New Camaldoli Hermitage SPRING 2016

THE BIG SUR COAST SIXTY MILES OF MUSIC TO THE EYE Fr. Bruno Barnhart’s reflection on Big Sur as “the growing edge of the world, the tip of history as it moves West.” page 3

IN THIS ISSUE 2 “New Heaven, New Earth, New Creation” 3 Lectio Divina 5 Fr. Bruno’s Reflection 6 “Follow the Light” 7 Vita Monastica 8 Development 9 Employee Spotlight 10 First-time Retreatant 11 Oblate Column 12 Activities and Visitors

62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 • 831 667 2456 • www.contemplation.com NEW HEAVENS, NEW EARTH, NEW CREATION Prior Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam

We hear these scintillating words in the prophecy of Isaiah (Is 65:17-31), right near the end of the book: I am about to create new heavens and a new earth. It is no accident that the prophet uses the Hebrew word bara’ here for ‘create.’ This is the same word that is used in the first line MESSAGE FROM THE PRIOR of the book of Genesis: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth… The same power that was operative in the original As you can see, we have a new look for our quarterly newsletter. For creation is again at work in a new creation. But it’s important to note the last several editions, besides that one of the characteristics of Old Testament prophecy is that when the help of a few brother monks it points to a new age, it is not something other-worldly. It sees this and the ever patient Susan Garrison world transformed or, maybe better to say, it sees this world restored who does our layout, I have had to its original purpose, the purpose that God intended in creating it. the wonderful assistance of our Behold I create a new heavens and a new earth! oblate Deborah Douglas-Smith, who has served as a patient but Peter uses this same image, proclaiming that in Christ too we wait for a relentless grammarian on our sometimes dubious syntax as well new heaven and a new earth (2 Pt 3:13); the Book of Revelation ends with as soliciting other contributions. the same vision: I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven We have now been joined by other and the first earth had passed away (Rev 21:21). Could it be that they long-time friends: Chris Lorenc, who all mean this physical world in which human beings will be free from is a teacher and writer himself as suffering and sin, a place whererighteousness is at home (2 Pt)? Isaiah well as an oblate of New Camaldoli is wildly optimistic about it: the span of human life will be a hundred and his wife Debi, a professional years and if someone fails to reach old age it will be a sign of divine graphic designer. Besides our displeasure. It is not about the restoration of the Davidic monarchy or regular features, we have decided to focus on a theme based around about the earthly city, the geographical Jerusalem, or even about Israel our usual essay (in the past months itself, but the new Jerusalem, as Revelation says, coming down from contributed by Deborah, Pico Iyer heaven adorned like a bride. And when that righteousness comes about, and Paula Huston). This month’s when human beings are loyal to the divine will, then Nature itself will essay is an old article on the glories respond; it will be creation made new. of the Big Sur written by our Fr. Bruno in 1996 for Big Sur Magazine. There are so many echoes of this in the New Testament; besides the It highlights his poetic prose style ones I have mentioned there is certainly also Romans 8: the world itself as well as his penetrating vision and a hint of his wry humor. Chris will be freed from its slavery to corruption when we have experienced the supplied a foreword to the essay redemption of our bodies (Rom 8:21). and Pico an afterword. My own reflections on Isaiah and Peter’s Among other places, in the story of the healing of the centurion’s son vision of a new heaven and a new in the Gospel of John (4:43-54) Jesus is doing just that, redeeming earth. We are grateful for all the someone’s body, restoring this boy to wholeness and health, to his positive feedback and reception original purpose. But that particular scene is also wrapped up in all the newsletter has gotten, and kinds of other images that were so powerful for us in our readings very grateful for your contributions which make it financially worthwhile in the last weeks of Lent. The healing of the centurion’s son is Jesus’ as well as one small means of second miracle in the Gospel of John; the first was the wedding feast at outreach. The brothers and I Cana. And that miracle at that wedding in Cana, turning water into wine, wish you all the blessings of this was almost a kind of transubstantiation, almost a kind of alchemy. Eastertide as await a new portion of Spirit to wash over us and well up I’ve been reading a little about alchemy recently. Alongside the Christian from within. language of the paschal mystery, and the birth-and-death cycle of Baptism, alchemy—the medieval quasi-magical, quasi-scientific attempt Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam. to turn base metals into gold—has fascinated the Western mind for centuries.

