Cowley Magazine - Easter 2005

Volume 31 • Number 2 Easter 2005

©2005 by The Society of Saint John the Evangelist, North America

It costs SSJE $20.00 annually per subscription to produce and mail four issuesof Cowley. We would welcome a tax-deductible contribution to our community’sministry, which would help defray this expense and ensure continued delivery of ournewsletter. Checks should be made payable to “SSJE” and sent to the monastery at980 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.

Cover photo:

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, the Presiding Bishop,and Br. Paul Wessinger, whose 90th birthday wecelebrated 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. Paulmatriculated to The General Theological Seminary inNew York, graduating in 1939. Thereafter he enteredSSJE and subsequently served as our Superior from 1972to 1983, a time of enormous change in the life thechurch. He led SSJE in enthusiastically embracing thegift of women’s ordination and leadership in the church.He was succeeded in office as Superior by Br. ThomasShaw, now the Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts.Br. Paul has served as a pastor and spiritual director tomany church leaders, seminarians, and other seekers. In1985 he preached at the consecration of the new BishopCoadjutor of the Diocese of Chicago, Frank T. Griswold.Br. Paul was awarded the D.D. honoris causa by theVirginia Theological Seminary in 1998. Our currentSuperior, Br. Curtis Almquist, says that “Br. Paul’s zealand courage is an ongoing inspiration to all of brothers.We cherish him.”

Dear Members of the Fellowshipof Saint John and Other Friends,

The Society of Saint John the Evangelist 3

A Letter from the Superior

Curtis Almquist, SSJE

Monks are professional listeners.We hear a great deal from the

world around us; we also listen to manypeople who come to us seeking help tofind God’s presence and direction intheir lives. In listening to others, weoften witness a paradox: a person’sawareness of God’s presence, God’slight, God’s love, God’s consolationwhen, at the same time, they areabsolutely consumed by suffering. Forus Christians, this is the paradox of thecross. We are not spared suffering, butrather shared suffering by Jesus, whopromises to be with us in it all. Downthrough the ages, so many of the saintswitness to this truth. Among them isCatherine of Siena who, at a time ofenormous suffering of body and tormentof soul, felt that God had abandonedher. Her heart was broken. It was onlylater, when the immediate darkness hadpassed, that she cried out to Jesus in aprayer of anger and anguish, “Wherewere you when my heart was so tor-mented?!” And Catherine heard Jesusrespond, “I was in your heart.” Thecross is always before us, even inEastertide, and we brothers pray andlabor to be faithful and courageousambassadors of the risen Christ duringthese difficult and opportune times. We continue to grow as a commu-

Br. Paul Wessinger

nity, both in our numbers and in ourvision for our distinctive monasticwitness of prayer and our work ofspiritual formation, helping people “praytheir lives.” Life in community is verychallenging; it is also exceedinglygraceful. Increasingly, we are beingbrought into settings where we are

asked for help on how people can betogether, make decisions, work, andthrive, especially where there is adiversity of values and opinions. It ispossible to live an abundant lifetogether. On the weekend of January 7th, wecelebrated our Brother Paul Wessinger’sninetieth birthday. Br. Paul, ourSuperior from 1972 to 1983, bears suchauthentic witness to the love of Christ,new every day, and our celebratoryweekend was a festival of love and

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Curtis G. Almquist, SSJESuperior

Faithfully yours,

thanksgiving. Our Rule of Life says,“we pray that seeds planted in manyyears of faithful life will bear fruit in oldage. Our older brothers will then beable to contribute their experience ofwhat is essential in our life with God, asense of perspective, wisdom, theirappreciation for the community and joyin the younger members.” Next toPaul, all of us brothers are “younger,”and he helps anchor us with hope forour future. We brothers delight in sharing ourlife with so many of you who visit us atthe monastery and Emery House, andwhom we meet as we lead conferencesand retreats throughout NorthAmerica. We also look to you to directmen who might have a vocation to thereligious life to be in contact with us.Br. Geoffrey Tristram serves as our

Vocations Director and Novice Guard-ian, and is reachable at the monastery. Many of you will know of ourdisciplined work to find a faithful focusand adequate funding for our future.We are now shaping our long-rangeplan for how to courageously andgenerously live into God’s invitation forour future. We will continue to needyour help. We are sustained by the giftsof your prayer for us, your friendship,and your financial support, withoutwhich our shared life would not bepossible. We are very thankful for you.

Brs. Eldridge Pendleton and Kevin Hackett, in the cloister garden.

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It is a great joy and privilege to preside at this celebration. I am grateful forthe opportunity to acknowledge on behalf of many – Brother Paul’s Commu-

nity, his family represented by his niece and nephew Barbara and Henry, andthe friends past and present whose lives he has so deeply touched – I am gratefulto acknowledge and celebrate the gift God has given us in him, in the fullnessof his humanity and his disponibilié to the divine mystery of life in all itscomplexity and paradoxicalness. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Baptism of Jesus: that moment when Jesusfinds himself impelled to submit to baptism at the hand of John, and in so doingdiscovers 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 thelarger frame of the baptismal journey. Jesus’ response to knowing of his belovedness is a radical availability toGod’s will, God’s loving desire – an availability which involves struggle,confrontation with demons, great cost and above all intense prayer. Thisresponse of availability marks Brother Paul’s life as well, and is at the heart ofthe baptismal journey, a journey we all share.

“My food,” Jesustells his disciples atthe beginning ofJohn’s gospel, “is to dothe will of the onewho sent me and toaccomplish his work.”God’s work accom-plished in Christ, ofdrawing all things tohimself in one vastgesture of all embrac-ing love, admits noabstraction, nodistancing of Jesus

Sermon on the occasion of the90th birthday of Paul Wessinger, SSJESociety of Saint John the EvangelistReadings: Isaiah 44: 1-8, Psalm 92, 1 John 5:1-13, John 20:1-9

