to acknowledge and celebrate the gift God has given us in him, in the fullness of his humanity and his disponibilié to the divine mystery of life in all its complexity and paradoxicalness. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Baptism of Jesus: that moment when Jesus finds himself impelled to submit to baptism at the hand of John, and in so doing discovers who he is and is called to be as God’s beloved. It seems appropriate, therefore, to put our celebration of Paul Wessinger’s 90 years of living into the larger frame of the baptismal journey. Jesus’ response to knowing of his belovedness is a radical availability to God’s will, God’s loving desire – an availability which involves struggle, confrontation with demons, great cost and above all intense prayer. This response of availability marks Brother Paul’s life as well, and is at the heart of the baptismal journey, a journey we all share. “My food,” Jesus tells his disciples at the beginning of John’s gospel, “is to do the will of the one who sent me and to accomplish his work.” God’s work accomplished in Christ, of drawing all things to himself in one vast gesture of all embracing love, admits no abstraction, no distancing of Jesus Bp. Frank Griswold and Brs. Curtis Almquist and Paul Wessinger at a celebratory dinner on January 7th.
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from the flesh and blood realities of daily life. He was not exempt from the vagaries of the human condition in all its contractions, and the continual interplay of light and darkness in the habits of our minds and hearts. Here the Cross stands as God’s stark declaration that there can be no flight to some safe realm of self-protection from pain and suffering in the “now of this mortal life.” There was no flight for Jesus, and there is no flight for us who have been baptized into his death and resurrection. And here is the great paradox: it is by facing into and passing through the narrow door of suffering so very present in the events, choices, and relinquishments which confront each one of us that we discover what St. Paul describes as the “glorious liberty that belongs to the children of God.” This liberty, this freedom is the fruit of knowing that we are loved. We are loved not in the hope of some yet-to-be realized state of perfection, but just as we are right now, just as we are with all our quirks and eccentricities, the various thorns in our flesh. Christ’s reply to Paul’s plea to be delivered from the source of his shame and imperfection was a resounding No! “My grace is all you need. For my power is made perfect in weakness.” Christ’s words were not just for St. Paul; they are for us as well. Through the circumstances in which we find ourselves called to live the mystery of our baptismal identification with Christ, we will be stripped of our illusions, our certitudes and our sense of self-sufficiency. We will find ourselves in a place of confusion and unknowing. We may be tempted to cry out as did Jesus in Gethsemane, “Take this cup away from me.” And yet, if we are able to yield our present suffering up to the strange and inscrutable ways of God’s loving desire, we may find ourselves overtaken by a consolation of heart. If we are able to situate our suffering within Christ’s own for the sake of his body the Church, though our situation may not be changed, our interior relationship to it is profoundly altered. Instead of being oppressed and constricted and weighed down by resentment or self-pity we find ourselves in a place of interior freedom transfigured by an overwhelming sense of compassion. This compassion catches us up in its liberating embrace, and at the same time extends itself outward toward others and to the world around us. Such is Albert Cook, the monastery cook (!) and Daryl McGann, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and member of the FSJ, who shared in preparing a marvelous weekend of feasting.
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Presiding Bishop Griswold, assisted by Brs. Kevin Hackett (left) and Robert L’Esperance (right) at a Eucharistic celebration on January 8th offering special thanks for the life and witness of our Br. Paul.
the nature of joy: the joy of Jesus who yearns for intimate companionship with each one of us – the intimate relationship of a vine to its branches, “…so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy – (that is our joy) – may be complete, full, overflowing with abundance.” The baptismal journey each one of us is called to make takes many forms, one of which is dubiously called “the religious life,” suggesting either that other forms of discipleship are not religious or that the religious life engages only selected dimensions of our humanity – the “better,” and more public aspects of who we are. Of course, any who have embraced this mode of responding to the gospel know that every aspect of whom we are, even those aspects of ourselves we would rather ignore or hold at bay, are dragged into the consuming and transforming fire of the divine agape. This divine love is fierce and unrelenting. It knows no bounds. It excludes no thorn in our flesh, how ever much we may feel its shame or be resentful of its presence. This brings me back to Brother Paul, a man I first encountered some fifty years ago when I was a teenager on a summer visit to the monastery. I have just described our baptismal journey, our living of the paschal mystery in the givenness of who we are mediated by the circumstances of our lives. This undertaking has engaged our brother for most of his long life, and made him for so many of us a source of wisdom and blessing. Perhaps because he has had to confront his own demons and befriend them he is unafraid of the demons brought to him by those seeking his counsel and encouragement. I think today’s psalm is particularly apt: “The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap.” The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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Paul’s decision in 1945 to be planted in the house of the Lord – this monastic brotherhood – has not been without great personal cost, yet it has produced a flourishing which has blessed and continues to bless countless women and men who seek him out and ask for a word of wisdom, encouragement or absolution. What is amazing, and clearly the consequence of grace – the source of all human flourishing – is that the older Paul gets the more green and full of the sap of interior freedom and youthfulness of spirit he becomes. In him we are confronted by the paradox of an aging body indwelt by increasing interior strength made manifest in a disconcerting spontaneity, graced iconoclasm and impatient clearness about the true heart of the gospel and the lineaments of Christ’s risen body, the church. In our first reading, God addresses his servant Israel promising to pour his spirit and blessing upon Israel’s offspring. Here I am put in mind of the ministry of oversight and care, the ministry of service that Paul exercised as Superior of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist during a transitional time in the life of the church. This unsettled season affected the Community deeply, both causing several brothers to leave and at the same time opening the way for a recognition of the feminine in the mystery of God’s self-disclosure and in the life and ordained ministry of the church. A new generation of younger brothers entered the Society during Paul’s time as Superior. In a very real sense they became his spiritual offspring and were encouraged to explore the question of monastic renewal in a changing church, and what it means to grow up in all ways into Christ within the fiery furnace of a community of celibate men called to love one another. This exploration continues to this day and will doubtless continue into the future. Our reading from John’s gospel speaks of love. The fact that this Society of Saint John the Evangelist stands under the prayer and patronage of the one traditionally identified as the “one whom Jesus loved” places the mystery of love at the center of this Community’s life. This “one whom Jesus loved,” in the eagerness of love, outruns Peter. And in the reticence of love he looks into the tomb but declines to enter. In the power and force of love – the deathless love of the risen Christ – the beloved disciple sees and believes beyond his ability to comprehend or to reason. Love as an abstraction is one thing, but love experienced concretely, in relationship to others is, as Dorothy Day used to say quoting Dostoyevsky, “a harsh and dreadful thing.” It is costly and all-demanding. It is painful and purifying. Above all it is the work of God in us. We experience the love of God and then radiate it out in loving the children of God – one’s brothers and sisters. We love because God loves us and because, as St. Paul tells us, “the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Love is not primarily an emotion. It is not incidental or optional. Love continued on page 11