2 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage Rightly understood, the alchemical process can be a metaphor for the LECTIO DIVINA purifying purpose of our ascetical disciplines (like those of Lent) and remind us of the purpose of all our spiritual practices: transformation. Br. Bede Healey, OSB Cam What the alchemists thought happened to “base metals” like lead or copper, changed to silver or gold, can be seen as a metaphor for what “We read under the eye of God happens to the soul that yearns for God. until the heart is touched and leaps to flame.” If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: – Blessed Columba Marmion OSB, (on what happens in lectio divina) everything old has passed away; see everything “ At the time of this writing, the has become new! Hermitage community is, with all the Church, at the beginning of Holy Like lead, the soul is subjected to“ intense inner heat through the practice Week—preparing for Easter. By the of ascetic disciplines. That heat reduces the “material” of the soul to its time you read this, the Triduum will substrate condition, to its prime matter, which (according the Aristotelian have been celebrated, and we will all metaphysics) is the universal stuff underlying all substance. After be basking in the uncreated light of undergoing this disintegration or dissolution the soul comes under the the resurrected Christ. influence, in alchemy, of the philosopher’s stone or the elixir (which most people see as an image of the Holy Spirit). Then the soul begins to be I usually offer a reflection on a regenerated and transformed, until it becomes pure gold, a full vessel of particular scriptural passage in this divinity. column, but this time I want to offer a different perspective on this rich Aha! A new creation! process of embracing Scripture that we call lectio divina.

Lectio divina is a whole-person experience. We read and ponder the words of Scripture, but there is more to the Word than just the words themselves. The mystery goes deeper than words– lying underneath, behind, inside them. There are powerful movements, pervasive insights that we can access by attending to the emotional and This is what we undergo in our own discipline, in our spiritual life, through bodily responses we have to the the grace of God in the sacraments and hopefully through the season of encounter with Scripture. Lent: after we have allowed ourselves to be stripped down to our naked selves, the spiritual life could and should lead us too to be transformed Our responses can range from or, maybe better to say, restored to our intended selves, the purpose that subtle to profound as we confront God intended in creating us in God’s own image, with new life breathed love, betrayal, resolve, painful into us by the Spirit of the Risen Christ. awareness of weakness, rejection, doubt, joy, hope, peace. Our quiet What does Paul say in 2 Cor 5:17? If anyone is in Christ, there is a new receptivity can allow these memories creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! and emotions to wash over us, and our whole-person responses help Including you and me. the deepest aspects of the Word become real and alive to us.

Lectio divina is encounter; it is experience. On the far side of the words, too deep for words, God contemplation.com ~ 3 awaits us. Bruno Barnhart wrote “On the Big Sur as being “on first coming to the Hermitage.” And whether we’ve actually written that account or instead Coast” ten years ago. Chris Lorenc re- spoken it to friends is beside the point because even found and quoted from the reflection in when the accounts are written there’s a quality of oral a eulogy for Bruno. And when Pico Iyer literature about them. They’re mythic and immediate. On one hand they’re personal and idiosyncratic while read Bruno’s essay, he “felt as I did the on the other hand they arise out of a common sense first time I set foot in New Camaldoli: I’d of wonder. And so they’re largely origination stories. Whose origin? Oftentimes our own. come home at last, to what I ought to be.” We’re providing the text of Bruno’s While Bruno’s reflection on the Big Sur coast doesn’t “On the Big Sur Coast” for you now— describe itself as a “first” seeing of the coast, it’s a first seeing or true seeing or a lifetime of seeing together with a foreword by Chris and nonetheless. And what it shares with the genre at an afterword by Pico. large is that while its perspective seems in some respects in retrospect it’s actually more an evocation. And an evocation that doesn’t stand still. An evocation forward.

Bruno was an historical thinker and as he would point out himself he had more of a Teilhardian focus on evolutionary possibilities in the future than he had active concern for the preservation of nature or wilderness values on their own terms in the present. For instance, the one aspect of Bede Griffin’s thinking that gave him pause was what he perceived as Bede’s romanticizing of rural non-industrial village life—whether in the Cotswolds or Tamil Nadu. And so FOREWORD even though Bruno had given me a typescript draft of Chris Lorenc “The Big Sur Coast” ten years ago, when I fell upon it again at the time of his death I was as surprised as if “You must go to the edge to find the center,” some I had never seen it before. There is certainly a looking of us were reminded not long ago at the Hermitage. forward or a pitch forward in consciousness here but at the same time there’s also an in-place or at-home And perhaps there’s no place on earth so famed mysticism. Bruno read (and delighted in) poetry as an edge as the wild coast of Big Sur. But it’s not much more than he wrote poetry himself. But here’s enough to visit. You must stay awhile. You must stay Bruno the poet. Here’s an introvert who reminds long enough. us what we feel when we walk underneath these stars ourselves. Bruno’s friend Br. David Steindl-Rast But it’s a tenet of local lore that a person doesn’t corrects the assumption that mysticism is an occult really choose to live in Big Sur. Rather it’s the place art or science reserved for only a few. Rather it’s our that chooses you. (Or chooses to cast you back out common birthright because as Br. David says what again.) Because you’re likely to run head-on into we call mysticism arises from our own experiences of yourself here if you do anything more than accept deepest belonging whether those experiences have a safe-transit pass to travel down the Highway been infrequent or sustained. 1 corridor. There’s even a specific literary genre related to this that one might call “on first seeing And it helps to be reminded. In distraction and (or encountering) the coast.” And Jaime de Angulo, isolation (isolation as opposed to solitude) we forget Robinson Jeffers, and Henry Miller each wrote his ourselves. own variation on this theme. But many or maybe even most of us have written our own variation on this theme as well whether we’ve thought of that theme as being “on first seeing the coast” or instead 4 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage www.contemplation.com 3