Sermon

The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold

January 8, 2005

Bp. Frank Griswold and Brs. Curtis Almquist andPaul 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 thevagaries of the human condition in all its contractions, and the continualinterplay of light and darkness in the habits of our minds and hearts. Here theCross stands as God’s stark declaration that there can be no flight to some saferealm 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 beenbaptized into his death and resurrection. And here is the great paradox: it is by facing into and passing through thenarrow door of suffering so very present in the events, choices, and relinquish-ments which confront each one of us that we discover what St. Paul describesas the “glorious liberty that belongs to the children of God.” This liberty, thisfreedom is the fruit of knowing that we are loved. We are loved not in the hopeof some yet-to-be realized state of perfection, but just as we are right now, just aswe 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 andimperfection was a resounding No! “My grace is all you need. For my power ismade perfect in weakness.” Christ’s words were not just for St. Paul; they are for us as well. Throughthe circumstances in which we find ourselves called to live the mystery of ourbaptismal identification with Christ, we will be stripped of our illusions, ourcertitudes and our sense of self-sufficiency. We will find ourselves in a place ofconfusion and unknowing. We may be tempted to cry out as did Jesus inGethsemane, “Take this cup away from me.” And yet, if we are able to yield our present suffering up to the strange andinscrutable ways of God’s loving desire, we may find ourselves overtaken by aconsolation of heart. If we are able to situate our suffering within Christ’s ownfor 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 oppressedand constricted and weighed down by resentment or self-pity we find ourselvesin a place of interior freedom transfigured by an overwhelming sense of compas-sion. This compassion catches us up in its liberating embrace, and at the sametime extends itself outward toward others and to the world around us. Such is

Albert Cook, themonastery cook (!) andDaryl McGann, agraduate of theCulinary Institute ofAmerica and memberof the FSJ, who sharedin preparing amarvelous weekend offeasting.


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 lifeand witness of our Br. Paul.

the nature of joy: the joy of Jesus who yearns for intimate companionship witheach one of us – the intimate relationship of a vine to its branches, “…so thatmy 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 otherforms of discipleship are not religious or that the religious life engages onlyselected dimensions of our humanity – the “better,” and more public aspects ofwho we are. Of course, any who have embraced this mode of responding to thegospel know that every aspect of whom we are, even those aspects of ourselveswe would rather ignore or hold at bay, are dragged into the consuming andtransforming 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 mayfeel its shame or be resentful of its presence. This brings me back to Brother Paul, a man I first encountered some fiftyyears ago when I was a teenager on a summer visit to the monastery. I have justdescribed our baptismal journey, our living of the paschal mystery in thegivenness of who we are mediated by the circumstances of our lives. Thisundertaking has engaged our brother for most of his long life, and made him forso many of us a source of wisdom and blessing. Perhaps because he has had toconfront his own demons and befriend them he is unafraid of the demonsbrought to him by those seeking his counsel and encouragement. I think today’s psalm is particularly apt: “The righteous flourish like thepalm tree, and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. They are planted in the house ofthe Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still producefruit; they are always green and full of sap.”

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Paul’s decision in 1945 to be planted in the house of the Lord – thismonastic brotherhood – has not been without great personal cost, yet it hasproduced a flourishing which has blessed and continues to bless countlesswomen and men who seek him out and ask for a word of wisdom, encourage-ment 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 greenand full of the sap of interior freedom and youthfulness of spirit he becomes. Inhim we are confronted by the paradox of an aging body indwelt by increasinginterior strength made manifest in a disconcerting spontaneity, graced icono-clasm and impatient clearness about the true heart of the gospel and thelineaments of Christ’s risen body, the church. In our first reading, God addresses his servant Israel promising to pour hisspirit and blessing upon Israel’s offspring. Here I am put in mind of the ministryof oversight and care, the ministry of service that Paul exercised as Superior ofthe Society of Saint John the Evangelist during a transitional time in the life ofthe church. This unsettled season affected the Community deeply, both causingseveral brothers to leave and at the same time opening the way for a recognitionof the feminine in the mystery of God’s self-disclosure and in the life andordained ministry of the church. A new generation of younger brothers entered the Society during Paul’stime as Superior. In a very real sense they became his spiritual offspring andwere encouraged to explore the question of monastic renewal in a changingchurch, and what it means to grow up in all ways into Christ within the fieryfurnace of a community of celibate men called to love one another. Thisexploration 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 ofSaint John the Evangelist stands under the prayer and patronage of the onetraditionally identified as the “one whom Jesus loved” places the mystery of loveat the center of this Community’s life. This “one whom Jesus loved,” in theeagerness of love, outruns Peter. And in the reticence of love he looks into thetomb but declines to enter. In the power and force of love – the deathless loveof the risen Christ – the beloved disciple sees and believes beyond his ability tocomprehend or to reason. Love as an abstraction is one thing, but love experienced concretely, inrelationship to others is, as Dorothy Day used to say quoting Dostoyevsky, “aharsh and dreadful thing.” It is costly and all-demanding. It is painful andpurifying. Above all it is the work of God in us. We experience the love of Godand then radiate it out in loving the children of God – one’s brothers andsisters. We love because God loves us and because, as St. Paul tells us, “the loveof God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has beengiven to us.” Love is not primarily an emotion. It is not incidental or optional. Love

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Br. Paul Wessinger

Tributes toPaul Wessinger, SSJE

Two memories of Paul, among many, have been touchstones in myspiritual life. The first occurred in the late 1970s, on a retreat at theDeKoven Center in Racine, Wisconsin. At the time, my wife and I weredeeply divided on the issue of the ordination of women. Each of us feltpassionately and I was going to one church, she to another. We corneredPaul in one of the quiet times and laid out our distress. Paul looked at usboth, those wonderful deep brown eyes filled with pain and love, his longarms stretched out on either side. “Sometimes all we can do,” he said, “isto hang there in the pain, not letting go of either side.” Above Paul on thewall – of which he was not aware – was a crucifix. I was unawaremyself 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 oftenin the last 25 years when faced with divisions in the Church. The second memory comes from a time about 20 years ago. I was inthe greatest personal pain that I had ever known, the pain complicated bya 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’s90th birthday celebration, staying at our home. It was a cold, rainySunday 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, Paulsimply sat there in silence with me. It made me appreciate for the firsttime how time and space have a different value formonastics. It also made me realize more deeply thecompassion of Jesus, who like Paul can simply sitsilently, being present to someone in pain and shame -present in a love deeper than words.