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Tributes to Paul Wessinger, SSJE January 7, 2005 Br. Paul Wessinger
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Two memories of Paul, among many, have been touchstones in my spiritual life. The first occurred in the late 1970s, on a retreat at the DeKoven Center in Racine, Wisconsin. At the time, my wife and I were deeply divided on the issue of the ordination of women. Each of us felt passionately and I was going to one church, she to another. We cornered Paul in one of the quiet times and laid out our distress. Paul looked at us both, those wonderful deep brown eyes filled with pain and love, his long arms stretched out on either side. “Sometimes all we can do,” he said, “is to hang there in the pain, not letting go of either side.” Above Paul on the wall – of which he was not aware – was a crucifix. I was unaware myself that at that time the Society was itself deeply divided on the issue, and had lost several brothers over it. I have recalled that incident so often in the last 25 years when faced with divisions in the Church. The second memory comes from a time about 20 years ago. I was in the greatest personal pain that I had ever known, the pain complicated by a deep sense of shame. It was something I felt I could not talk about, even with Paul. He was visiting us in Illinois on his way to his mother’s 90th birthday celebration, staying at our home. It was a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon. He and I were alone after church, sitting by a fire. Because I could not speak of what was on my heart, I was soon silent, unable to chat about trivialities. For what seemed to me hours, Paul simply sat there in silence with me. It made me appreciate for the first time how time and space have a different value for monastics. It also made me realize more deeply the compassion of Jesus, who like Paul can simply sit silently, being present to someone in pain and shame present in a love deeper than words.
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The Rev. John McCausland, member of the FSJ Weare, New Hampshire
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Tributes to Paul Wessinger continued from page 9
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Back in 1982, one balmy fall Sunday at a coffee hour after church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I met Brother Paul. Now, I had never met a monk before, and from that very moment I knew there was something in store for me of depth, goodness, friendship, and life at its best. Later, I came to know Paul as a friend, someone in whom there is always something new, eternally young in spirit. Paul is loved and respected from the north to the south, from west coast to east coast. To know Paul is like enjoying a bountiful feast, his being so courageous, clear-minded, unflappable, kind. I know that I can speak for so many of his devoted friends in saying that he is always in our hearts and prayers. I cherish Paul as one of the best blessings of life.
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The Rev. Julie Clarkson, member of the FSJ Charlotte, North Carolina
Paul Wessinger Biographical Information Upon graduating from Harvard College in 1936, Br. Paul Wessinger matriculated at The General Theological Seminary in New York, graduating in 1939. Thereafter he entered SSJE and served as our Superior from 1972 to 1983, a time of enormous change in the life the church. He led SSJE in enthusiastically embracing the gift of women’s ordination and leadership in the church. He was succeeded in office as Superior by Br. Thomas Shaw, now Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Br. Paul has served as a pastor and spiritual director to many church leaders, seminarians, and other seekers. In 1985 he preached at the consecration of the new Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Chicago, Frank T. Griswold. He was awarded the D.D. honoris causa by the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1998. Our current Superior, Br. Curtis Almquist, says that “Br. Paul’s zeal and courage is an ongoing inspiration to all of brothers. We cherish him.”
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Br. Paul: prayerful hands, prayerful heart. continued from page 8
belongs to the structure of reality. It is the life of the Trinity operative in us who, through baptism, have been born of God and declared children of God. It is a way of seeing accurately without bias, without ego neediness. To love is to see as God sees. It is to have the mind and heart of Christ. This coming to maturity, this knowing as we are known in the fullness of God’s love, is a life’s journey. We therefore need companions: older brothers and sisters who deeply live the mystery of the divine agape and can serve as exemplars and ministers of encouragement. Such has been the role of Brother Paul in my own life, and the lives of many others, some of whom are here today. The pattern of life Paul has lived for the past 60 years is not what most would call reasonable in the world’s view or easy to comprehend. However, as a response to love, a love revealed in the Word made flesh – as a response to a love which embraces all things and continues to reveal itself in fresh and provocative ways, it makes perfect sense. Paul, my dear brother, our exemplar and our friend, may the Holy Spirit, who has begun a good work in you, continue to direct and uphold you in the service of Christ and his kingdom. Amen. The doors of the monastery chapel in Cambridge open before Morning Prayer and most days remain open until after Compline. This sanctuary is available to you for your prayers.You are always welcome to join us as we pray the Daily Office and celebrate the Eucharist. For a service schedule, please visit our website at www.ssje.org or call the guesthouse office at 617-876-3037. The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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Fletcher Steele and the Guest House Courtyard Garden Karen Forslund Falb, landscape historian; with an Afterword by Eldridge Pendleton, SSJE
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letcher Steele (1885-1971) was well established in a long career of landscape design by the time he undertook the courtyard garden for Father Spence Burton at St. Francis House, now the monastery guesthouse. Born in Rochester, New York, and a graduate of Williams College, Steele entered Harvard’s new program in landscape architecture in 1907. His biographer, Robin Karson, believes that he first met the architect Ralph Adams Cram through Professor Denman Ross, who taught a popular design and aesthetic theory course. He had also hired Steele, his student, to dig a vegetable garden at his home at 26 Craigie Street. Professionally, both
Cram and Steele followed Ross’s philosophy that “there is no intrinsic value in what is new or what is old from its age, but that all things are valuable for what quality is in them.” Both men were important links in the period between the Beaux-Arts and the modern traditions, for although they looked to earlier periods for inspiration, they were continually experimenting with contemporary design theories. Starting in the mid-1920s, Steele collaborated with Cram on several gardens, including Cram’s own in Sudbury and Mabel Choate’s at Naumkeag in Stockbridge. As Cram advised Father Burton, Steele was a natural choice to design the first of its
Fletcher Steele’s Original Drawings for the Guesthouse Garden.
