Hi all it has been a while since my last blog and I know a couple of my friend's wanted to see me back in action so here I am, back with what I have been up to.  I know most of you know what I have been up to but some of you might not know exactly what I have been up to.  The last big thing I have done was taking a trip to Hulbert, OK.  Many of you may ask, "What brings you to Hulbert, OK?"  Well, me and a good friend went to a monastery, called "Clear Creek".  It is a Benedictine Monastery where they celebrate the Tridentine Mass. 

We left on Friday after work and got there just in time for Compline.  When you get closer to the Monastery the roads are obviously lest traveled.

Compline in a nutshell are prayers at the end of the day.  (Completion of a work day)  After Compline the monks and visitors observe silence until the next day.  I must admit I didn't stay true in staying silent as JP and I had to communicate on where our sleeping arrangements were going to be.

Morning Prayer

Picture Below was not taken from our trip but a way to show the monks while praying

On Saturday morning we wake up around 4:30 to pray Matins 5:15 and Lauds 6:15 (In essence praying morning prayers before sunrise)  Essentially what happens is you walk into the oratory (chapel) and once all the monks gather they begin and pray in Gregorian Chant which is all in latin.  It is very peaceful, especially in morning when there was hardly any wind and the sky was full of stars and throughout the prayer you see a glass painted window start to illuminate as the sun starts to rise.

Here is a picture of where the monks currently pray until the Church is finished being built.  Basically the converted a horse stable into a residence and added the chapel into it.

After Matins and Lauds the Low Mass starts at 6:50, which is basically silent as the priest whispers the prayers and you follow along with a missal or you can sit silently and pray. After the Low Mass it goes immediately into prime which is praying more Psalms. After Prime we would go and eat breakfast with the monks.

Breakfast

Basically the breakfast consisted of “fresh milk”. You think what you get at the store is whole milk? Wait till you have tried fresh cow milk with a little bit of the curd dropping into your cereal, then you have experienced whole milk. If you can't do the milk, you can eat your cereal dry or you can just not the cereal. They also have coffee for the guests and homemade bread in which you can spread peanut butter and/or jelly on it. It isn't all that bad.

After breakfast we got ready to work!

Work

JP and I decided that this weekend retreat would consist of prayer, work, relaxation, and meditation.  So after breakfast we got our working clothes on and decided to head up this gentleman from Conway, Arkansas.  This guy comes up once a month and helps out with whatever needs to be done around the Monastery.  The guy asked us if we were welders... well most of you know that I have never done this type of work.  Basically what JP and I were to do is to help them move that frame looking thing....  Well we had to place a beam at the bottom of it that way the fork lift could move it to another section, this took quite some time.

 I also helped clean up a shelf that was in dire need of cleaning

BEFORE

AFTER

And JP was sweeping up the place.


We also helped did some work where they are going to feed lambs, enough about work.  We were smoked after doing about 3 1/2 hours of manual labor.

Rest/Reading/Meditation

We got back and showered up and ate lunch and basically had the opportunity to rest/reading/meditation/prayer.  I chose the reading and meditation and JP well he was wiped and took a nap (SMART GUY). 

Visit to the Building Site

The rest of the day we went to go see the building site of where the Church and the monks new livings quarters are going to be.  It is expected that the monks will be able to move into their new place sometime in 2009.  Here are a few pictures of the current site.

We walked around the building site and as you can see from the picture and comparing to the semi, it is going to be huge!  I am thinking the new site will probably have some young men thinking about a vocation to the monastic life.

We ended up going to Vespers that evening and Compline, and finished a great day of prayer, work, rest, reading, and meditation. 

We woke up the next day and went to Mass and drove home.  It was a great trip and I'm thinking about a yearly retreat to the monastery, if not 2 times a year.  It's a great way to get away from everything and be able to spend some time with God in prayer, work, and rest.

All in all it was a good trip!