The Rev. John McCausland, member of the FSJWeare, New Hampshire

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January 7, 2005

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Tributes to Paul Wessinger continued from page 9

Upon graduating from Harvard College in 1936, Br. PaulWessinger matriculated at The General Theological Seminary inNew York, graduating in 1939. Thereafter he entered SSJE andserved as our Superior from 1972 to 1983, a time of enormous changein the life the church. He led SSJE in enthusiastically embracing thegift of women’s ordination and leadership in the church. He wassucceeded in office as Superior by Br. Thomas Shaw, now Bishop ofthe Diocese of Massachusetts. Br. Paul has served as a pastor andspiritual director to many church leaders, seminarians, and otherseekers. In 1985 he preached at the consecration of the new BishopCoadjutor of the Diocese of Chicago, Frank T. Griswold. He wasawarded the D.D. honoris causa by the Virginia Theological Seminaryin 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.”

Back in 1982, one balmy fall Sunday at a coffee hour afterchurch in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I met Brother Paul. Now, Ihad never met a monk before, and from that very moment I knewthere was something in store for me of depth, goodness, friendship,and life at its best. Later, I came to know Paul as a friend, someonein whom there is always something new, eternally young in spirit.Paul is loved and respected from the north to the south, from westcoast 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 forso many of his devoted friends in saying that heis always in our hearts and prayers. I cherishPaul as one of the best blessings of life.

The Rev. Julie Clarkson, member of the FSJCharlotte, North Carolina

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”Paul WessingerBiographical Information


Br. Paul: prayerful hands, prayerful heart.

belongs to the structure of reality. It is the life of the Trinity operative in uswho, through baptism, have been born of God and declared children of God. Itis a way of seeing accurately without bias, without ego neediness. To love is tosee 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 ofGod’s love, is a life’s journey. We therefore need companions: older brothers andsisters who deeply live the mystery of the divine agape and can serve as exem-plars and ministers of encouragement. Such has been the role of Brother Paul inmy 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 mostwould call reasonable in the world’s view or easy to comprehend. However, as aresponse to love, a love revealed in the Word made flesh – as a response to alove which embraces all things and continues to reveal itself in fresh andprovocative 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 theservice of Christ and his kingdom. Amen.

The doors of the monastery chapel in Cambridge open before Morning Prayerand most days remain open until after Compline. This sanctuary is available to you foryour prayers. You are always welcome to join us as we pray the Daily Office andcelebrate the Eucharist. For a service schedule, please visit our website atwww.ssje.org or call the guesthouse office at 617-876-3037.

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Fletcher Steele and the GuestHouse Courtyard GardenKaren Forslund Falb, landscape historian; with an Afterwordby Eldridge Pendleton, SSJE

Fletcher Steele (1885-1971) was wellestablished in a long career of

landscape design by the time heundertook the courtyard garden forFather Spence Burton at St. FrancisHouse, now the monastery guesthouse.Born in Rochester, New York, and agraduate of Williams College, Steeleentered Harvard’s new program inlandscape architecture in 1907. His biographer, Robin Karson,believes that he first met the architectRalph Adams Cram through ProfessorDenman Ross, who taught a populardesign and aesthetic theory course. Hehad also hired Steele, his student, to diga vegetable garden at his home at 26Craigie Street. Professionally, both

Cram and Steele followed Ross’sphilosophy that “there is no intrinsicvalue in what is new or what is old fromits age, but that all things are valuablefor what quality is in them.” Both menwere important links in the periodbetween the Beaux-Arts and themodern traditions, for although theylooked to earlier periods for inspiration,they were continually experimentingwith contemporary design theories. Starting in the mid-1920s, Steelecollaborated with Cram on severalgardens, including Cram’s own inSudbury and Mabel Choate’s atNaumkeag in Stockbridge. As Cramadvised Father Burton, Steele was anatural choice to design the first of its

Fletcher Steele’s Original Drawings for the Guesthouse Garden.


gardens, the guesthouse courtyardgarden. Since only two of Steele’sgardens are open to the public (atNaumkeag and the Camden, Maine,public library amphitheater), thiscourtyard garden has a special signifi-cance. The garden was developed in twostages, with the sunken garden on theentry and the riverside designed in1933 and the higher terrace in 1935.Both garden areas predate the chapel.The site presented many challenges tothe designer. Facing Memorial Drive, itwas in the direct view of an adjacenttall apartment house. Poor drainage ofclay soil and shade from MemorialDrive’s sycamore trees also had to beconsidered. Working with Father Burton,Steele created a garden appropriate forwelcoming guests, gatherings of thebrothers, and, at the same time, servingas a place for refuge and contemplation,especially in the summer heat. A statueof St. Francis and water features ofthree birdbaths provided the focalpoint, shaded by the sycamores of the

roadway and a circle of linden trees,which not only created a forest settingfor St. Francis but also screened thegarden from the apartments. Theasymmetrical positioning of the statueand the grass in the courtyard create anillusion of greater space in the garden.Today, even though we sense a loss ofthe linden trees and the increasedimportance of the sycamores to provideshade in the summer and shadows inthe winter, the garden has retainedmost of its original feeling. The upper terrace, by the entranceto the guesthouse, originally held amedieval knot garden planted withdwarf boxwood and dwarf Albertaspruces. In the center was set the crossthat is still in place today. Difficulties inwatering and in wintering the boxwoodled to its removal in 1946, and it wasreplaced with the present patio,designed with a granite mosaic. Thissignature of Steele’s is also found in thecourtyard in front of the chapel and inthe steps leading into the sunkengarden. Twenty years ago an elderly guest toldme he had been a member of our novitiatein the early 1930s before the chapel and

Novices and workmen in front of St. FrancisHouse (now the monastery guesthouse)during garden construction; before thechapel construction.

Two workmen with originalSt. Francis statue.

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present monastery were built and while theguesthouse garden was being constructed.From his studies of the construction ofmedieval monasteries Cram had learnedthat most of the building had been done bythe monks themselves. He hoped to tapmonastic manpower as well for the newbuildings he designed for the Society, andso he and Steele put the novices to workbuilding the stone retaining walls of thegarden. Very quickly they realized whathad worked for monastic communities intimes past would not be workable for ourchapel and monastery. In the seventy years since Steelecreated the sunken garden minor changeshave been made. The addition of a level of

The Fletcher Steele Garden underconstruction, summer, 1933.

Workmen and novices build theguesthouse garden wall, summer, 1933.

topsoil on the lawn has hidden some of thedesigner’s granite outline. The originalstatue was replaced by another in 1956 asa memorial to two of our community,Francis Hanlon and James Morley, whodrowned on mission. What remains ofSteele’s original plant material is overgrownand past its prime. The Society plans torestore the garden in the near future.

