The Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia, is a beautiful place. It’s a peaceful environment, perfect for an hour, a day, or a weekend (or, if you’re a single Catholic man sensing a vocation to religious life, for a lifetime) devoted to prayer and contemplation.
Here are a few photographs I took at the monastery this past Friday.
Exterior of the Abbey Church
Inside the Abbey Church
The Monastery Lake
The Gatehouse and Monastery Welcome Center
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monasticism, photography | Tagged: Monastery of the Holy Spirit, photography | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
One of the most respected of contemporary Benedictine spiritual writers is Mary Margaret (Meg) Funk, OSB. Her books include Thoughts Matter: The Practice of the Spiritual Life and Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life. She writes not only about Benedictine spirituality and contemplative practice, but also about interreligious dialogue, a pursuit she has been deeply involved in for some time now. I’ve just learned of her blog, which looks to contain all sorts of interesting entries. Here’s an excerpt from a recent posting that I suspect most readers of my blog will particularly enjoy:
We are all called to Contemplation, resting in God. There are many paths in this journey. This path very specifically taught by the Unknown author of the Cloud of Unknowing is for those attracted to the mystery and not inclined to go through images of Jesus, or Mary or through the life of Jesus Christ as devotion. The attraction is Christ centered, but beyond the images and stories. The Unknown author speaks for those who want the apophatic path (imageless) of us when He says, “ God is a jealous lover we must fix our love on him. Close the doors and windows on imagination because God is beyond our thoughts, concepts and images.” The teaching of the method is helpful and easy to understand, but hard to do: Practice: lift up your heart to the Lord, with a gentle stirring of love, desire Him for his own sake, not for gifts. We must Center all our attention and desire on Him.
Read the full post here: Emptiness Practice
Or, just visit her home page here: Meg Funk
1 Comment | 
Contemplation, Other people's blogs, interfaith dialogue, monasticism, spirituality | Tagged: Benedictine spirituality, contemplative practice, Interreligious Dialogue, Mary Margaret Funk, Meg Funk, Other people's blogs | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
This little video will give you some insight into why I like to hang out with monks. It features Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, speaking at an Integral Contemplative Christianity Conference put on by Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute.
If you have a few minutes, head on over to Youtube: there’s more of Keating there for the watching.
5 Comments | 
Christian mysticism, Christianity, Contemplation, Mysticism, monasticism, spirituality | Tagged: Christian mysticism, Christian spirituality, contemplative prayer, Divine love, Fr. Thomas Keating OCSO, Integral Christianity, Integral Institute | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants
By Dennis Okholm
Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2007
Review by Carl McColman
Okay, so this book has a lame title. But the point of the book is neatly encapsulated in its subtitle: here is an introduction to the spirituality of St. Benedictine, written by a Presbyterian theologian who has a background in both Pentecostalism and the Baptist community. In other words, this isn’t some sort of Anglican “we’re just like Catholics only without the Pope” kind of a book. Dennis Okholm lives and writes squarely out of the reformed tradition, and as far as I can tell he understands how to love and appreciate monastic spirituality while remaining true to his identity as a Protestant Christian. And because the book is so utterly devoid of any kind of axes to grind (whether Roman or Reformed), what emerges is an elegant and eloquent testimony of how Benedictine spirituality really is simply Gospel spirituality. It may be written for Protestants, but I got enough out of the book that I’m convinced it would be useful for many Catholics as well. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Blog, Reviews, monasticism | Tagged: Benedictine spirituality, Dennis Okholm, monasticism, Protestantism, Reviews | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
Christianity Today has posted an article about the growing interest, particularly among young evangelicals, in various aspects of monastic and liturgical spirituality, including Celtic spirituality. Click here to read it.
Dare we hope that Christian mysticism could be the next arena where evangelicals will go to deepen their faith?
No Comments » | Christianity, monasticism | Tagged: Christian spirituality, evangelicalism, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
I just discovered that Flickr has a wonderful array of photographs (from a variety of photographers) shot at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. Some of these photos are from a recent “spirituality and photography” retreat at the monastery; nearly all of them are breathtaking in their beauty. The photographs cover not only the awe-inspiring Abbey Church and adjacent buildings, but many also highlight the natural splendor of the monastery grounds.