THE BIG SUR COAST­—Sixty Miles of Music to the Eye Fr. Bruno Barnhart, OSB Cam.

nce you have really entered the world Sunsets at this point on the earth’s sphere are often that is called Big Sur, down that wild, spectacular, as the sky fills with color, the rose-robed winding, stretch of Highway One, you may clouds surrounding the great golden globe of the become aware that you have reached the sun in its ritual descent into the sea. People will often Oworld’s steep edge where mysteries that have long pull their cars to the side of Highway One and stand lain hidden under layers of routine and habit are gazing out at its glory for a long time, as if they had suddenly opened to view. The earth’s crust is broken been suddenly called to witness the final, conclusive off abruptly to reveal inner wonders, coming forth act of cosmic drama. and dancing before you in the bright still air. It is as if secrets long concealed, sacred things, are suddenly If you stand on a coastal high point in the evening, disclosed, and you wonder whether they should not when It has become dark, you may be treated to be covered up again, shielded from indifferent eyes. a breathtaking astronomical exhibition. By some You wonder if this can continue for longer than a magic, the complexities and trivialities of earthly moment. And it does continue—for miles—as you reality have been swept away, and you are at the make your way along the highway. center of a conversation of heavenly bodies in a different, nearly metaphysical world, a theatre of Here is the growing edge of the world, the tip of ultimate simplicities. Yet the simplicity is that of history as it moves West; to travel westward any primal beauty. The moon has come so close that you further is to come to some end, where you suddenly can nearly reach out and touch its cool, luminous return to the East, to the beginning. And so we face, and you are suddenly a privileged cosmologist find here especially an encounter with the ancient free in space. Wordless, you note these unearthly religions of the East, the spiritual traditions of the wonders, this intimacy of luminous bodies. Beginning—“your original face before you were born.” But mostly we find new things here, the new Summer brings people and traffic to Big Sur, of movements, the new religions, the New Age. Here on course. But the magnificence is not shy, it does not the Pacific Coast—and especially the Big Sur Coast— withdraw from this more public display. And the flourished for awhile the bright, fragile blossoms of people are respectful, often becoming quiet as the the 1960’s. In the bright air of this Pacific Paradise, wonder embraces and hushes them. Visually, it is the a fresh hope easily awakens and grows in the heart. magnitude itself that gently reduces people to the For some the edge of the continent has meant the little figures in a vast landscape painting. Summer end of the road, their last hope. Maybe for mid- is the season in which the spell seems to approach Americans—Possibility—that unbounded dream has an impossible maximum, when the already fully always lain far to the West of home, in California, and opened blossom of beauty seems to go further. It is here that possibility seems to magnify exponentially. a dangerous time; in this summer air of the Big Sur contemplation.com ~ 5 coast you can seem to be immortal and omnipotent; out of a normally sane group of people become hopeless voyeurs a safe driver—without a trace of racing blood—must be designated.

