I’m so happy to share this segment from a recent episode of the PBS News Hour with you. It features the monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit — the monastery of which I am a Lay Associate. The topic is about how the monks are getting vaccinated to protect themselves from the coronavirus, but of course it’s also a wee glimpse into the world of the cloister, a world of prayer and meditation — even during a pandemic.
Since I haven’t been to the monastery in over a year, this was a treat for me, and I’m happy to share it with you. Many of these monastics are dear friends of mine. A few highlights:
0:32 — the monk to the right (in the center of the screen) is Brother Elias, author of Tears of an Innocent God;
0:42 — Father Augustine Myslinski, the abbot of the Monastery;
0:55 — Mugging for the camera: Father Matt Torpey, one of the monks now in their 90s;
1:16 — the organist, Father Gerard Gross;
1:25 — Brother Callistus Crichlow;
1:32 — the Abbey Store, where I used to work;
1:49 — Sr. Beatrice Potter (no relation to Peter Rabbit); who is not a Trappistine nun, but a vowed solitary who lives in a hermitage on the Monastic grounds;
2:45 — Abbot Augustine offers a wonderful, succinct statement as to what faith has to say to science.
3:29 — In the center (of seven monks praying), Father Cassian Russell, the monastic advisor of the Lay Cistercians.
