Madonna
House is the happening place right now. We are wrapping up the first week of
our summer program with a full house of guests and a tremendous spirit of
energy and enthusiasm among them.
Full, by
the way, means about 40, between the men and the women’s guest dorms. We also
have had quite a few priests coming through for short visits, summer being a
time when many parishes slow down and the clergy able to have retreats or
holidays. We have all been struck this year by the level of enthusiasm, energy,
and intense interest in God and in Madonna House that the guests who have
arrived in the past weeks have shown. It’s beautiful, really, and the summer
looks like it will be ongoing that way, with a continuous stream of people
coming through each week for the different themes of the program.
This week
the theme was ‘Show Me, God: Finding God Through Truth, Beauty, and Goodness’.
Four of the staff gave lunch time presentations related to that topic on Monday
and Friday, at the main house and at the farm where many of the guests go to
work. Fr. David May gave a class Wednesday evening as well, and at our Friday
fast night supper (we have a simple bread and cheese supper on Fridays, to fast
for priests) people were invited to share their reflections and thoughts on
what had been given them. A simple holy hour in the island chapel, optional,
rounded up the week.
Beyond
that, it was normal MH life, which this time of year entails a tremendous
amount of physical labor. The farm, and especially the vegetable garden, is the
place for a great amount of this. We are also in the midst of a long-term
project of establishing a blueberry field at St. Mary’s, replacing the
strawberries there. This has meant a tremendous amount of hole digging, peat
mixing, transplanting, watering, all of which will only bear fruit two years
down the line when the bushes are established.
A not so
normal event was that a couple from Virginia whose parents live in the area
were up visiting and came over one evening to play bluegrass music for us, being
very fine musicians of that genre. They are old and good friends of MH, and
love to come and share with us the music they love to play, and we love having
them do it, so it’s a win-win. Another manifestation of beauty and goodness, in
line with the theme of the week.
Well, I’m
not sure what else is going on, although I’m quite certain there’s an awful lot
that I’m missing here. This is the time of year when we really do start to have
so many moving pieces in so many directions that it is pretty much impossible
to know everything that’s going on. It is really great, though, especially if
you love people, enthusiasm, energy, action (which I do).