Adelynrood

Today will be just a journal entry about experience, emotions, reaction, observations and reflection..... the I, I, Me, Me stuff of life.  Haven't had much time to do any in-depth reading and the Living School will not put out our reading list until September 12th anyway, (which is both a relief and annoyance :)

Days here at Adelynrood  http://www.adelynrood.org  are full but not "busy", ordered but not oppressive as we follow a "Holy" Routine, (and "holy" companionship),  around which the days revolve.

07:00  Canticle of the Creatures (aka Canticle of Brother Sun) read antiphonally on outside porches 

The Canticle of the Sun

Composed by St. Francis of Assisi, 1225 C.E.

    Most high, almighty, good Lord God, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing.
   

Praised be my Lord for all thy creatures, especially through our brother sun, who brings us the day and the light; beautiful is he, and radiant with great splendor; OLord, he signifies to us thee!

Praised be my Lord for sister moon and the stars, which thou has set in the heavens, clear and precious and fair.
   

Praised be my Lord for brother wind, and the air and the clouds, and clear skies and all weathers by which the life of thy creatures is sustained.
   

Praised be my Lord for sister water; most useful is she, and humble, and precious and pure.
   

Praised be my Lord for brother fire, who illumines the night and gives us warmth; bright and merry is he, and mighty and strong.
   

Praised be my Lord for our sister, mother earth, who sustains and teaches us, and brings forth divers fruits and the many-hued flowers and grasses.
   

Praised be my Lord for those who forgive in the name of love, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who persevere in peace, for thou, most High, shall give them a crown.
   

Praised be my Lord for sister bodily death, from whom no living one can flee; woe to those who die in mortal sin; blessed are they who walk in thy most holy will, for the second death will not harm them.
   

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks, and serve him with great humility


(Optional)
A Morning Resolve

I will try this day to live a simple, sincere, and serene life, repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity, and self-seeking; cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity, and the habit of holy silence; exercising economy in expenditure, generosity in giving, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a childlike faith in God.

In particular I will try to be faithful in those habits of prayer, work, study, physical exercise, eating, and sleep which I believe the Holy Spirit has shown me to be right.

And as I cannot in my own strength do this, nor even with a hope of success attempt it, I look to thee, O Lord God my Father, in Jesus my Savior, and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.



07:15  Chapel

A version of The Lord’s Prayer

from The New Zealand Prayer Book (sometimes read in Chapel, sometimes at Compline)

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and for ever. Amen.

08:00 Breakfast
12:00 Intercessions
12:30 Lunch
17:45 Social Hour
18:30 Dinner
21:00 Compline

A Prayer sometimes read from the Episcopalian Common Book of Prayer

Lord, it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.

The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.
In your name we pray. Amen.

21:30 Grand Silence until after Chapel the next day


And posted above my work station when I have been Events Coordinator:

Four Fold Franciscan Blessing

May God bless you with a restless discomfort

about easy answers, half truths,

and superficial relationships,

so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger

at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

so that you may tirelessly work

for justice, freedom and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears

to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation,

or the loss of all that they cherish,

so that you may reach out your hand

to comfort them

and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness

to believe that you can make a difference in this world

so that you are able to do

what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

This year I am working in the gardens which is prayer enough as I harvest vegetables, pull out and put to rest spent flowers, weed flower beds and nourish bushes with loam.  The bees hum, the chickadees flit, the squirrels and chipmunks dart here and there and always make me laugh.  YES! YES!  Praise to thee everyone!  Love, love, love!!!

*****************

This yearly Adelyrood sojourn of mine has been a joy, (and a trial) for many years now.  I first met the sisters of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross on a pilgrimage I made in 2010 when I walked from my home (at that time) in Ellsworth Maine to a Zen Buddhist sesshin (silent retreat) in Garrison New York. I was holding the question of whether or not to step into "formal" zen teaching and was seeking clarity and "knowing".   During this walk, serendipitously, Adelynrood and I were put in contact with each other, and through their mission of Radical Hospitality and my pilgrimage vow to say "Yes!" to everything that occurred during that pilgrimage, an unshakable bond has been formed.  Through the silence which is part of their day here, and the genuine love and care with which they treat guests (for example this past Saturday they hosted their annual day of retreat, including a huge picnic, any books the participants might want from the Adelynrood permanent, on-going book sale, and gift bags with necessities and small luxuries, for 45 of the homeless of Boston), and each other, I immediately felt at home, and the kindredness of what lies beneath dogma and rhetoric of thought was palpable......and welcome.  It was also a kind of homecoming for me.  Before I ran across Eastern philosophy and Zen in particular, I was wont to write again and again in my journals,

"Grant that I may not so much 
seek to be consoled as to console;


To be understood, as to understand;


To be loved, as to love;
..."

.....which comes from this prayer, (which may not have been written by Francis at all I am told),

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.


Where there is Hatred, let me sow Love.


Where there is Injury, Pardon.


Where there is Doubt, Faith.


Where there is Despair, Hope.


Where there is Darkness, Light, and


Where there is Sadness, Joy.

O Divine Master,


Grant that I may not so much 
seek to be consoled as to console;


To be understood, as to understand;




To be loved, as to love;


For it is in giving that we receive,




It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,


And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

The first time I stumbled across Adelynrood there was a sense of homecoming.......and each time I have visited afterwards, there has been this same feeling, and at least once every time I am here, I am reduced (or raised up) to tears.  These tears are the embodied emotions of gratitude, joy, bittersweet sorrow, and love.  These tears are the same as those I shed on mountain trails, on quiet night time streets of big cities, in zen gardens found in unexpected places, in rustic zendos and decaying abodes, in polished palaces as well as in  cesspits and swamps. Yet here, in this "Christian" setting with all the thought overtones, there very often comes a resistance, an immediate angry response of "No!  I won't!"  Lol - what IS that?  Is that childhood stuff with "God" as a stand-in for disappointing parents?  Is this a running away from "God's love" as one of the women here suggested?  Is this ego wanting nothing to be greater than itself?  I don't know.  So I "walk" for clarity here.  

Yesterday, one of the readings came from John:

John 9:1-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We[a] must work the works of him who sent me[b] while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

My mind immediately went into the "comparitorium" (a great word coined by one of my friends here :)  and "saw" the sameness to "buddhism".  

I. "Right view"

     1) No one to blame.  Things are as they are. Everything is well.  Everything is "perfect".

     2) Pragmatic - Do what is necessary. Respond authentically/immediately to the call of 
         the universe in whatever form it takes.

     3) the mud of Jesus gave sight to a blind man

     4) the mud of the lotus gives life to blossoming of enlightenment
     5) the man must go do something for himself..... he must do the work of "washing" ....
      

.................and so on.

There is more rustling around inside Karen here, but now it is time for the day to begin....... so, to be continued.......  In the meantime, let me share some of what gives me so much joy today.