Human life tends towards flatness and routine, a deadly law of gravitation brings us inevitably down from our peaks and eminences; our emotional and intellectual and spiritual mountain tops. Life be- comes, if we allow it to, an endless plain without real height or depth, and so without meaning. There are FOLLOW THE LIGHT those times, then, when the vertical lightning shaft Pico Iyer cuts through our lethargy and the world’s monotony and touches us, and a few of these moments have changed us permanently and will never be forgotten. When first I encountered Bruno’s spacious, wonder-lit And there are places where the earth itself has been hymn of praise for his Big Sur perch, only a few days suddenly cut as by a laser of lightning, intersected after his death, I felt as I did the first time I set foot by some more-than-natural vertical force so that the in New Camaldoli: I’d come home at last, to what I place has become strangely wonderful, unforgettable, ought to be. As he writes, with such undistracted, sacred in a unique way. Here the vacationer may heart-lifting lyricism, the whole of the Big Sur coastline awaken to find herself a pilgrim. is graced with a sense of being out of time that can make one feel one’s moving through a world of alle- The stunning self-revelation of nature speaks of more gory. than itself, however. It reflects back to us the magni- tudes and nobilities, expanses and depth, brilliances Rock, water, towering tree are the protagonists in the and sources of light that dwell within the human spir- landscape, and whenever I’m in that enchanted space, it. And so we may be called to a further pilgrimage, to I feel as if I’m back in Greece, with its wild, elemental some inner country that we have not yet seen. There starkness, its sense of gods imminent and everywhere are possible diversions and dangers as well. The (no surprise that Henry Miller, after roaming across sheer overwhelming beauty of nature in some special the sacred places of the Aegean, came to settle in Big place may allow us to conclude that the kingdom of Sur, to ponder its still horizons and immensities). heaven is already present, and to become passive dwellers in a paradise that quickly begins to fade Yet what Bruno is too (characteristically) shy and mod- around us. Within us, however, is to be discovered a est to say in his beautiful essay is that the particular free, imaginative power which has been given us so spell and radiance of the whole stretch of coastline we can actually bring forth the beginning of a new comes to a point, even an apex, at New Camaldoli. creation. And the beauty of this nature which is ever The sense of beauty, of abundance, of possibility that fresh—ever newly cleansing itself as if in the spring of flood the air from Ragged Point to Carmel Highlands an imperishable morning—the warmth of this sum- arrive at a focus—in fact, find meaning—in the chapel mer air that sets free on the hill, and the vision that spreads out from it. an unspeakable hope in our hearts, is the The Golden State as a whole has always evoked free- promise of another dom, blue-sky thinking, even intimations of the divine. summer toward which But what give them substance are what you might we are invited to look: call the three “D’s: discipline, devotion and direction. a summer that will, The minute I arrived in New Camaldoli, more than a at last, permeate the quarter of a century ago, I felt that it was offering not whole of us—body and promise, but confirmation. Not a pretty idea, but real- soul—as we burst into est life. an undying bloom. The monks were laboring from the pre-dawn hours till after dusk each day, and it was that labor that under- wrote the calm we visitors feel; they knew what they served and obeyed, and it took a physical form, in the 6 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage chapel; they did not chatter about some Paradise in From the pages of Vita Monastica the future, but rather did what they could, right here and now, to make kindness and clarity palpable, and Fr. Thomas Matus, OSB Cam. vital. The following lines are from an 18th-century manu- When I met Father Bruno’s words, just after his body script in the archives of our mother-house in Italy: left us, his patient voice and searching gaze jumped a series of meditations by an unknown author who back at me, reminding us not of what might be, but of was a member of the Camaldolese order. You might what is. Not presuming too much, not claiming that suppose that this “Anonymous Camaldolese” was this is Heaven (only its reflection), not seeing himself a learned nun, who didn’t dare sign her own name as above those drivers along the coast, but simply but entrusted her writings to a monk of Camaldoli, drawing the circle of the enclosure out into the world. her confessor or spiritual director. These meditations Those of us who visit the Hermitage are always walk- were published in Vita Monastica in the 1950s and ing a few steps behind that white-bearded, light-see- then as a small book in 1965. ing lover of mysteries. My soul, let us love this dear God more and more INCARNATION MONASTERY and more. Love itself will make your love increase, because the more you love, the more love itself Fr. Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam. will make you ready for God’s grace. Grace As I write this, we are basking in the joy of Easter and the will then enlighten the new life of the Risen Christ! This is also reflected in the mind, so that you will beauty of springtime in Berkeley and the Bay Area after realize God’s beauty the much-needed blessing of abundant rains during and great flames will winter. God is good! make your love burn with passion for this We also give thanks for an enriching Lenten season beauty. with well-attended liturgies, especially during the Paschal Triduum which culminated in a festive potluck My heart, love the One banquet on Easter Sunday. Tuesday nights during Lent who alone is worth loving. Love, my heart, lest you were devoted to Lectio Divina, which focused on the suffer the hardening that the Bible speaks of: “A forthcoming gospel of Sunday. In February, Sr. Barbara stubborn heart is weighted down with troubles” Green, OP. offered a morning retreat entitled “Family [Ecclesiasticus 3:27]. My heart, let us love God Reunion: Catching up with Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel.” without limit. You must know that one single act of In March, Nicole Pagano took us on a “Lenten Journey love aimed at God, be it for a fraction of a second, with Dante’s Divine Comedy.” Oblates Marty Badgett and will make grace grow in you and will intensify your Bill McLennan offered two Lenten Silent Retreats during friendship toward God and increase the infused February and March which were helpful preparations virtues in you, together with all the gifts of the for Lent and Holy Week. In April, Marty and Billy will also Holy Spirit. be offering a four-week course entitled “Introduction to Centering Prayer.” We look forward to Robert Hale’s O my God, my infinite good, so dear and lovable, retreat April 16th on “The Prayer of the Heart Today.” hear me now. Are you not truly mine, and is not On May 28th, Thomas Matus will offer a morning retreat all that is yours also mine? So, since you are mine, entitled “Cosmic Consciousness, Ecological Conscience.” I offer you all that I am. The love that is in me is the love by which you love yourself from all eter- Other news: we are happy to announce that Ivan nity – even this is mine. I mean to love you with published his first book in EnglishJourney of Faith, Journey this same love, to love you unceasingly, in every of the Universe. The book signing that was hosted by moment, even if I sleep or am distracted and far our friends at SAT (School of Applied Theology at St. from you in my weakness. I mean to love you to Albert’s Priory in Oakland) was well attended by a very the very end without end, for all time to come, enthusiastic crowd. Bravo, Ivan! to be with you in glory for all eternity. This is my hope, dear God, so dear that I cannot ever tell, O We wish all of you a Joyous and Blessed Easter season. my God. Christ is truly Risen – Alleluia! contemplation.com ~ 7 DEVELOPMENTS through his ministry of music, inter-religious dialogue and contemplative practice. New Camaldoli rang in the new year with exciting beginnings of its own, most notably the completion “Ron and I are filled with love for the monks, the of the new private hermit- workers, the beautiful peaceful land, sea and sky, ages. Sophia, Logos and Doxa and the people that we meet while working in the in their new iteration have bookstore. already welcomed guests, all of whom have appreciated “We pray that New Camaldoli Hermitage continues for the greater comfort and the generations as a place of contemplation and respite continuing quiet that the for all.” new accommodations offer. We are extremely grateful to Mary Pat and Ron for all Many donors made this that they do for the Hermitage, and for including us in important renovation this lovely celebration. possible; we are grateful to them and to Veronica I am personally grateful for the many new friends I Chang who provided the beautiful contemporary have made at the Hermitage over the past several furnishings for all the new hermitages. months. My time spent with the fellow staff, monks, retreatants and oblates has been a delight. It is On March 5th longtime wonderful to share this beautiful place as well as the friends of the Hermitage surrounding area of the Big Sur coast with everyone. Mary Pat and Ron George The weather has hosted a beautiful event at been challenging Castoro Winery in Paso Robles this winter, causing in honor of Mary Pat’s 60th rock slides, birthday, which included a mudslides and benefit concert for New Camaldoli. Father Cyprian occasionally up- performed during the concert, which was attended by rooting a tree, but over 80 family members and friends of the Georges. following every Ron and Mary Pat have been coming to the Hermitage rainstorm is a beautiful day like the photo below taken since they were first married 35 years ago. They on my drive into work. happened upon the Hermitage while traveling up the coast in their Jeep, saw the cross at the bottom of A special thank you to Debi Lorenc, a new contributing the road, and headed up the hill. Mary Pat states, “I editor to the New Camaldoli Hermitage Newsletter. immediately knew, heading Debi is an oblate of San Vincenzo al Volturno in Italy up the driveway that I was and a long-time friend of the Hermitage who brings a home: became an Oblate wealth of experience in graphic design. Debi and her years later. husband Chris, who also helps edit the newsletter, share their time between Big Sur and San José. We “As youth and music minister thank them both for volunteering their time to the for the teens at St. William’s, Hermitage and their contributions to the newsletter. Ron and I would bring our youth group up for day visits I hope that you will find the to the Hermitage. Or we would camp at Placket time to visit the Hermitage Creek and caravan to Mass and Vespers. Many of during the spring or the young adults who attended the birthday party/ summer. Please feel free benefit were involved in those trips. They tell us to contact me if you are that their lives have been enhanced and enriched planning a trip to the by the contemplative experiences that they have Hermitage; I would love to meet you. been exposed to. Fr. Cyprian has come to our youth retreats, connecting with the teens and young adults [email protected] 831-667-2456 x 114 8 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage IN MEMORY STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Our sympathy to the family of Sharon Irving, a long- Rich Veum time volunteer of the Hermitage. Having made frequent retreats at the Hermitage, Rich was delighted when the position of MONASTERY OF THE RISEN CHRIST bookstore manager became available in late 2013. Soon after he was hired for that job, he Fr. Daniel Manger, OSB Cam. took on an additional role as business manager.

