Storytelling

November is family stories month. The month is dedicated to the telling and saving of family stories. Starting with our biological kinship, the definition of family can also be applied to friends, our religious community, fraternal organizations or other groups with which we share a familial bond. The approaching holiday gatherings can be an ideal time for storytelling.

Here is a story from my past.

Just out of high school, I visited a monastery as a novice for several months. The location is in Lower Michigan and the Episcopal Benedictine Monastery in Three Rivers is the setting. When I 1st arrived there in the middle of the night, I met the Abbot and he said unless I performed some type of miracle, I was to follow orders and not question what had been ordained over the centuries. I was young, and not too rebellious yet, so that was an easy order to follow. The days would start early, and my 1st week there, I was assigned to work in the vegetable gardens. I remember planting seeds for days on end, sunup to sundown. The senior monk in charge thought he had the timing of the crop down to a science, but his aim was not true. We had an abundance of corn to eat the month of August. We had corn for breakfast, lunch, supper, and made numerous gallons of wines from that crop. The whole month of August! Needless to say, the adage to waste not is a prevalent philosophy there.

After the garden was planted, I was assigned to the farm, and that had a Xmas tree farm on it. On hot summer days, we would cut and bale hay, and trim the evergreens on the farm to ready them for selling in the local town. On those hot days, we would ride back to the monastery in the back of the pickup with the wind blowing thru our hair. Then we would go swimming in the lake behind the gated walls of the community. Beside the lake was a lone cabin, where novices would go into retreat at, before taking the monks vows.

Our day would start out with a high mass, meditation, and chanting, then we would head to breakfast of cereals and wine. Around noon we would again assemble before lunch, and chant and pray. Then it was afternoon chores and some recreation, and a quiet time in our rooms, then more chanting and prayers before supper. The evening would end with a vesper service at dusk beofre retiring for the night, which usually was around 11PM. The outside community was not invited in until feast days and then the Sunday morning for service was open to the local community. This would be a high mass service with the Brothers raising their voices in chants and to create a vibration thru the structure. 50-60 male voices was a powerful sound to be heard in Gregorian chants.

Since St. Benedict was a hermit monk, the monastery had very little to do with the community and was totally self sufficient in all things. While the stay there was peaceful and quiet, I instead chose to leave at the end of summer and declined to go into retreat in the monks cabin and thus emerging taking vows.