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Two workmen with original St. Francis statue.
gardens, the guesthouse courtyard garden. Since only two of Steele’s gardens are open to the public (at Naumkeag and the Camden, Maine, public library amphitheater), this courtyard garden has a special significance. The garden was developed in two stages, with the sunken garden on the entry and the riverside designed in 1933 and the higher terrace in 1935. Both garden areas predate the chapel. The site presented many challenges to the designer. Facing Memorial Drive, it was in the direct view of an adjacent tall apartment house. Poor drainage of clay soil and shade from Memorial Drive’s sycamore trees also had to be considered. Working with Father Burton, Steele created a garden appropriate for welcoming guests, gatherings of the brothers, and, at the same time, serving as a place for refuge and contemplation, especially in the summer heat. A statue of St. Francis and water features of three birdbaths provided the focal point, shaded by the sycamores of the The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
roadway and a circle of linden trees, which not only created a forest setting for St. Francis but also screened the garden from the apartments. The asymmetrical positioning of the statue and the grass in the courtyard create an illusion of greater space in the garden. Today, even though we sense a loss of the linden trees and the increased importance of the sycamores to provide shade in the summer and shadows in the winter, the garden has retained most of its original feeling. The upper terrace, by the entrance to the guesthouse, originally held a medieval knot garden planted with dwarf boxwood and dwarf Alberta spruces. In the center was set the cross that is still in place today. Difficulties in watering and in wintering the boxwood led to its removal in 1946, and it was replaced with the present patio, designed with a granite mosaic. This signature of Steele’s is also found in the courtyard in front of the chapel and in the steps leading into the sunken garden. Twenty years ago an elderly guest told me he had been a member of our novitiate in the early 1930s before the chapel and
Novices and workmen in front of St. Francis House (now the monastery guesthouse) during garden construction; before the chapel construction.
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topsoil on the lawn has hidden some of the designer’s granite outline. The original statue was replaced by another in 1956 as a memorial to two of our community, Francis Hanlon and James Morley, who drowned on mission. What remains of Steele’s original plant material is overgrown and past its prime. The Society plans to restore the garden in the near future.
The Fletcher Steele Garden under construction, summer, 1933.
present monastery were built and while the guesthouse garden was being constructed. From his studies of the construction of medieval monasteries Cram had learned that most of the building had been done by the monks themselves. He hoped to tap monastic manpower as well for the new buildings he designed for the Society, and so he and Steele put the novices to work building the stone retaining walls of the garden. Very quickly they realized what had worked for monastic communities in times past would not be workable for our chapel and monastery. In the seventy years since Steele created the sunken garden minor changes have been made. The addition of a level of
SSJE novices and workmen who helped in building guesthouse garden wall, summer, 1933.
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Workmen and novices build the guesthouse garden wall, summer, 1933.
Father Benson, our founder, would have agreed with Denman Ross, there is no intrinsic value in what is new or what is old from its age, but that all things are valuable for what quality is in them. The quality of our Fletcher Steele garden has not diminished with time.
St. Francis of Assisi with newly completed guesthouse garden wall.
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Join the SSJE Brothers in Jerusalem The Palestine of Jesus 14-day Pilgrimages to the Holy Land hosted by St. George’s College, Jerusalem
June 2005 August 2005
An overview of Jerusalem.
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HE PALESTINE OF JESUS course combines study with spiritual pilgrimage, an occasion to learn and pray amidst the sacred landscape where the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ unfolded. Course members visit major sites connected with the Gospel accounts: Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, Mount Tabor, the Judean Desert, and others. After focusing on the Galilean ministry of Jesus, the course traces the Passion narratives through visits to Bethany, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre), and on the devotional Way of the Cross. The final day of the course celebrates the resurrection and the challenge of discipleship with a journey to Emmaus and a festive celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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ttention is also paid to the urgent social and religious issues of our own time. Course members visit the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) and the Dome of the Rock, paying attention to the interfaith issues with Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Opportunities are made to hear the voices of Palestinians and Israelis as they struggle for justice and peace in their land.
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he SSJE brothers serve as course chaplains. They lead in the daily prayer and worship, offer meditations and spiritual reflections, and give guidance to the pilgrims on how to “pray their own lives� in the light and life of Jesus today.
Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection, Jerusalem.
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Join US! PALESTINE OF JESUS courses with SSJE chaplains June 17 – June 30, 2005 Brs. Geoffrey Tristram & Roy Cockrum August 2 – August 15, 2005 Brs. David Vryhof & Rufus Van Horn
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utstanding faculty, gracious accommodations, and delicious meals are provided through St. George’s College, a continuing education center for the entire Anglican Communion. Course fees plus room and board are $2,075. Church leaders are eligible for a $1,000 scholarship; seminarians may attend for $500.
For more information and to register for a course, contact: St. George’s College, Jerusalem www.stgeorgescollegejerusalem.org email: registrar@stgeorges.org.il telephone: 011 972 2 626 4704 The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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The Sound of Silence a monastic virtue for all Christians David Allen, SSJE
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the Christian life and the place of silence in it. Our daily life in the community reflects this, and the amount of time we spend in obligatory silence has been modified, shortened, and made less rigid. As a result our observance has become more realistic, more truthful. We have come to a deeper understanding of the meaning and value of silence in our life. Thus, silence continues to be appreciated as an essential element in our religious life. The chapter on Silence in our Rule of Life begins with these words: The gift of silence we seek to cherish is chiefly the silence of adoring love for the mystery of God which words cannot express. In silence we pass through the bounds of language to lose ourselves in wonder. Our original rule contained these words, which still remain true: Silence is one of the chief joys of the Religious, and imparts to all of his actions strength, tranquility, and perfection; for in silence the soul holds
nce I heard someone describe our Society’s way of life by saying we were “like Trappists at home and like Jesuits when on mission.” This
Gary-Andrew Smith
A Hallway in the Monastery Guesthouse.