This Lent at the Monastery of the Risen Christ has Rich’s previous employment with Amazon.com in been a rich season for the monks in ministry. Father Seattle and with a biotech business development Stephen has preached a number of retreats, engaged firm in Santa Cruz has given him a wealth of in parish renewal in Arizona, visited our Oblate com- experience in marketing, business development, munities in both southern and northern California, strategic planning, e-commerce, and business and kept up with the monastic hospitality ministry and systems. He serves on the Hermitage’s financial preaching here. advisory board, oversees and manages the New Camaldoli website, and is responsible Father Ray offered a program entitled ‘Healing the for housekeeping and bookstore staffing. He Family Tree’ at St. William’s in Atascadero and on-site also works closely with guest reservations on here at the monastic chapel. He celebrated several hospitality issues, including tracking guest healing Masses which have touched many. evaluations and ratings following guests’ visits.

The labyrinth has now been completed with the help Rich is a physical fitness of Mary Pat and Ron George and a host of volunteers. buff, currently training People are already stopping by to use the labyrinth for for the Big Sur Marathon walking meditation. Landscaping and outdoor signage in April. He enjoys back- have yet to be completed, but we look forward to a country hiking, bee- dedication ceremony with the Prior later in the spring. keeping and woodworking. The fruits of Rich’s hobbies—“hermitage honey” and one-of-a-kind crosses made from salvaged wood—can be seen and purchased in the Hermitage Bookstore.

A California native, Rich is the father of a beautiful A QR (“quick response” barcode) now has been estab- daughter who lives in Washington. Rich supports lished for the labyrinth, Stations of the Cross and the the work of the National Kidney Foundation and Celtic High Cross, enabling people to go directly from also serves on the Big Sur Unified School District their smartphones to our website for information. board. Thanks to Mary Maloney for this idea. When asked what Oblate Patti Tackett donated a wonderful display case, he loves the most a coffee maker and a small CD player for our book- about being at the store. We are grateful for her support. hermitage, Rick replies, “the spiritual Good news on our water supply: God has granted nature of the much needed rain to our region. Once again we have Hermitage, the natural beauty, the staff, and the a flowing spring to supply the water we need; many of monks.” the ranchers and farmers in the area have been given renewed hope for the coming growing season. Rich’s coworkers describe him as a kind-hearted, The Lord continues to sustain us; we are very grateful enthusiastic, hard-working man who brings many for all who support us here at Monastery of the Risen gifts to the Hermitage. We are grateful to have Christ. Praise be to Jesus Risen! Rich here. contemplation.com ~ 9 LETTER FROM A FIRST-TIME bright enough to cast moon-shadows. I sat on the patio with my blanket and that unearthly RETREATANT light and gazed and soaked some more.

Kate Jenkins wrote this after her first visit to the The next morning, my mind was more settled. Hermitage and agreed to let us print it in the When my internal chatter started up I could newsletter: thank you, Kate! more easily say, “Not now. It’s not your turn,” and it sort of worked. I was still stunned by the beauty of the place in Hello. I feel a bit out of place writing to you, but I wanted the morning light. I went for a walk – admiring trees and to try to describe how much my recent stay at New views and visiting benches along the way. Camaldoli meant to me. First, thank you for being so ap- proachable: I liked that anyone is welcome to stay and Maybe it was the absence of speaking. Maybe it was there is no pressure to attend services and proselytizing. whatever it is that a view of a distant horizon does to the I could book on TripAdvisor and tell my coworkers and brain. Maybe it was the sound of the waves from over a myself that I was staying overnight at a Benedictine mon- thousand feet below. Maybe it was the sunlight. Maybe it astery in Big Sur because it was much more affordable was the pheromones breathed out by trees. Maybe it was than other accommodation in the area and all I had to do the presence of God. Whatever it was, that place, and that was agree not to talk. It was a good cover story. I was se- morning in particular, made a deep imprint on me. cretly thrilled to have found you, but I am a tenuous and conflicted Christian even on my good days. I went to Eucharist. It’s hard to explain why it touched me so deeply. Certainly the ritual and devoted reverence. The drive along the Big Sur coast and up your long drive- Each of you spoke with such deep authentic tenderness way from the highway was so gorgeous that I couldn’t and kindness. I have heard scripture readings and homi- resist pulling over and sitting on every bench along the lies before, but it was different hearing them in that place, way to soak up the views. I walked into the bookstore from your mouths. There was a peace, a beauty, a stillness, and was greeted kindly. Everywhere I looked there were a depth of compassion in that room that I find difficult to icons, music, books whose titles spoke to me. I loved that describe but that was embodied by all of you. When your you had books that accommodated not-quite-Christian leader put his hand on my forehead in blessing, and asked seekers, and interfaith dialogue, as well as having Catholic in that voice that the Spirit of God find me and dwell in me books on light and mercy and the lives of saints. always, I felt as though there was nothing more I wanted more deeply in all the world. I opened a book with a Sufi quote whose gist was that both the practiced monk and a person like me feel the I have felt that yearning before, many times, but my pain of separation from God. Following the thread of that attempts to follow it have faltered. But in that moment it yearning will lead you to your heart’s true home. was very clear – my heart loves and yearns for God.

