Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
Monastery Retreat House Newsletter January 2022
Life at the Monastery
“If you only knew what compassion really is—the compassion you must strive to imitate! Overlooking everything to stoop to a heart’s needs, paying no attention to any disappointments or ingratitude, being even kinder to those who have hurt you. Just be your Christ for them. If you make this your intention I’ll be seen in you. You are so little that you wonder how this could be. You know how grace gives unction to the voice, the look, a gesture? You noticed that yesterday when your relative who had not seen you for three years exclaimed, ‘Oh, how I love you!’ She was addressing Me in your voice.”
Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (Kindle Locations 2153-2157).
Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.
++++++++++
Yes, hard to believe, but another year as passed. We celebrate New Year’s Day I believe because it is one that is based on hope. We want the coming year to be better than the last one. We want to be better people, which is why so many make resolutions, even if they understand that they will not be kept. You could say that it is hope that makes that happen.
In order to become a better person, I believe, there has to be a reordering of values or even a letting go of old ways of doing ‘life’. The sunshine, and the rain, that allows new life to grow, to understand this; it is all about love. Jesus shows us the love of the Father in the way that he treated others. All that he did was based on deep compassion for each of us.
Sin is not just some sort of abstract concept. It is experienced every day in our hearts. We know when we are sinned against. It causes a great deal of pain, and the fruit is often hatred and a desire for revenge. Sin begets sin, hate brings forth the fruit of hatred, and violence has an insatiable appetite that cannot be assuaged. Yet, at the same time, it is easy to sin against another, and then wonder what all the fuss is. It brings out the importance of the Golden Rule.
In this New Year, let us pray for the desire to forgive those who have hurt us, and to make amends to those we have hurt, to the best of our ability. Perhaps if we start to make this world a little more loving, and merciful, it will lead to more mercy and compassion being shown to others.
It is not about any one of us changing the world. It is about becoming vessels for Jesus Christ to work in the world. Grace allows our hearts to be more merciful towards others. Not an easy task, but grace supplies all of our needs. Difficult, yes very much so, but it is in that difficulty that the spiritual war within our hearts is either won, or we sink into cycles of pain and destruction.
Our separate vocations will dictate how we can live that out. We are all called to spread the good news of God’s love for us as shown to us by the Incarnation of Jesus. God is love, in Him, there is no darkness, as St. John reminds us in his 1st Epistle, let us pray for the healing needed for us to become vessels of love and light as well. +
We are all hopeful that things will start to open up now. So far the new variant seems to not be a big threat, though it spreads much faster than any others. Perhaps the end is near. Though to think of a world that is free of what we have experienced in the last two years can be hard to really believe. Yet, it is coming.
Our Abbey Church is progressing along. The back is opened to the public, and of course, our Abbey Store is up and running. We will let everyone know when we will be open for retreats. We do have some groups already on the books, but for private retreats, we will wait until we are sure. No one knows what the future will bring, but hope springs eternal, as the saying goes.
Everyone here seems to be doing well. The Infirmary and those in it are keeping steady. The abbot is doing a very good job in leading us, and the community is together in our resolve to live our lives of prayer as much as possible.
I wish all of you dear friends a Holy, hope-filled New Year, and that the Holy Spirit will deepen your love of self, as well as love and compassion for all that you meet. May your hearts be healed from bitterness, and anger, towards those who have wronged you. Be patient and pray for this tired, hurting seemingly lost world. Yet the Lord is here, deepen your trust and faith each day with prayer, as well as doing some Spiritual reading. Feed the soul, feed the mind, allow your heart to grow, and do not fear the pain that is so much a part of our lives. Joy as well, be thankful for the joys that we have in our lives that can often be overlooked.—Br.MD
Highlight – Br. Guerric Riopel
Br. Guerric Riopel was born February 20 in Stafford Springs, CT, he has two sisters one younger and one older, both still living in CT. He entered the monastery December 8, 2000 and made his Solemn Profession on the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, March 25, 2006. Br. Guerric has had many different jobs serving our community, he has worked in the infirmary, bonsai, and bakery, presently is in charge of the sacristy and kitchen.