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Br. Eldridge Pendleton
Doug DeMark
description does not quite fit our present way of life. It is true that in days gone by there was a sharper contrast between the silence and austerity of our houses and the more active nature of our outside ministries, and there was a greater stress on the when, where, and how of keeping silence in our everyday life. But in recent years our Society, along with the whole Church, has reevaluated the ways in which we live out
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Gary-Andrew Smith
A Passageway in around the Monastery Chapel.
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blessed communion with God, feeds upon the grace of past sacraments, contemplates the true hope of the eternal reward, and rises up to the demands of the divine will, in the joyous correspondence of grateful love. It is the spiritual nature of silence that we treasure in monastic life. Practical applications—such as when, where, and how silence is to be observed—vary according to the needs of each place where we live, and according to the nature of our ministry there. We try to look upon silence in a practical way. This is not really new. St. Teresa of Avila wrote in an instruction to her nuns in the 16th century that “a word, a question, or an answer should not be considered as breaking the silence.” In other words, we use common sense. This ensures that our silence will not be strained or
The sanctuary light in the Emery House chapel.
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artificial. When properly understood and observed silence frees us, helping us to perceive the wonder of God all around us and the wonder of one another. People who love one another can sit, stand, or walk together in silence without the need to speak words to communicate their love; they are at ease with one another. This can also be true of those who are committed to a common cause, and are in agreement as to the importance of their commitment. But it is equally true that there are silences which divide. Often, those who are in disagreement with one another flee from unpleasant confrontation by becoming silent, when they are not actively arguing about their differences. There are some people who so dislike confrontation that they will resort to silence rather than risk 19
facing their differences of opinion. Such silences divide or separate. Sometimes silence becomes necessary for the preservation of peace and harmony, but it is preferable when silence proceeds from an already existing peace and harmony. Such silences protect and enhance the tranquility of our lives and the depth of our prayer. Silence is an integral element in worship as well. Our Society’s founder, Fr. Richard Meux Benson, said, Silence is the complement of praise; the silence of the Religious is never mere repression of sound. It is like the pause in music, out of which the music springs new-born. In that silence the music has come to new life. Leave out the pauses in singing or saying the Divine Office, and you leave out its life; it becomes a weary burden of unmeaning sounds weighing upon the ear. Our devotion absolutely requires the pauses that Religious silence brings to it. In our practice of the Divine Office, we gather in silence. Care is taken to pause midway through each verse of the Psalms. We pause, too, for silence after the reading of the Scripture lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer and at the Eucharist, to give us a chance to reflect on what has just been read. These silences keep us mindful 20
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Gary-Andrew Smith
A view waiting to be seen at Emery House.
that we are praying the Office and Eucharist, not just saying or singing the words. Silence describes the tone of our private prayer as well. The prophet Elijah, when he had fled to the wilderness of Mount Horeb, found God not in the wind or earthquake or fire, but in the sound of sheer silence. It was out of that silence that the voice of the Lord came to him telling him what he was to do. (I Kings 19:11-18) The Desert Fathers and Mothers also found God speaking to them out of the sound of sheer silence. They considered the voices and noises of the world to be obstacles to hearing the word of God in prayer. They fled into the desert in order to hear God’s voice. Saint Benedict, in the sixth century, wrote relatively little in his Rule about silence as such. He urged the diligent cultivation of silence at all times, but especially at night. (R.B. 42) Interestingly, throughout the Rule of Benedict there is a stress on listening. It was understood that the purpose of monastic silence was to enable the monks and nuns to hear what was being read to them during times of instruction, and to hear God speaking to them in their times of prayer and meditation. The first words of the Rule of Benedict are, Listen carefully, my son, to the
A view of the Merrimack River, from the northwest bluff of the Emery House property.
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Gary-Andrew Smith
A panoramic view from the Emery House chapel.
master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. Listening is closely related to Obedience, another of the keystones of the monastic life. In our time, in addition to the noise of everyday living, we are saturated with sound, surrounded by the words and sounds of radio, television, telephones, and other forms of electronic communication. It has become especially important that we protect our times of prayer and meditation by making good use of silence. The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Fr. Benson teaches us how silence helps us wait upon God. He writes, Our life must learn to rise up into a habitual silence for the contemplation of God. This is the silence of holy love. Love is never is so intense as when it is silent. In the silence of holy love we pour out our whole being to God. Words gratify our consciousness, but in silence we surrender up ourselves to God to live before him; we listen for the voice of God; we act in the power of God; we welcome the manifestation of God. In the simple waiting upon God there is the greatest attainment of the creature. 21
Testing a Vocation James Knutsen, n/SSJE
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ttracted very much by its Rule of life, I came to the Society of Saint John the Evangelist feeling deeply a need and desire to make my relationship with God the central concern of my life. I came here from being a parish priest, and I like to think many parishioners would hope that the central concern of their priest’s life is his or her relationship with God. And so it was for me. But…but somehow the demands and busy-ness of parish life and my adaptation to that life had me feeling a bit off-center much of the time. My relationship with God somehow seemed to have become more resource than source. I was constantly drawing from that center, to be sure, but my life wasn’t really flowing from it. Yet is that not what we all seek a life which flows from the One who is the center of our being? The last weeks before coming to the Society were a bit crazy-making for me. Even as I packed and made my move with a sense of joyful eagerness and expectation (along with many poignant partings), parts of me were screaming inside: Are you NUTS? What the hell are you DOING? As I crossed the threshold, I was very aware that I was not at all clear that I was called to this for life; I felt this especially sharply about celibacy. 22