Father Benson, our founder, wouldhave agreed with Denman Ross, there is nointrinsic value in what is new or what is oldfrom its age, but that all things are valuablefor what quality is in them. The quality ofour Fletcher Steele garden has notdiminished with time.

SSJE novices and workmen who helpedin building guesthouse garden wall,summer, 1933.

St. Francis of Assisi with newly completedguesthouse garden wall.


THE PALESTINE OF JESUS course combines study with spiritualpilgrimage, an occasion to learn and pray amidst the sacred landscape

where the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ unfolded. Coursemembers visit major sites connected with the Gospel accounts: Bethlehem,Nazareth, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, Mount Tabor, the JudeanDesert, and others. After focusing on the Galilean ministry of Jesus, thecourse traces the Passion narratives through visits to Bethany, the Mount ofOlives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of the Resurrection (HolySepulchre), and on the devotional Way of the Cross. The final day of thecourse celebrates the resurrection and the challenge of discipleship with ajourney to Emmaus and a festive celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

The Palestine of Jesus14-day Pilgrimagesto the Holy Land

June 2005

August 2005

hosted by St. George’s College, Jerusalem

Join the SSJE Brothersin Jerusalem

An overview of Jerusalem.

16 SSJE

Jaffa Gate in the Old City ofJerusalem.

Courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection,Jerusalem.

Attention is also paid to the urgent social and religious issues of our own time. Course members visit the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) and theDome of the Rock, paying attention to the interfaith issues with Judaism,Islam, and Christianity. Opportunities are made to hear the voices ofPalestinians and Israelis as they struggle for justice and peace in their land.

The SSJE brothers serve as course chaplains. They lead in the daily prayer and worship, offer meditations and spiritual reflections, and give guidanceto the pilgrims on how to “pray their own lives” in the light and life of Jesustoday.


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David Allen, SSJE

The Sound of Silencea monastic virtue for all Christians

Once I heard someone describe ourSociety’s way of life by saying we

were “like Trappists at home and likeJesuits when on mission.” This

Br. EldridgePendleton

A Hallway in the Monastery Guesthouse.

description does not quite fit ourpresent way of life. It is true that in daysgone by there was a sharper contrastbetween the silence and austerity of ourhouses and the more active nature ofour outside ministries, and there was agreater stress on the when, where, andhow of keeping silence in our everydaylife. But in recent years our Society,along with the whole Church, has re-evaluated the ways in which we live out

the Christian life and the place ofsilence in it.Our daily life in the community reflectsthis, and the amount of time we spendin obligatory silence has been modified,shortened, and made less rigid. As aresult our observance has become morerealistic, more truthful. We have cometo a deeper understanding of themeaning and value of silence in our life.Thus, silence continues to be appreci-ated as an essential element in ourreligious life. The chapter on Silence in our Ruleof Life begins with these words: The giftof silence we seek to cherish is chiefly thesilence of adoring love for the mystery ofGod which words cannot express. Insilence we pass through the bounds oflanguage to lose ourselves in wonder. Ouroriginal rule contained these words,which still remain true: Silence is one ofthe chief joys of the Religious, and impartsto all of his actions strength, tranquility,and perfection; for in silence the soul holds

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A Passageway in around the Monastery Chapel.

blessed communion with God, feeds uponthe grace of past sacraments, contem-plates the true hope of the eternal reward,and rises up to the demands of the divinewill, in the joyous correspondence ofgrateful love. It is the spiritual nature of silencethat we treasure in monastic life.Practical applications—such as when,where, and how silence is to beobserved—vary according to the needsof each place where we live, andaccording to the nature of our ministrythere. We try to look upon silence in apractical way. This is not really new.St. Teresa of Avila wrote in aninstruction to her nuns in the 16thcentury that “a word, a question, or ananswer should not be considered asbreaking the silence.” In other words,we use common sense. This ensuresthat our silence will not be strained or

The sanctuary light in the Emery House chapel.

artificial. When properly understoodand observed silence frees us, helpingus to perceive the wonder of God allaround us and the wonder of oneanother. People who love one anothercan sit, stand, or walk together insilence without the need to speakwords to communicate their love; theyare at ease with one another. This canalso be true of those who are commit-ted to a common cause, and are inagreement as to the importance oftheir commitment. But it is equally true that thereare silences which divide. Often, thosewho are in disagreement with oneanother flee from unpleasant confron-tation by becoming silent, when theyare not actively arguing about theirdifferences. There are some peoplewho so dislike confrontation that theywill resort to silence rather than risk

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facing their differences of opinion.Such silences divide or separate.Sometimes silence becomes necessaryfor the preservation of peace andharmony, but it is preferable whensilence proceeds from an alreadyexisting peace and harmony. Suchsilences protect and enhance thetranquility of our lives and the depth ofour prayer. Silence is an integral element inworship as well. Our Society’s founder,Fr. Richard Meux Benson, said, Silenceis the complement of praise; the silence ofthe Religious is never mere repression ofsound. It is like the pause in music, out ofwhich the music springs new-born. In thatsilence the music has come to new life.Leave out the pauses in singing or sayingthe Divine Office, and you leave out itslife; it becomes a weary burden ofunmeaning sounds weighing upon the ear.Our devotion absolutely requires thepauses that Religious silence brings to it. In our practice of the DivineOffice, we gather in silence. Care istaken to pause midway through eachverse of the Psalms. We pause, too, forsilence after the reading of the Scrip-ture lessons at Morning and EveningPrayer and at the Eucharist, to give us achance to reflect on what has just beenread. These silences keep us mindful

A view waiting to be seen at Emery House.

that we are praying the Office andEucharist, not just saying or singing thewords. Silence describes the tone of ourprivate prayer as well. The prophetElijah, when he had fled to the wilder-ness of Mount Horeb, found God not inthe wind or earthquake or fire, but inthe sound of sheer silence. It was out ofthat silence that the voice of the Lordcame to him telling him what he was todo. (I Kings 19:11-18) The DesertFathers and Mothers also found Godspeaking to them out of the sound ofsheer silence. They considered the voicesand noises of the world to be obstaclesto hearing the word of God in prayer.They fled into the desert in order tohear God’s voice. Saint Benedict, in the sixthcentury, wrote relatively little in hisRule about silence as such. He urgedthe diligent cultivation of silence at alltimes, but especially at night. (R.B. 42)Interestingly, throughout the Rule ofBenedict there is a stress on listening. Itwas understood that the purpose ofmonastic silence was to enable themonks and nuns to hear what was beingread to them during times of instruc-tion, and to hear God speaking to themin their times of prayer and meditation.The first words of the Rule of Benedictare, Listen carefully, my son, to the

A view of the Merrimack River, from thenorthwest bluff of the Emery Houseproperty.