When I arrived at the Logos hermitage, I felt like I had I wish I could have come up with some tidy way to wrap won the lottery. I sat on the nearby bench and listened to this all up. My brain wants a plan of action and a narrative sounds of the birds and the ocean waves far below. I felt that makes sense. the warm early evening sun and the slight breeze. I sat quietly, letting my mind fill with the beauty of this place My heart wants to sit with this a while, and to savor the and not the harsh stress and self-reprimands and endless weekend and the feeling of being fed and nourished and to-do lists of “normal” life. I unclenched a bit. listened to for once on many levels. It knows work and life craziness will return. But it also knows that this weekend I muddled my way through Vespers and sat with my mon- was an outrageously generous gift from the universe that key-brain for the half hour of silent prayer and meditation I cannot ignore. It was sheer luck that I even found your that followed. Then I stepped outside to a night sky filled Hermitage, and an even bigger fluke that you had room with the most brilliant stars I have ever seen. I looked back for me in the recently re-opened Logos. Maybe it was a gift at the woman behind me and pointed up at the sky and from a loving God who still reaches out to me even though she did a silent happy dance. I felt the same way. I saw a I’m a complete muddle-head. My brain doubts it. My heart shooting star. I went back to my bench by my cottage and just sits with the mystery and is grateful and glad. gazed and gazed and finally went to bed. I awoke around 3 a.m. to a bright light shining in the window and stepped Thank you so much for welcoming me into your home. outside. The moon had risen and filled the sky with a light 10 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage Oblate Column Robert Hale, OSB Cam.

This is the first of a possibly regular column in this Newsletter regarding our Oblate family. The column is for Oblates themselves, those in the Postulant phase towards Oblation, and also for all those interested!

Oblates are those living in the “real world” but sharing in and living key elements of our Camaldolese spirituality. Monks and Oblates are an extended spiritual family bound deeply in Gospel love and spirituality. There is a short Oblate Rule that we propose in a flexible way, to be adapted to the particular situations of each; the text and accompanying pages of explanations can be found on our basic website www. contemplation.com. The main thing is a felt bond of spiritual friendship and commitment to mutual prayer with our New Camaldoli, or Incarnation Monastery, or Monastery of the Risen Christ communities.

Our Oblate family has grown over the decades, and now numbers some 700 members, from a wide range of ages and walks of life. Oblates are also spread throughout the world, especially in the U.S., but also in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Some Oblates, especially of California, are able to visit one or another of our communities regularly, others sometimes, others with real difficulty, or even never. But the heart of the matter, again, is the spiritual bond of friendship and prayer.

