Monksworks: Recent Episodes
Monksworks
I was to present a five-day retreat at Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey in Monck’s Corner, South Carolina in May: “Devotions and Spiritual Exercises: Mary Oliver and Thomas Merton as Mentors for Contemplative Living.” We would use Oliver’s last volume of poetry, Devotions, as the text for this retreat. As I described in my last […]
The post Mepkin Abbey Treats first appeared on Monksworks.
The Epiphany of Kindness in Sorrow’s Face © by Jonathan Montaldo Back in 1958, in Louisville, Kentucky on the downtown corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets, after visiting his doctor, the Trappist monk Thomas Merton stepped out onto the busy sidewalk and found himself suddenly in deep communion with the procession of human beings he […]
The post The Epiphany of Kindness in Sorrow’s Face first appeared on Monksworks.
I walked with my friends into Santiago de Compostela, mind clear and heart content, but without elation. I could not conjure any of the two months of walking as I entered the Square in front of the Cathedral of Saint James. Mindful of “all my relations”, I attended the noon Pilgrims’ Mass. The journey ended on […]
The post All Saints Day 2012 in Santiago de Compostela first appeared on Monksworks.
A couple of days ago I was thinking about the “Spirit of the Camino,” which probably has as many interpretations as there are pilgrims. I decided to do an audio reflection on this topic on Wednesday in Melide, and then I changed it a bit and recorded an extra treatment, while I was walking along […]
The post From Camino de Santiago: Jim Gravois Podcast on "The Spirit of the Camino" first appeared on Monksworks.
As we walked out of Villafranca de Bierzo, the river flowing with force past us on our left, we had no notion of the beauty that awaited us, nor did we realize the hard climb up and forward we would have to make into Galicia. Galicia is said to be one of the most economically […]
The post From El Camino de Santiago: The Consoling Fragrance of Galician Cow Shit first appeared on Monksworks.
I am writing a few words today in O Cebreiro, one of the highest points along the Camino, and certainly one of the most beautiful. When the weather is clear, as it was yesterday upon our arrival here, the views of the surrounding green hills and mountains are spectacular. The sunset yesterday was something to […]
The post From El Camino de Santiago: A New Blog and Podcast from Jim Gravois in O Cebreiro in Galicia first appeared on Monksworks.
When he considered the vastness of the cosmos, the French philosopher Blasé Pascal wrote that its “infinite spaces” terrified him. The stars humbled his existence. In their light he was nothing. Even as a young man I transposed Pascal’s anxiety to describe my own. It wasn’t the infinite spaces but the “infinite faces” that scared […]
The post From El Camino de Santiago: Deciding To Travel Your Own "Road To Joy" first appeared on Monksworks.