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master’s instructions, and attend to themwith the ear of your heart. Listening isclosely related to Obedience, another ofthe keystones of the monastic life. In our time, in addition to thenoise of everyday living, we aresaturated with sound, surrounded by thewords and sounds of radio, television,telephones, and other forms of elec-tronic communication. It has becomeespecially important that we protect ourtimes of prayer and meditation bymaking good use of silence.

Fr. Benson teaches us how silencehelps us wait upon God. He writes, Ourlife must learn to rise up into a habitualsilence for the contemplation of God. Thisis the silence of holy love. Love is never isso intense as when it is silent. In the silenceof holy love we pour out our whole being toGod. Words gratify our consciousness, butin silence we surrender up ourselves toGod to live before him; we listen for thevoice of God; we act in the power of God;we welcome the manifestation of God. Inthe simple waiting upon God there is thegreatest attainment of the creature.

A panoramic view from the Emery House chapel.

Gary-A

ndrew Sm

ith

22 SSJE

James Knutsen, n/SSJE

Testing a Vocation

Attracted very much by its Rule oflife, I came to the Society of Saint

John the Evangelist feeling deeply aneed and desire to make my relation-ship with God the central concern ofmy life. I came here from being a parishpriest, and I like to think many parish-ioners would hope that the centralconcern of their priest’s life is his or herrelationship with God. And so it wasfor me. But…but somehow the demandsand busy-ness of parish life and myadaptation to that life had me feeling abit off-center much of the time. Myrelationship with God somehow seemedto have become more resource thansource. I was constantly drawing fromthat center, to be sure, but my lifewasn’t really flowing from it. Yet is thatnot what we all seek a life which flowsfrom the One who is the center of ourbeing? The last weeks before coming tothe Society were a bit crazy-making forme. Even as I packed and made mymove with a sense of joyful eagernessand expectation (along with manypoignant partings), parts of me werescreaming inside: Are you NUTS?What the hell are you DOING? As Icrossed the threshold, I was very awarethat I was not at all clear that I wascalled to this for life; I felt this espe-cially sharply about celibacy.

But I also felt very clear that this iswhere I needed and felt called to be justnow. I felt that God and my owndeepest desires and the circumstances ofmy life had conspired to make testing avocation the only option that held anyreal interest for me at this point in mylife. It had become clear for me, clearenough to take this step, that if I wasever to be really free and available for adeep, committed primary relationshipwith another person, that God and Ireally had to focus on our relationshipfirst and in some depth. And I waspersuaded that God was calling me todo that in this company of friends thatis the SSJE, and that, yes, maybe Iwould be here for the rest of my life. Last August, about a month beforeI was clothed and formally received as anovice in the Society, I sent a lengthye-mail to many friends describing mylife here as it was then, and I foundmyself saying that I was happier than Ihad been in decades. That continues tobe so, and a huge part of that is the waythis life continually throws you back onyour relationship with God, whetherthat’s in the daily hour of meditativeprayer, or the stream of common prayerin the chapel, or the constant need tolet go of what you would rather do inorder to do what has been asked of you.It’s a life that is designed not to workunless you are letting Christ be at thecenter of it all. Often it is very uncom-


fortable, with many frictions andfrustrations, but I find that if I canreturn to the mystery of Christ dwellingin my heart, there is a remarkablepeace, and, yes, happiness. I would say that my centrallearning so far is what a huge issue trustis for me. The Rule says, “Our share inhumanity’s sinfulness means that we arestill hindered by a fear of what Goddesires and resistance to what Godordains.” This is very true of me.Recently in my meditative prayer it ismore and more emerging that whatGod desires for me will be my joy, andthat God will be my best ally in comingto know and understand my owndeepest desires. Parts of me wouldrather pursue the latter on my own,despite a track record that is notespecially great. Lately I have been repeatedlydrawn to this parable of Jesus: Thekingdom of God is as if someone would

scatter seed on the ground, and wouldsleep and rise night and day, and theseed would sprout and grow, he does notknow how. The earth produces of itself,first the stalk and then the head, thenthe full grain in the head. But when thegrain is ripe, at once he goes in with hissickle, because the harvest is come.(Mark 4:26-29) Parts of me want to try to figureout day to day whether I have a lifelongvocation in SSJE, and if I leave, whatwill I do then? This parable tells methat this is a hidden process, and that Icannot know the answers now. My tasknow is to trust God and to give myselfto God and to this life as fully as I can,and let it do its work in me. Thishappens most crucially, I believe, belowthe level of my awareness; I do notknow how. Something is happening,though, and I pray that when harvesttime comes, God will make clear whatis next.

Wood-burning stove in a hermitage at Emery House.

Dam

on Hickey

24 SSJE

FELLOWSHIP OF SAINT JOHN

Callan Barrett

When monk and lay practice are interwoven, the fragrance of thousands of plum blossoms fills the tendirections.” This snippet from a prologue to a Zen koan speaksto how I feel as a member of the Fellowship of Saint John theEvangelist. Something finds expression in the shared lives ofbrothers and friends, in the blending of the elements ofreligious 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 ofvocational discernment and community service/social justicewithin the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Our small community prayed andshared meals with the brothers regularly, sharing in support, humor (inherent incommunity living), and the unfolding mysteries of the liturgical year. After the yearof spiritual exploration, support, and communal relationship, I sought to mark mycommitment to spiritual practice and to a community that had come to feel like partof home. It was in that spirit and in a more historical, less personal one that I joinedthe Fellowship. The relationship between monasteries and laypeople is ancient andvital. To be a part of the FSJ is to be part of a living tradition that nourishes spiri-tual, intellectual, artistic and social growth. It feels like a creative dynamic, thiswide community, which makes the presence of the spirit available. The differencesbetween laypeople’s and monks’ lives can strengthen and refresh, even sustain theother in this big body of Christ in which we find ourselves. The Rule of the Society of Saint John Evangelist states that “a ceaseless interchangeof mutual love unites the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Chapter 21, “The Mysteryof Prayer”), and also that “the Spirit uses the demands of friendship to further ourconversion” (Chapter 42, “The Graces of Friendship”). To join the FSJ is to supportthe brothers in their essential work, and to enter into the demands and rewards oflife committed to us by God.