Br. Guerric is a kind person with a ready smile and always willing to help, we are so blessed to have him as part of our community.
Reflections A New Year
I took a long walk in my home town of Montclair, New Jersey. It was a route I had not walked in many years. Jimmy, my twin, and I used to walk that way home from the bus stop in high school. I was by myself and had my camera with me. A friend of mine told me many years ago that it takes a while to organically root oneself in a place. He told me that when I had moved to a new parish and it was only by going through some years there that I understood what he meant. People gradually become a part of you. It is why we feel an ache when it is time to move to a new place and new people.
I found as I walked along that memories long asleep within me slowly began to wake up. I had my camera and took a lot of pictures as I walked from the bus stop at Watchung Plaza, down several streets, on to our street – Christopher Street – and down to Columbus Avenue. I realize that these names are just that for you – but perhaps you can reflect on those places in your life that settled deep within you, awaiting a walk through them again so that they might awaken.
All the stores that I knew in Watchung Plaza are long gone. New stores have taken their place. I remembered what those old stores were like and I could see in my mind’s eye the people who worked in them, as well as the kids who hung out in the Plaza. The old delicatessen, the Chinese Laundry, a pet store that was run by a blind man. Walt, who worked in a soda shop and lived above in a small apartment. He was found dead one day, on the floor of the apartment. I do not think he ever married and his fingers were stained yellow from the many Pall Malls he smoked. The kids – Sue, Pauline, David, Brad, Jonathan, Linda, Beth, John. Details of each of them came back. And I wondered where they are these days.
I walked past a playground where Tom ran right into a chain link fence. He was running away from the police who were called by a woman who was suspicious of all the noise we were making. I remember the jarring clang of the fence when Tom ran into it. He managed to evade the police and the next day his forehead was adorned with a row of small X’s. Turned out he was quite proud of them.
I headed on to Christopher Street and took my time, gazing at the houses. I do not think there is anyone left on our block – everyone we knew has moved away. A woman was talking with a friend of hers outside her house and as I walked past she asked me if I would not mind telling her why I was taking pictures of the houses. I told her I used to live there many years ago. She seemed satisfied with that and I wonder if she thought that there was reason to worry about me. I mentioned to her that everyone on the block that I once knew were gone, and that we are all getting old. I quickly corrected myself and said that I was getting old. Then I continued on my way,
I stopped in front of our old house and felt a deep stirring within me. It is of course impossible to go back, and savor what it was all like when it happened, when it was for real. But it was enough for me to ponder the memories that I had. Yet those were tinged with sadness because of Jimmy and others who lived there, who became a part of me, and who are long gone.
Well. It is a New Year. My walk through life continues – a walk that has taken me to many places: a new home in Greenwich, the seminary, several parishes, and, lastly, the monastery in Conyers, Georgia. So many people I came to know and love in all those places have become a part of me. And I will enter a New Year, where there will surely be more. We all walk this life with God, a God who encourages us to walk into a New Year in faith and in hope. All that once was in the past has given way to so much that is new. It had to go. For such is the movement of life. But those in the past are still within me, even though we all had to follow paths into the future, where I have found that all that was takes a new hold on me, with love, and remembrance. I remembered them. And tried to capture on film where they lived and walked and loved. +++James Stephen Behrens, OCSO
Honey Creek Woodlands – A Natural Burial Ground
At the Monastery of the Holy Spirit
The Monastery community offers a quiet and beautiful resting place for people of all faiths, as well as those who have struggled to find faith. We are pleased to provide our land and promise to reverently protect it for those who share it with us. If you have any questions or would like to set up a tour, please call 770-483-7535. Our hours are 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday-
Zoom Retreats – January
Contemplative Prayer - Saturday January 15 – Br. Michael
Hope in a Time of Chaos - Saturday January 29 – Br. Mark
To register please call our office at 770-760-0959, Monday – Friday 8:00-1:00. We are asking for a donation of $45.00 for our retreats.
To see the rest of our Zoom Retreats for the year visit us at www.trappist.net .