But I also felt very clear that this is where I needed and felt called to be just now. I felt that God and my own deepest desires and the circumstances of my life had conspired to make testing a vocation the only option that held any real interest for me at this point in my life. It had become clear for me, clear enough to take this step, that if I was ever to be really free and available for a deep, committed primary relationship with another person, that God and I really had to focus on our relationship first and in some depth. And I was persuaded that God was calling me to do that in this company of friends that is the SSJE, and that, yes, maybe I would be here for the rest of my life. Last August, about a month before I was clothed and formally received as a novice in the Society, I sent a lengthy e-mail to many friends describing my life here as it was then, and I found myself saying that I was happier than I had been in decades. That continues to be so, and a huge part of that is the way this life continually throws you back on your relationship with God, whether that’s in the daily hour of meditative prayer, or the stream of common prayer in the chapel, or the constant need to let go of what you would rather do in order to do what has been asked of you. It’s a life that is designed not to work unless you are letting Christ be at the center of it all. Often it is very uncomSSJE
fortable, with many frictions and frustrations, but I find that if I can return to the mystery of Christ dwelling in my heart, there is a remarkable peace, and, yes, happiness. I would say that my central learning so far is what a huge issue trust is for me. The Rule says, “Our share in humanity’s sinfulness means that we are still hindered by a fear of what God desires and resistance to what God ordains.” This is very true of me. Recently in my meditative prayer it is more and more emerging that what God desires for me will be my joy, and that God will be my best ally in coming to know and understand my own deepest desires. Parts of me would rather pursue the latter on my own, despite a track record that is not especially great. Lately I have been repeatedly drawn to this parable of Jesus: The kingdom of God is as if someone would
scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk and then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest is come. (Mark 4:26-29) Parts of me want to try to figure out day to day whether I have a lifelong vocation in SSJE, and if I leave, what will I do then? This parable tells me that this is a hidden process, and that I cannot know the answers now. My task now is to trust God and to give myself to God and to this life as fully as I can, and let it do its work in me. This happens most crucially, I believe, below the level of my awareness; I do not know how. Something is happening, though, and I pray that when harvest time comes, God will make clear what is next.
Damon Hickey
Wood-burning stove in a hermitage at Emery House.
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FELLOWSHIP OF SAINT JOHN
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hen monk and lay practice are interwoven, the fragrance of thousands of plum blossoms fills the ten directions.” This snippet from a prologue to a Zen koan speaks to how I feel as a member of the Fellowship of Saint John the Evangelist. Something finds expression in the shared lives of brothers and friends, in the blending of the elements of religious and secular life in friendship, something as natural, beautiful, and mysterious as the smell of flowers. I joined the FSJ after a year in the Micah Project, a year of Callan Barrett vocational discernment and community service/social justice within the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Our small community prayed and shared meals with the brothers regularly, sharing in support, humor (inherent in community living), and the unfolding mysteries of the liturgical year. After the year of spiritual exploration, support, and communal relationship, I sought to mark my commitment to spiritual practice and to a community that had come to feel like part of home. It was in that spirit and in a more historical, less personal one that I joined the Fellowship. The relationship between monasteries and laypeople is ancient and vital. To be a part of the FSJ is to be part of a living tradition that nourishes spiritual, intellectual, artistic and social growth. It feels like a creative dynamic, this wide community, which makes the presence of the spirit available. The differences between laypeople’s and monks’ lives can strengthen and refresh, even sustain the other in this big body of Christ in which we find ourselves. The Rule of the Society of Saint John Evangelist states that “a ceaseless interchange of mutual love unites the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Chapter 21, “The Mystery of Prayer”), and also that “the Spirit uses the demands of friendship to further our conversion” (Chapter 42, “The Graces of Friendship”). To join the FSJ is to support the brothers in their essential work, and to enter into the demands and rewards of life committed to us by God.
The Fellowship of Saint John (FSJ) is comprised of nearly 1,000 men and women throughout the world who desire to live their Christian life in special association with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. They have a vital interest in the life and work of the community and support our life and ministries with their prayers, encouragement and financial gifts. The brothers of the Society welcome members of the Fellowship as partners in the gospel life, and pray for them by name during the Daily office, following a regular cycle. Together with us they form an extended family, a company of friends abiding in Christ and seeking to bear a united witness to him as “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” following the example of the Beloved Disciple. For more information, please contact Br. Jonathan Maury, the Director of the FSJ, at the monastery. 24
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Sally Murdoch, staff member of Emery House, with Brs. John Goldring and Rufus Van Horn.
Work and Ministry Sally Murdoch
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orking at Emery House presents many opportunities for ministry as well as spiritual growth. A large part of my responsibility is preparing the main house and hermitages to receive guests, often times weary travelers stopping for a time of renewal, reconciliation or rest on the journey. It is my joy to watch God meet each person in the compassion and caring of the brothers, the beauty of the land, the peace that permeates this place, and in the Eucharist and daily prayers. There is a print hanging in the silence of the east parlor of the main house. It is a drawing of the prodigal son being held in the arms of his father. To me, this is what God is doing at Emery House – holding open his all-embracing, compassionate arms, saying, “Welcome home, my son, my daughter. What do you need? Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
SSJE brothers Sunday and Feast Day sermons are now available on the web. Visit the site at www.ssje.org The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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COMMUNITY NEWS
Giovanni Figueredo
Br. David Allen with members of the Boston Chinese Ministry.
We celebrated our brother David Allen’s 75th birthday on December 19th and his 46th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood on December 21st. Br. David serves the community as the Assistant Treasurer and is also active in the Boston Chinese Ministry, hosted by St. Paul’s Cathedral. In June he will participate in the annual Asia-America Ministries conference, this year to be held in San Francisco.
Grant Nichols
Alan Cooper
Two new postulants! Grant Nichols, who worked as a national sales manager for a New York City design house, was received in early December. Alan Cooper, who worked as a floral designer in Chicago, was received in early February. 26
Giovanni Figueredo, was released from his initial vows on January 16th, because his visa to the United States could not be renewed. Giovanni came to the community in 2000, having worked as the International News deskeditor for El Nacional newspaper and a Political Affairs reporter for The Daily Journal, both in Caracas, Venezuela, his homeland. He has returned to Venezuela where he plans to continue his career as a bi-lingual journalist and to be active in the Anglican Church of Venezuela. He said to the brothers that “I leave the community as a changed man. I will always be thankful for my time with SSJE.” We pray God’s continued blessing on Giovanni’s life and work.