The Fellowship of Saint John (FSJ) is comprised ofnearly 1,000 men and women throughout the world who desire tolive their Christian life in special association with the Society ofSaint John the Evangelist. They have a vital interest in the lifeand work of the community and support our life and ministrieswith their prayers, encouragement and financial gifts. Thebrothers of the Society welcome members of the Fellowship aspartners in the gospel life, and pray for them by name during theDaily office, following a regular cycle. Together with us they form an extendedfamily, a company of friends abiding in Christ and seeking to bear a unitedwitness to him as “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” following the example ofthe Beloved Disciple. For more information, please contact Br. JonathanMaury, the Director of the FSJ, at the monastery.


Working at Emery House presents many opportunities for ministry as wellas spiritual growth. A large part of my responsibility is preparing the

main house and hermitages to receive guests, often times weary travelersstopping for a time of renewal, reconciliation or rest on the journey. It is my joyto 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 Eucharistand 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 doyou need? Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will giveyou rest.”

Sally Murdoch, staff member of Emery House, with Brs. John Goldring andRufus Van Horn.

SSJE brothers Sunday and Feast Day sermons are nowavailable on the web. Visit the site at www.ssje.org

Work and MinistrySally Murdoch

26 SSJE

COMMUNITY NEWS

We celebrated our brother DavidAllen’s 75th birthday on December 19thand his 46th anniversary of ordinationto the priesthood on December 21st. Br.David serves the community as theAssistant Treasurer and is also active inthe Boston Chinese Ministry, hosted bySt. Paul’s Cathedral. In June he willparticipate in the annual Asia-AmericaMinistries conference, this year to beheld in San Francisco.

Br. David Allen with members of theBoston Chinese Ministry.

Two new postulants! Grant Nichols,who worked as a national sales managerfor a New York City design house, wasreceived in early December. AlanCooper, who worked as a floral designerin Chicago, was received in earlyFebruary.

Grant Nichols

Giovanni Figueredo, was released fromhis initial vows on January 16th,because his visa to the United Statescould not be renewed. Giovanni cameto the community in 2000, havingworked as the International News desk-editor for El Nacional newspaper and aPolitical Affairs reporter for The DailyJournal, both in Caracas, Venezuela, hishomeland. He has returned to Venezu-ela where he plans to continue hiscareer as a bi-lingual journalist and tobe active in the Anglican Church ofVenezuela. He said to the brothers that“I leave the community as a changedman. I will always be thankful for mytime with SSJE.” We pray God’scontinued blessing on Giovanni’s lifeand work.

Alan Cooper

Giovanni Figueredo

Brs. Geoffrey Tristram and DavidVryhof taught one-week courses at the

Brs. Geoffrey Tristram and David Vryhof


Virginia Theological Seminary duringtheir January term. Geoffrey taught acourse called, “Teaching Others toPray;” David taught “The Ministry ofSpiritual Direction.”

At Church of the Advent, Boston, Br.Eldridge Pendleton led workshops inJanuary on “Real Prayer” in and Aprilon Charles Chapman Grafton, one ofthe founders of SSJE and an early rectorof the Advent. Also in January he led aretreat for the bishops of the Torontoand Niagara (Canada) dioceses, and inFebruary for parishioners from St.Michael and All Angels parish, Dallas.In April he hosts the annual meeting ofthe Parish Historians Association, to beheld at the monastery, and lead a retreatfor Grace and Holy Trinity parish inRichmond, VA. Br. Eldridge hasrecently been appointed to the novitiateformation team, assisting Br. GeoffreyTristram, Novice Guardian.

Br. Eldridge Pendleton

The Rev. Dr. Becket Franks, OSB, amonk of St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle,Illinois, is living with the SSJE commu-nity during his sabbatical time. FatherBeckett is the recipient of a HarvardDivinity School fellowship.

Fr. Becket Franks with Brs. EldridgePendleton and Jonathan Maury

Late January Br. James Koestertraveled to the Diocese of Kootenay, inthe interior of British Columbia, wherehe preached at the Cathedral of SaintMichael and All Angels and then led aretreat for the clergy of the diocese atthe Sorrento Centre. In some waysthis was a home coming for a memberof SSJE as in its early days, theSorrento Centre was a branch house ofour community, staffed by members ofSSJE from the Canadian Congregationin Bracebridge, Ontario. Today the

Br. James Koester

Seven men attended our “Come andSee” weekend program, December 16-19,to explore the possibility of a vocation tothe religious life. The next “Come andSee” weekend will be held on June 2-5.Please see our advertisement on page 37.

Sorrento Centre is a vital resource forChristian formation and nurture inwestern Canada.

Br. Timothy Solverson led a weekendretreat for the vestry of St. Andrew’sEpiscopal Church, Norfolk, VA, midJanuary, on the theme of “communitybuilding” and also preached and spoketo the adult forum. He and Br. KevinHackett spoke at the chapel serviceand with various groups of students atSt. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, fortwo days in late January.

Br. Timothy Solverson

In January Br. James Knutsen was areader for the General OrdinationExaminations (GOEs). The examina-tions are required for graduatingEpiscopal seminarians pursuing Holy

Br. James Knutsen

Orders. The readers convened at CampAllen in the Diocese of Texas. OurBishop-Visitor, Bp. Arthur Walmsley,served as one of the chaplains to thereaders.

Br. Curtis Almquist led LentenRetreats for the Clergy of the Dioceseof Massachusetts and for the Diocese ofWashington in February and March. InApril, he and Br. Kevin Hackett metwith staff and parishioners of St.Michael and All Angels parish, Dallas,and also were among the leaders in thePathways to Ministry Program, gather-ing young people from all across thecountry for a weekend program toexplore vocations in ministry.

Brs. Curtis Almquist and Kevin Hackett

Two teams of brothers served aschaplains for two-week “Palestine ofJesus” programs at St. George’s College,Jerusalem: Brs. Mark Brown andTimothy Solverson, October 26-

28 SSJE

November 8, 2004, and Brs. JamesKoester and Robert L’EsperanceMarch 30-April 12, 2005. Br. Timothyrecounts how his experience “wasawesome and inspiring.” “I came backwith a clearer understanding of what itis to lay down one’s life for the Gospel.The Palestinian Christians havemodeled Christian witness in the faceof persecution and I have a newunderstanding of what it means to ‘takeup your cross daily and follow Jesus’”SSJE brothers will serve as chaplains intwo upcoming courses June 17-30 andAugust 2-15, 2005. See p. 15 for moreinformation.