We have several Oblate resources and means of communication, including this Newsletter, then periodic emails, then our New Camaldoli website, and an online discussion forum “Camoblate_Comm” (of the Yahoo Groups), and even an extensive, informative page on Facebook, with the title: “New Camaldoli Hermitage.” The chapter on Oblates found in our book The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality is very helpful. That chapter is The Cave and the Apophatic Return coauthored by an Oblate, Jeffrey Spencer, Elliot Martin and a monk, our Fr. Michael Fish. Several other books are also suggested. There Now that I have seen the light of day, is a Mentor program of experienced the color of the grass, the ocean and its waves; Oblates who are available to accompany Now that I have observed the sun as long as possible new Oblates in their journey if they wish. (For only a few seconds at max), All three monastic communities offer I know that I must return to where I came. weekend preached retreats and quiet I must descend days, and one can check what is being and release my friends from their chains, offered currently and in the coming letting them see their shadows for what they are months on their websites. (The New and giving them the chance to be free. Camaldoli website: www.contemplation. But afterwards, I will keep going down, com. The Incarnation website: www. downwards further into the cave. incarnationmonastery.org. The Monastery I will further explore this place in all its mystery, of the Risen Christ website: www. feeling my way along its walls and through its many crevices. monasteryrisenchrist.com.) Oblates tend Some may lead back to the surface, to relate more fully to one of the three in which case I will take note, U.S. communities, but are full-fledged joyfully breath again the salty air, then go back again into the deep. Oblates, and welcomed as such in any of Perhaps, too, I will find there diamonds and old bones. the three California communities, as well I will examine these things then let them go, as at our Rome house, San Gregorio al for they will not help me meet my goal. Celio, our Motherhouse at Camaldoli, or Eventually, no more light will reach me, everything will be dark. our other houses in Italy, Brazil, India and Closing my eyes or opening them will make no difference. Tanzania. Yet, I still stand on solid ground and know I am not yet where I want to be. Please do pray for all of our Oblates So I continue moving downwards until water meets my feet. and those in the Postulancy, and for Now, I swim as the ground goes away beneath. our Camaldolese monks and nuns, and And I sink, I sink, I sink; please do know of our ongoing prayer. calmly, holding my breath, trusting that I will not die. contemplation.com ~ 11 ACTIVITIES AND VISITORS guest speaker. She presented on Braha Viharas – Four Immeasurable Virtues of the Buddhist tradition. The In December… monks enjoyed her teaching and company, and we hope At the end of the month, the Hermitage community to have her back again. convened its first All-Camaldolese Chapter. The monks of the Monastery of the Risen Christ, the monks of Br. Isaac’s niece Kayleigh Meyers visited taking wonder- Incarnation Monastery, and Fr. Michael Fish, who ful pictures of the monks as part of one of her visual arts is residing in Santa Cruz, all joined the Hermitage classes. You can see these outstanding photos at our community for discussion of our different houses and to Assembly and Retreat gathering in July. plan for our combined futures. In March… In January… Cyprian was very busy: he offered a day of prayer for the The monks had a three-day mini-retreat with lots of religious of the Monterey diocese, participated in fund- silence and private time. raising events for the Hermitage in Palo Alto and Paso Robles, and then gave a retreat to the IHM community in Fr. Cyprian’s Advisory Board met with him. These friends Santa Barbara. and supporters gather yearly at the Hermitage to support Cyprian in his important leadership role. Fr. Robert visited Incarnation for a few days this month.

Several students from a theology class at St. Mary’s We ended Lent with a Quiet Day and our annual pen- College in Moraga came for an overnight visit and had ance service, followed by a marvelous Triduum and Easter conferences with a few of the monks. celebration with Michael Fish and James home, and the brothers from Monastery of the Risen Christ with us as Also during this month Br. Bede spent some time at Incar- well. Our Bishop Emeritus Sylvester Ryan joined us, nation Monastery helping out while Fr. Andrew was away. presiding over to the Easter Vigil where he initiated two catechumens (as well as helping us to color Easter eggs). Students from the World Religions class at Mount Ma- donna School came for a day trip and conference. PREACHED RETREATS SCHEDULE Cyprian attended and served as co-chair of the Abbots and Priors Workshop this year at St. Joseph’s Abbey in April 17-19 Covington, LA. I Have Come to Cast Fire on the Earth”: Praying with Teilhard de Chardin. Br. Ivan came down from Incarnation Monastery and Fr. Stephen Coffey, OSB, spent several days with us. This retreat will be based on elected portions of Mass on the World by Jesuit mystic and scientist Pierre Teil- hard de Chardin. It will consider connections between Br. Ignatius began his second semester at the Beda, the Teilhard’s spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, AND English Seminary in Rome where he is studying while living the Incarnation and the Eucharistic. with our brothers at San Gregorio. May 15–17 In February… Spirituality and Personhood Br. James came back for a visit to the Hermitage. He has Br. Bede Healey been down with his family in Orange, CA, helping to care for his dad who has cancer. We all enjoyed having James July 8-10 Vocations Retreat: Come and See! back with us for the week. Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, Fr. Raniero Hoffman, and Br. Bede Healey At the beginning of Lent Fr. Raniero took an extended This retreat is for those between 18-30 years old, and solitude retreat, just as he did last year. Wisely, he waited will be an exploration of your life path through talks, until the beginning of Lent so that he could enjoy our group discussions and individual conversations with the annual Mardi Gras evening the Tuesday before Lent. As monks. This is an opportunity to spend time considering usual, it was an outstanding experience! your future vocation (the animating spirit calling out to you) – whether that future vocation might be religious life, marriage, or priesthood. Scholarships are available. For one of our Saturday chapters, Cyprian arranged for the Venerable Tenzin Chogya, a Tibetan nun, to be a 12 ~ New Camaldoli Hermitage