Brs. Geoffrey Tristram and David Vryhof
Brs. Geoffrey Tristram and David Vryhof taught one-week courses at the SSJE
Virginia Theological Seminary during their January term. Geoffrey taught a course called, “Teaching Others to Pray;” David taught “The Ministry of Spiritual Direction.”
Fr. Becket Franks with Brs. Eldridge Pendleton and Jonathan Maury
Br. Eldridge Pendleton
At Church of the Advent, Boston, Br. Eldridge Pendleton led workshops in January on “Real Prayer” in and April on Charles Chapman Grafton, one of the founders of SSJE and an early rector of the Advent. Also in January he led a retreat for the bishops of the Toronto and Niagara (Canada) dioceses, and in February for parishioners from St. Michael and All Angels parish, Dallas. In April he hosts the annual meeting of the Parish Historians Association, to be held at the monastery, and lead a retreat for Grace and Holy Trinity parish in Richmond, VA. Br. Eldridge has recently been appointed to the novitiate formation team, assisting Br. Geoffrey Tristram, Novice Guardian. Seven men attended our “Come and See” weekend program, December 16-19, to explore the possibility of a vocation to the religious life. The next “Come and See” weekend will be held on June 2-5. Please see our advertisement on page 37.
The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
The Rev. Dr. Becket Franks, OSB, a monk of St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois, is living with the SSJE community during his sabbatical time. Father Beckett is the recipient of a Harvard Divinity School fellowship.
Br. James Koester
Late January Br. James Koester traveled to the Diocese of Kootenay, in the interior of British Columbia, where he preached at the Cathedral of Saint Michael and All Angels and then led a retreat for the clergy of the diocese at the Sorrento Centre. In some ways this was a home coming for a member of SSJE as in its early days, the Sorrento Centre was a branch house of our community, staffed by members of SSJE from the Canadian Congregation in Bracebridge, Ontario. Today the 27
Sorrento Centre is a vital resource for Christian formation and nurture in western Canada.
Orders. The readers convened at Camp Allen in the Diocese of Texas. Our Bishop-Visitor, Bp. Arthur Walmsley, served as one of the chaplains to the readers.
Br.Timothy Solverson
Br. Timothy Solverson led a weekend retreat for the vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk, VA, mid January, on the theme of “community building” and also preached and spoke to the adult forum. He and Br. Kevin Hackett spoke at the chapel service and with various groups of students at St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, for two days in late January.
Brs. Curtis Almquist and Kevin Hackett
Br. Curtis Almquist led Lenten Retreats for the Clergy of the Diocese of Massachusetts and for the Diocese of Washington in February and March. In April, he and Br. Kevin Hackett met with staff and parishioners of St. Michael and All Angels parish, Dallas, and also were among the leaders in the Pathways to Ministry Program, gathering young people from all across the country for a weekend program to explore vocations in ministry.
Br. James Knutsen
In January Br. James Knutsen was a reader for the General Ordination Examinations (GOEs). The examinations are required for graduating Episcopal seminarians pursuing Holy 28
Two teams of brothers served as chaplains for two-week “Palestine of Jesus” programs at St. George’s College, Jerusalem: Brs. Mark Brown and Timothy Solverson, October 26SSJE
November 8, 2004, and Brs. James Koester and Robert L’Esperance March 30-April 12, 2005. Br. Timothy recounts how his experience “was awesome and inspiring.” “I came back with a clearer understanding of what it is to lay down one’s life for the Gospel. The Palestinian Christians have modeled Christian witness in the face of persecution and I have a new understanding of what it means to ‘take up your cross daily and follow Jesus’” SSJE brothers will serve as chaplains in two upcoming courses June 17-30 and August 2-15, 2005. See p. 15 for more information. In February Brs. Rufus Van Horn and Charles LaFond led a Lenten mission in New Orleans for St. Andrew’s and Grace Episcopal Churches on the theme of baptism.
Canterbury Cathedral
During Holy Week Br. Geoffrey Tristram offered daily lectures at Canterbury Cathedral, England, entitled “Praying the Way of the Cross” and shared in the rich liturgies of Passiontide and Easter.