Click here to see a Monastery photograph slideshow.
Readers who are not familiar with the monastery will, I trust, nevertheless gain a sense from these photographs of why I love this place so much.
2 Comments | Art, monasticism | Tagged: Monastery of the Holy Spirit, monasticism, photography | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
Here is a video concerning a Trappist monastery in Kenya and how the civic unrest their has affected the community.
Please pray for peace in Kenya.
2 Comments | Current events, monasticism | Tagged: Kenya, monasticism, Trappists | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
LaserMonks: The Business Story Nine Hundred Years in the Making
By Sarah Caniglia and Cindy Griffith
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008
Review by Carl McColman
Some years ago, the management world discovered Sun-Tzu’s The Art of War. This sixth-century Chinese treatise on military strategy considers not only the logistics of conflict, but also the psychology of winning; as such, it has transcended its soldierly origins to become a classic source of inspiration for the corporate boardroom as well as the battlefield. After all, if any metaphor can describe what business is all about, it’s that of warfare.
But maybe there’s more to working than winning — and this thought leads to a remarkable new way of envisioning and achieving success, as detailed by Sarah Caniglia and Cindy Griffith in their insightful new book, LaserMonks. I never thought I’d be reviewing a business book here on my oh-so-spiritual blog, but I guess I didn’t see this one coming, either. I should have, though — I’ve known about and admired the LaserMonks web-based business for some time now. This new book not only tells the story of a uniquely successful business, but reveals how another ancient text — The Rule of Saint Benedict — can be applied to any business model, with truly impressive results. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | Reviews, monasticism | Tagged: Business, LaserMonks, Reviews, Rule of St. Benedict, Sun Tzu | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
Sometimes, things are so obvious that your humble servant here simply misses them altogether. This is one of the gifts of contemplative practice: when I slow down long enough to actually remind myself that I am a breathing organism who continues to live and love solely by the grace of God, among other things I’m giving my brain a chance to catch up with my normal speed-of-life distracted self.
This morning, just as my wife and I were chanting the words by which we begin our prayer every morning (”O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me”), I got this little insight that, once I thought about it, seemed so utterly obvious that I really felt like a dolt for not having noticed it before.
This is it: monasteries are house churches. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | Christianity, Neo-Monasticism, monasticism | Tagged: House Church, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
Portraits of Grace: Images and Words from the Monastery of the Holy Spirit
By James Stephen Behrens, OCSO
Skokie, IL: ACTA Publications, 2007
Review by Carl McColman
Windows feature prominently in this luminous collection of photography and pithy meditations from Trappist monk James Behrens. In this striking and singular glimpse into the multivalent world quietly hidden within a third millennium cloister, Behrens eschews stereotypes and clichés. Instead of pious images of monks praying or studying, he lingers over a heap of old tires, mops hung up to dry, an old street sign overgrown by kudzu. Like many religious communities founded anywhere from fifty to fifteen hundred years ago, Georgia’s Monastery of the Holy Spirit — where all of these photographs were taken and presumably all these words were written — is rich with the splendors of nature; the community owns over two thousand acres of mostly undeveloped land. Behrens celebrates this bucolic treasure with his singularly unromantic eye: his gaze finds an autumn leaf caught in a spider web, or ominous clouds rolling in over a lonely old barn. But I don’t mean to suggest that this collection of images lacks beauty or warmth: far from it. Tenderness erupts in a candid snapshot of a dove huddling in her nest with her young, while technically gorgeous images of a bumblebee or a preying mantis are almost breathtaking in their loveliness. Pansies, stained glass, green leaves and red bricks, all dance through the book, giving it a colorful, almost kaleidoscopic feel. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Art, Reviews, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
Listen with Your Heart: Spiritual Living with the Rule of Saint Benedict
By M. Basil Pennington, OCSO
Edited by Br. Chaminade Crabtree, OCSO
Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2007
Review by Carl McColman
Many books are available on the Rule of St. Benedict and how it applies to modern life. Esther De Waal, Joan Chittister, Michael Casey, Laura Swan, Norvene Vest and Elizabeth Canham are just a few of the writers who have offered their take on the Holy Rule for readers in our day. Almost without exception, all of these books are aimed at the layperson — either the Benedictine oblate, or else a person with no formal ties to a monastic community whatsoever, but who would like to unpack the wisdom of Benedict for their secular postmodern lives.
