There is something spiritually renewing to stack large logs of firewood while looking across the section of land you’re assigned to while a monk nearby can be seen tending sheep. The same monk priest who a couple hours before offered the Holy Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb at a side altar in the crypt chapel. In the simplicity of this established local Okie Church tradition, the Clear Creek Workday, which typically draws men, church groups, and Catholic scout troops from several states, are multiple layers of poetic spirituality to be discoverred. From the quiet balance of prayer and work exemplified in the life of the monk, i.e. Ora et Labora, shared by laity for one day, to the unity experienced with the Creator by helping restore the garden of His creation, to the Christian friendship expressed between the workers and monks, the annual Clear Creek Workday always proves to be something especially edifying.
Yet I must admit for me the day began begrudgingly being woken up by my alarm clock at 5 am, which is a strongly unnatural hour for someone of my temparement on a Saturday morning. Definitely a little Septuagisima season, i.e pre-Lenten penance to drive in the cold dark an hour east, part of the journey along winding rocky roads, to make it for the utterly silent wee hours Low Mass that typifies Clear Creek monastery. And I made it into the pew in the nick of time before a flow of young monk priests came out of the sacristy to each offer simulateously the truly Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
Later wide-eyed and spiritually refreshed, I met a friend who needed to first milk his cow, living just a few miles down the country road. Minutes later I was helping him tear off an armful of hay from one of those big round barrels of hay, feeding the cow, then for the first time in my life milking a cow. Warm. After warming ourselves in front of his fireplace discussing the merits of country living, it was off to the Workday to join one of the crews of maybe 20 men and teenage boys chain sawing and chopping up trees for firewood, stacking the wood, piling the branches into huge piles for burning, and then tending to the fires. Chain saws, axes, and work gloves were our tools. A visual of a towering medieval-style monastery across the woods, surrounded by hills and pastoral landscape, also helped boost our resolve.
This year for me I took a very modest pace, with lots of little rest breaks, and only worked half a day. Last year as I reported here I did a whole day and was so sore afterwards I felt like I needed to be in a body cast. But we did receive a medicinal reprieve at noon, care of volunteers, many of them women and teenage girls, for a sit down barbecue lunch outside the guest cabin. Pulled pork, brisquet, cole slaw, baked beans, rolls, several desserts, and ice tea, plus connecting with like-minded Catholics for an hour of socialization, were the healing balm.
Truth be told I was still quite tired and sore later. But hard physical work when it is in God’s service is in the end something invigorating, life affirming, and motivating. The experience motivates me more and more to imitate the monks, who are imitating Christ, by offering their daily work and prayer as a sacrifice to save their soul. I plan to return to the Clear Creek Workday for years to come, as I hope you will too.