Br. John Oyama
The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Br. Roy Cockrum
In April, Brs. Roy Cockrum and Eldridge Pendleton represented SSJE at the annual meeting of the Council on Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas (CAROA), hosted by the sisters of the Society of St. John the Divine at their newly-constructed convent in Toronto. Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett, the Mary Wolfe Professor of Historical Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, and long-time Dr. Fredrica friend of the Thompsett community, will be the guest preacher at our annual Fellowship of Saint John Day celebration, Saturday, May 7th. The liturgy, beginning at 11:00 a.m., is followed by a luncheon in the cloister garden. Members of the Fellowship, RSVP by April 25th if you can be with us for this springtime celebration: guesthouse@ssje.org
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Retreat Programs and Workshops: The Society of Saint John the Evangelist Monastery Guesthouse, Cambridge, Massachusetts Emery House, West Newbury, Massachusetts
Spring 2005
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he brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist have for years offered hospitality to those seeking a place of quiet and renewal. At the monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at Emery House in West Newbury, Massachusetts, we invite you to find space to pray and renew your spirit. We are pleased to welcome you to these sanctuaries of beauty and reflective stillness. Generous gifts of land and money from Isabella Stewart Gardner, Elbridge Gerry, and the family of then-SSJE member and later superior Spence Burton enabled the Society to begin developing the property along Memorial Drive. Today’s guesthouse, designed by the famous twentieth-century American architect, Ralph Adams Cram, and built in 1924-1928, was the original monastery building. In the mid-1930’s, Cram designed the chapel and monastery buildings. Built at the height of the Great Depression, the buildings, completed in 1936, are another legacy of the Burton family’s philanthropy. The renowned American landscape designer, Fletcher Steele, designed the guesthouse garden in 1934. The monastery is located along the Charles River, near Harvard University and the Episcopal Divinity School. Guesthouse facilities include large and small meeting rooms, chapels for private and corporate prayer, a library, garden, and single bedrooms, each with its own sink; showers and toilets are nearby. Linens and towels are provided. Guests join the brothers for three meals daily, eaten communally and normally taken in silence, accompanied either by a brother reading aloud or recorded music. Emery House and its 120 acres of undeveloped meadow and woodland were gifts to the Society from the Emery family, who homesteaded the property in 1641. Over the past two decades, we have been joined by generous benefactors and friends in our efforts to conserve the house, woodlands, and meadows as a beautiful sanctuary for retreat. Emery House is located in West Newbury, Massachusetts, about forty-five miles north of Boston and is adjacent to the 480-acre Maudsley State Park. Emery House features spacious and fully-equipped “hermitages,” period guest rooms in the 1745 main house, two rustic wood cabins, and three meals daily, taken communally in the main house. Guests are welcome to join the brothers in daily monastic worship. Emery House is easily accessible by public transportation. Out-of-town guests may board regularly scheduled buses leaving from Logan Airport and South Station, Boston for Newburyport. 30
SSJE
If you would like to visit us or attend one of our retreats or workshops: Please contact the appropriate guesthouse brother: The Guesthouse Brother Monastery Guesthouse 980 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02138-5717 Email: guesthouse@ssje.org (617)876-3037 x10
The Guesthouse Brother Emery House 21 Emery Lane West Newbury, MA 01985-1333 Email: emeryhouse@ssje.org (978)462-7940 x10
The monastery guesthouse and Emery House are open to guests seven nights a week. Guests may arrive from Monday afternoon through Saturday morning. Resident guests may choose to stay in the guesthouse on Sunday night. Public worship is not offered, nor are any meals served from Sunday Evening Prayer until Monday Evening Prayer (the community’s Sabbath time).
Parking at the monastery: Parking at the monastery is extremely limited; we encourage guests to use public transportation if at all possible. Space cannot be guaranteed, and guests requiring parking must call ahead to check availability. A $10 per day parking fee will apply after June 1, 2005.
Please note: The Society reserves the right to decline applications for retreats or place applicants who have made a number of retreats with us in the past on a waiting list. Brothers may also exercise discretion over admissions based on other priorities. Deposit checks are returned to applicants in the event they are wait-listed or declined.
We depend on your help to make this ministry possible. The brothers of the SSJE offer hospitality to guests regardless of their ability to pay. We offer reduced fees to full-time students. But fees cover only about 50% of actual costs. We depend on guesthouse income to support our life and ministries. Published fees are suggested amounts. Individuals with limited resources are asked to give as they are able; those with ample resources help us continue to offer reduced rates to those who cannot afford to pay by increasing their giving beyond the suggested fee. Your additional gift may be wholly or partially tax deductible.
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GROUP PROGRAM RETREATS Group program retreats are generally conducted from Thursday or Friday evening through Sunday midday. In addition to joining the brothers for worship and meals, guests attend a series of addresses or meditations offered by the retreat leader, which alternate with time for prayer, reflection, and recreation. It is customary for those on retreat to observe silence.
Suggested fees for group program retreats: Emery House: Monastery Guesthouse: $90.00 per person per night $90.00 per person per night $45.00 for full-time students $45.00 for full-time students Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
COMPANIONED FIVE-DAY RETREATS Companioned five-day directed retreats provide guests with more ample time to receive the gift of renewed intimacy with God in Christ through silence and sustained prayer. Guests meet individually, once each day, with a director who offers them help in recognizing God’s will and touch in their lives and who gives suggestions for how they might respond to the invitations of the Spirit disclosed in prayer. A team of leaders conducts companioned retreats; leaders include SSJE brothers and, occasionally, other ordained and lay spiritual directors. Companioned retreats are suggested for persons with previous retreat experience. Companioned retreats focus on worship and spending time with God. With their registration, applicants should include a brief (one or two page) spiritual autobiography.
Suggested fees for companioned five-day retreats: Monastery Guesthouse: $90.00 per person per night $45.00 for full-time students
Emery House: $90.00 per person per night $45.00 for full-time students
Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
NOURISHING YOUR SOUL: INDIVIDUAL RETREATS Individuals may not wish to attend a program retreat, yet desire a time of quiet and the opportunity to join the brothers in worship and silence. Most weekdays and some weekends are available for individual retreats. If you would like to meet with a brother during your individual retreat, please be certain to make that request when you book your reservation. Continued
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Suggested fees for Individual Self-directed Retreats: Monastery Guesthouse: $60.00 per person per night $30.00 for full-time students
Emery House: $75.00 per person per night $40.00 for full-time students
Suggested fees for Individual Directed Retreats: Monastery Guesthouse: $95.00 per person per night $45.00 for full-time students
Emery House: $95.00 per person per night $45.00 for full-time students
Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
GUEST HOUSE PROGRAMS Cambridge
APRIL 2005 - JUNE 2005 For program descriptions and costs of retreats and workshops at the Monastery, Cambridge, please visit our website at www.ssje.org or call 617-876-3037