In February Brs. Rufus Van Horn andCharles LaFond led a Lenten missionin New Orleans for St. Andrew’s andGrace Episcopal Churches on thetheme of baptism.

During Holy Week Br.Geoffrey Tristramoffered daily lectures atCanterbury Cathedral,England, entitled“Praying the Way of theCross” and shared in therich liturgies ofPassiontide and Easter.Canterbury

Cathedral

In April, Brs. Roy Cockrum andEldridge Pendleton represented SSJE atthe annual meeting of the Council onAnglican Religious Orders in theAmericas (CAROA), hosted by thesisters of the Society of St. John theDivine at their newly-constructedconvent in Toronto.

Br. Roy Cockrum

Dr. Fredrica HarrisThompsett, theMary WolfeProfessor of Histori-cal Theology at theEpiscopal DivinitySchool, Cambridge,and long-timefriend of thecommunity, will be

the guest preacher at our annualFellowship of Saint John Day celebra-tion, Saturday, May 7th. The liturgy,beginning at 11:00 a.m., is followed bya luncheon in the cloister garden.Members of the Fellowship, RSVP byApril 25th if you can be with us for thisspringtime celebration:[email protected]

Dr. FredricaThompsett

Br. John Oyama


30 SSJE

Spring 2005

Retreat Programs and Workshops:

Monastery Guesthouse, Cambridge, MassachusettsEmery House, West Newbury, Massachusetts

The Society of Saint John the Evangelist

The brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist have for years offeredhospitality to those seeking a place of quiet and renewal. At the monastery in

Cambridge, Massachusetts and at Emery House in West Newbury, Massachusetts, weinvite you to find space to pray and renew your spirit. We are pleased to welcomeyou to these sanctuaries of beauty and reflective stillness. Generous gifts of land and money from Isabella Stewart Gardner, ElbridgeGerry, and the family of then-SSJE member and later superior Spence Burtonenabled the Society to begin developing the property along Memorial Drive. Today’s guesthouse, designed by the famous twentieth-century Americanarchitect, Ralph Adams Cram, and built in 1924-1928, was the original monasterybuilding. 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, areanother legacy of the Burton family’s philanthropy. The renowned Americanlandscape designer, Fletcher Steele, designed the guesthouse garden in 1934. The monastery is located along the Charles River, near Harvard University andthe Episcopal Divinity School. Guesthouse facilities include large and smallmeeting rooms, chapels for private and corporate prayer, a library, garden, and singlebedrooms, each with its own sink; showers and toilets are nearby. Linens and towelsare provided. Guests join the brothers for three meals daily, eaten communally andnormally taken in silence, accompanied either by a brother reading aloud orrecorded music. Emery House and its 120 acres of undeveloped meadow and woodland were giftsto the Society from the Emery family, who homesteaded the property in 1641. Overthe past two decades, we have been joined by generous benefactors and friends inour efforts to conserve the house, woodlands, and meadows as a beautiful sanctuaryfor retreat. Emery House is located in West Newbury, Massachusetts, about forty-five milesnorth of Boston and is adjacent to the 480-acre Maudsley State Park. Emery Housefeatures spacious and fully-equipped “hermitages,” period guest rooms in the 1745main house, two rustic wood cabins, and three meals daily, taken communally in themain house. Guests are welcome to join the brothers in daily monastic worship.Emery House is easily accessible by public transportation. Out-of-town guests mayboard regularly scheduled buses leaving from Logan Airport and South Station,Boston for Newburyport.


The Guesthouse BrotherEmery House21 Emery LaneWest Newbury, MA 01985-1333Email: [email protected](978)462-7940 x10

If you would like to visit us or attend one of our retreats or workshops:Please contact the appropriate guesthouse brother:

The Guesthouse BrotherMonastery Guesthouse980 Memorial DriveCambridge, MA 02138-5717Email: [email protected](617)876-3037 x10

The monastery guesthouse and Emery House are open to guests seven nights a week.Guests may arrive from Monday afternoon through Saturday morning. Residentguests may choose to stay in the guesthouse on Sunday night. Public worship is notoffered, nor are any meals served from Sunday Evening Prayer until Monday EveningPrayer (the community’s Sabbath time).

Parking at the monastery:Parking at the monastery is extremely limited; we encourage guests to use publictransportation if at all possible. Space cannot be guaranteed, and guests requiringparking must call ahead to check availability. A $10 per day parking fee will applyafter June 1, 2005.

Please note:The Society reserves the right to decline applications for retreats or place applicantswho have made a number of retreats with us in the past on a waiting list. Brothersmay also exercise discretion over admissions based on other priorities. Depositchecks 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 topay. We offer reduced fees to full-time students. But fees cover only about 50% ofactual costs. We depend on guesthouse income to support our life and ministries.Published fees are suggested amounts. Individuals with limited resources are asked togive as they are able; those with ample resources help us continue to offer reducedrates to those who cannot afford to pay by increasing their giving beyond thesuggested fee. Your additional gift may be wholly or partially tax deductible.

GROUP PROGRAM RETREATSGroup program retreats are generally conducted from Thursday or Friday eveningthrough 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, whichalternate with time for prayer, reflection, and recreation. It is customary for thoseon retreat to observe silence.

Suggested fees for group program retreats:Monastery Guesthouse:$90.00 per person per night$45.00 for full-time students

Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundabledeposit equal to 50% of your total fee.

32 SSJE

Emery House:$90.00 per person per night$45.00 for full-time students


COMPANIONED FIVE-DAY RETREATSCompanioned five-day directed retreats provide guests with more ample time toreceive the gift of renewed intimacy with God in Christ through silence and sustainedprayer. Guests meet individually, once each day, with a director who offers them helpin recognizing God’s will and touch in their lives and who gives suggestions for howthey might respond to the invitations of the Spirit disclosed in prayer. A team ofleaders conducts companioned retreats; leaders include SSJE brothers and, occasion-ally, other ordained and lay spiritual directors. Companioned retreats are suggestedfor persons with previous retreat experience. Companioned retreats focus on worshipand spending time with God. With their registration, applicants should include abrief (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

Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundable depositequal to 50% of your total fee.