Right away, one can see the value of this collection of chapter talks from Basil Pennington during his tenure as the Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia: this is a book about the Rule of Saint Benedict written by a monk, for monks. “Written” might not be the best choice of words, for this book is an anthology of transcripts (several of these talks have also been collected in their original form as a two-CD audiobook). Those of us with secular vocations are basically invited to “listen in” on the kind of teachings that is normally reserved only for those in the cloister. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Carl McColman
Punk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing
By Andy Freeman and Pete Greig
Ventura, California: Regal Books, 2007
Review by Carl McColman
First, a confession: I fell in love with this book the moment I heard of its title. Bands like the Clash and the Jam provided the soundtrack to my undergraduate years, so I guess I have a soft spot for the punk world (even though I was never much of a punk myself). And while a title like this could easily signify a book that is more cutesy style than substance, I’m happy to report that this book has value well beyond its two-syllable rhyme. Read the rest of this entry »
8 Comments | Neo-Monasticism, Reviews, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism
Edited by The Rutba House
Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2005
Review by Carl McColman
The Rutba House is an intentional Christian community located in Durham, NC; on the back of this book of essays, it is described as a “community of hospitality, peacemaking and discipleship.” It’s also a leading voice in an exciting development within the Christian community: “neo-monasticism.” According to the online essay A Brief History of New Monasticism, neo-monasticism can trace its roots back to a variety of sources, from the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the Taizé Community to the latter-day revivals of Celtic monasticism such as the Northumbria Community. Neo-monasticism is ecumenical, prophetic, rooted in tradition but radically open to the new ways in which the Holy Spirit is calling Christians to create countercultural expressions of communal life in Christ. Like so many other postmodern expressions of the faith, there’s no single “correct” form of neo-monasticism, but there are some recurrent themes. School(s) for Conversion is a collection of essays that seek to answer this question — What is neo-monasticism? — by considering a dozen of these qualities that seem again and again to show up among the many varied communities that are seeking to foster radical discipleship in today’s world. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments » | Neo-Monasticism, Reviews, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
I recently purchased the Folio Society edition of Christopher Brooke’s The Rise and Fall of the Medieval Monastery (it’s a beautiful book, so if you don’t already have it, you’ll want it. But do like me and locate a used copy, although you may have to be patient — they’re hard to come by). My copy arrived today, and in between oohing and aahing at all the lovely illustrations, I noticed something very mysterious indeed. On the inside covers is a hand-drawn map of the “Monastic Sites of Europe.” Presumably, of course, this refers to medieval monasteries, given the scope of the book; most of the foundations seem to be clustered in Italy, France and Britain. What confounds me is that only three monasteries are depicted in Ireland: Bangor, Mellifont, and Durrow.
What?!?!
By any calculation, far, far more than three monasteries flourished in medieval Ireland. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Irish history or Celtic Christianity will recognize names like Clonmacnoise… Glendalough… Inishmurray… Kells… Kildare… Kilmacduagh… Skellig Michael. Many lesser known foundations existed in the middle ages, as well; one indicator is the prevalence of Irish round towers, which were often built at monasteries (and over 50 of which remain in existence today).
So if Ireland clearly was the home to so many monasteries in centuries past, why does a book on medieval European monasticism only show three foundations on its map? Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Celtic Christianity, Ireland, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
I’m not sure if I know what the “new monasticism” is, but this weekend event sure sounds interesting:
Inhabiting the Church: New Monasticism and God’s Revolution
If nothing else, the website for this event lists two books that sound interesting: Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution and an anthology called School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism.
3 Comments | Neo-Monasticism, monasticism | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
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