NOURISHING THE SOUL individual retreats at the monastery in the winter and spring April 29-May 1, 2005 // May 13-15, 2005 // May 27-29, 2005 and all weekends in the month of June, 2005 DRINKING FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION a retreat for clergy April 4-9, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm) A COMPANIONED RETREAT five days for quiet reflection May 16-21, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm) COME AND SEE a program for men interested in exploring religious life at SSJE (See our ad on page 37) June 9-12, 2005 (Thursday 5 pm – Sunday 2 pm)
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RETREATS AT EMERY HOUSE West Newbury For program descriptions and costs of retreats at Emery House, please visit our website at www.ssje.org or call 978-462-7940
NOURISHING THE SOUL individual retreats at Emery House in the winter and spring May 27-29, 2005 and all weekends in the month of June, 2005 A COMPANIONED RETREAT five days for quiet reflection April 4-9, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm) WRITTEN THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE Praying with the Gospel of John May 9-15, 2005 (Monday 5 pm through Saturday 2 pm) HIS GARMENT’S HEM: THE CHRISTIAN ART OF HEALING TOUCH May 19-22, 2005 (Thursday 5 pm through Sunday 2 pm) ICON WRITING WORKSHOP AND RETREAT June 13-19, 2005 (Monday 5 pm through Sunday 2 pm) FIRST TIME IN PRAYER AND QUIET a weekend retreat for beginners June 24-26, 2005 (Friday 5 pm – Sunday 2 pm)
COWLEY PUBLICATIONS is a ministry of the brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, a monastic order in the Episcopal Church. Our mission is to provide books and resources for those seeking spiritual and theological formation. COWLEY PUBLICATIONS is committed to developing a new generation of writers and teachers who will encourage people to think and pray in new ways about spirituality, reconciliation, and the future. Please see our website: www.cowley.org 34
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e have adopted the arch as an image to symbolize our community’s life and future. The arch figures so prominently into the architecture of the monastery, and it is a repeated motif at Emery House as well. Arches are structures with deep spiritual and psychic resonance. They embody and symbolize many things: strength and support, lightness and openness within density, a beginning and an end. Arches are entry points into “liminal” space. In mythology, arches or doorways are understood as thresholds in time and space (chronos, the physical world) through which one passes to enter another kind of time and space (kairos, the spiritual world). Arches are iconic; while grounded in the present, they draw one’s gaze upwards to a higher ideal or transcendent reality. In the New Testament, the arch is also a fundamentally Johannine symbol. In John’s gospel we hear Jesus saying, “I am the way,” “I am the doorway to the sheepfold.” This may well have figured into the architect Ralph Adams Cram’s extensive use of the arch throughout the monastery in Cambridge. The symbol of the arch seems to us large enough to encompass the fullness of our identity as a community: our discipline of prayer and worship, our ministries of spiritual formation and spiritual direction, our teaching and retreat leading; our publishing books that encourage people to think and pray in new ways about the life of faith and the future; our advocating for and empowering those who live in poverty. We find the arch a strong and inspiring image. The arch is also a paradoxical image which is built on weakness. Many centuries ago Leonardo da Vinci wrote that “an arch is nothing else than a strength caused by two weaknesses; for the arch in buildings is made up of two segments of a circle, and each of these segments being in itself very weak desires to fall, and as one withstands the downfall of the other, the two weaknesses are converted into a single strength.” This redemption of weakness is also a reality we brothers continually experience. We know one another very well, not just our strengths but also our weaknesses. A breakdown or breakup becomes a point of breakthrough for God. We so often witness God’s strength being perfected out of weakness, both in our life together as a community and as we minister to others: individuals confiding in us their own experiences of suffering, grief and loss, and their longing to know God’s real presence amidst God’s seeming absence. The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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At Emery House, Br. Charles LaFond and Duke
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SSJE
Gifts of Stock and other Securities We are dependent on friends and benefactors for the financial support of the life and ministry of SSJE. Please remember SSJE in your estate planning, and share our life and needs with others who may have interest. The brothers are deeply grateful. Agent Bank: Investors Bank & Trust Company Agent Bank Number: 22319 Agent Bank Clearing Number: 2132 (DTC participant number) Agent Bank Account Number: 45-23072 Agent Bank Account: Society of St. John the Evangelist We need certain information to properly process the stock transfer.This information can either come directly from you or from your broker, but must be done before the actual transfer is made. Please call the Monastery Treasurer’s Office with the following information: a.Your name d. CUSIP number of the stock b. Name of stock e. Company name and DTC number c. Exact number of shares being of the broker transferred f. Intended purpose of the gift For tax purposes, you will be sent an official acknowledgment stating the mean value of your gift. James Koester, SSJE, Treasurer Society of Saint John the Evangelist 980 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A. 617 876-3037 ext. 16
Consider Becoming an SSJE Brother!
“COME AND SEE” June 2-5, 2005 (Thurs. 5 pm - Sun. 2 pm) A weekend program for men interested in exploring religious life at SSJE. Men between the ages of 21 and 45 who are interested in learning more about a vocation with SSJE are encouraged to join us for this program. Participants share in the monastic rhythm of worship, work and meals; receive instruction on the history and mission of SSJE; and meet with brothers individually and in groups to talk about our life. There is no charge for this program beyond the costs of traveling to the monastery. For more information, please contact our Novice Guardian, Br. Geoffrey Tristram, at the monastery. Email: noviceguardian@ssje.org
Members of the Fellowship of Saint John and friends in CANADA who would like to make a financial contribution may send cheques payable to “SSJE” to SCOTIA TRUST CO., ATTN: CHARITABLE TRUST SERVICES, 4TH FLOOR, ONE FINANCIAL PLAZA, ONE ADELAIDE STREET EAST, TORONTO, ONTARIO M5C 2W8. The Scotia Trust will issue a receipt and inform us here in the States so that we may personally thank you.
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Gary-Andrew Smith
An Adirondack chair, awaiting a guest at Emery House.
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SSJE
SSJE Retreat Registration Form Please return completed form to the appropriate Guesthouse Brother (either the Monastery Guesthouse or Emery House)
Name________________________________________________________________ Street_____________________________________________________________ City___________________________________ State_____ Zip Code__________ Telephone (Home)___________________ (Work)__________________________ E-mail _______________________________________________________________ Retreat dates: From_______________________ to:_________________________ Name of Retreat______________________________________________________ Location:
Monastery Guesthouse
Emery House
Arrrival time:_____________________ Deposit enclosed: $____________________ Visa
MasterCard # ______________________________________
Signature_____________________________________ Exp. Date_____________ In case of emergency, please contact: (Name)________________________________ Telephone (Home)____________________ (Work)_________________________ Fellowship of Saint John member? Yes
No
Please tell us about how you heard about retreats at SSJE. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ The Society of Saint John the Evangelist
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980 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A.
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