NOURISHINGYOUR SOUL:INDIVIDUAL RETREATSIndividuals may not wish to attend aprogram retreat, yet desire a time of quietand the opportunity to join the brothers inworship and silence. Most weekdays andsome weekends are available for individualretreats. If you would like to meet with abrother during your individual retreat,please be certain to make that requestwhen you book your reservation.

Continued


Suggested fees for Individual Self-directed Retreats:Monastery Guesthouse:$60.00 per person per night$30.00 for full-time students

Suggested fees for Individual Directed Retreats:Monastery Guesthouse:

$95.00 per person per night$45.00 for full-time students

Reservations are confirmed upon receipt of a non-transferable/non-refundabledeposit equal to 50% of your total fee.



GUEST HOUSE PROGRAMSCambridge

NOURISHING THE SOULindividual retreats at the monastery in the winter and springApril 29-May 1, 2005 // May 13-15, 2005 // May 27-29, 2005 and all weekendsin the month of June, 2005

DRINKING FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATIONa retreat for clergyApril 4-9, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm)

A COMPANIONED RETREATfive days for quiet reflectionMay 16-21, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm)

COME AND SEE a program for men interested in exploring religiouslife at SSJE (See our ad on page 37)June 9-12, 2005 (Thursday 5 pm – Sunday 2 pm)

For program descriptions and costs of retreats andworkshops at the Monastery, Cambridge, please visitour website at www.ssje.org or call 617-876-3037

APRIL 2005 - JUNE 2005

34 SSJE

RETREATS AT EMERY HOUSEWest NewburyFor program descriptions and costs of retreats atEmery House, please visit our website at www.ssje.orgor call 978-462-7940

NOURISHING THE SOUL individual retreats at Emery House in the winter and springMay 27-29, 2005 and all weekends in the month of June, 2005

A COMPANIONED RETREATfive days for quiet reflectionApril 4-9, 2005 (Monday 5 pm – Saturday 2 pm)

WRITTEN THAT YOU MAY BELIEVEPraying with the Gospel of JohnMay 9-15, 2005 (Monday 5 pm through Saturday 2 pm)

HIS GARMENT’S HEM: THE CHRISTIAN ARTOF HEALING TOUCHMay 19-22, 2005 (Thursday 5 pm through Sunday 2 pm)

ICON WRITING WORKSHOP AND RETREATJune 13-19, 2005 (Monday 5 pm through Sunday 2 pm)

FIRST TIME IN PRAYER AND QUIETa weekend retreat for beginnersJune 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 forthose seeking spiritual and theological formation. COWLEY PUBLICATIONS is committed todeveloping a new generation of writers and teachers who will encourage people to think andpray in new ways about spirituality, reconciliation, and the future. Please see our website:www.cowley.org

We have adopted the arch as an image to symbolize ourcommunity’s life and future. The arch figures so prom-

inently into the architecture of the monastery, and it is arepeated motif at Emery House as well. Arches are structureswith deep spiritual and psychic resonance. They embody andsymbolize 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 intime and space (chronos, the physical world) through which one passes to enteranother 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 ortranscendent reality. In the New Testament, the arch is also a fundamentallyJohannine symbol. In John’s gospel we hear Jesus saying, “I am the way,” “I am thedoorway to the sheepfold.” This may well have figured into the architect RalphAdams 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 ofour identity as a community: our discipline of prayer and worship, our ministries ofspiritual formation and spiritual direction, our teaching and retreat leading; ourpublishing books that encourage people to think and pray in new ways about the lifeof faith and the future; our advocating for and empowering those who live inpoverty. We find the arch a strong and inspiring image. The arch is also a paradoxi-cal image which is built on weakness. Many centuries ago Leonardo da Vinci wrotethat “an arch is nothing else than a strength caused by two weaknesses; for the archin buildings is made up of two segments of a circle, and each of these segments beingin 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 ofweakness is also a reality we brothers continually experience. We know one anothervery well, not just our strengths but also our weaknesses. A breakdown or breakupbecomes a point of breakthrough for God. We so often witness God’s strength beingperfected out of weakness, both in our life together as a community and as weminister 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 seemingabsence.


36 SSJE

At Emery House, Br. Charles LaFond and Duke


We are dependent on friends and benefactors for the financial support of the life andministry of SSJE. Please remember SSJE in your estate planning, and share our life andneeds with others who may have interest. The brothers are deeply grateful.

Agent Bank: Investors Bank & Trust CompanyAgent Bank Number: 22319Agent Bank Clearing Number: 2132 (DTC participant number)Agent Bank Account Number: 45-23072Agent Bank Account: Society of St. John the Evangelist

We need certain information to properly process the stock transfer. This information caneither come directly from you or from your broker, but must be done before the actualtransfer is made. Please call the Monastery Treasurer’s Office with the followinginformation:

Gifts of Stock and other Securities

For tax purposes, you will be sent an official acknowledgment stating the mean valueof your gift.

a. Your nameb. Name of stockc. Exact number of shares being transferred

James Koester, SSJE, TreasurerSociety of Saint John the Evangelist980 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A.617 876-3037 ext. 16

d. CUSIP number of the stocke. Company name and DTC number of the brokerf. Intended purpose of the gift

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 atSSJE. Men between the ages of 21 and 45 who are interested inlearning more about a vocation with SSJE are encouraged to join usfor this program. Participants share in the monastic rhythm ofworship, work and meals; receive instruction on the history andmission of SSJE; and meet with brothers individually and in groups totalk about our life. There is no charge for this program beyond thecosts of traveling to the monastery.

For more information, please contact our Novice Guardian,Br. Geoffrey Tristram, at the monastery. Email: [email protected]

Members of the Fellowship of Saint John and friends in CANADA who would like to make afinancial contribution may send cheques payable to “SSJE” to SCOTIA TRUST CO., ATTN: CHARITABLETRUST 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 wemay personally thank you.

An Adirondack chair, awaiting a guest at Emery House.

38 SSJE

Gary-A

ndrew Sm

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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.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SSJE Retreat Registration FormPlease return completed form to the appropriate Guesthouse Brother

(either the Monastery Guesthouse or Emery House)


980 Mem

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Cam

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Documents

Cowley Magazine - Easter 2005