Clear Creek Workday This Weekend:
Saturday, 3/3
6:45 Low Mass
7:30 Breakfast
8:30 Group prayer in pasture
Work until Noon -- BBQ provided by monks
There's a group of men going who attend one of the Latin Masses in Tulsa, including yours-truly. Hundreds of others from the diocese will likely be there, both men and women alike.
Need a ride, let me know. I'll try and make the Low Mass, so I leave before sunrise. Should be fun. I'll take pics, and blog about it later! Hope to fish a bit too, and share fellowship with some fellow Catholics.
Reminds me of long Saturdays growing up working with my dad on projects in the yard and our garage workshop, feeling so tired at the end of the day, but a "good tired," a great feeling of accomplishment.
This year the Annual Clear Creek Workday will focus on the Electrical Fencing, that surrounds the 1000+ acres of monastic land. Should be a great challenge!
Reflection:
I came across some "Francis-talk" recently that could have tempted me to go through the drive-thru at Little Caesar's, and eat in one sitting one of their $5 pizzas to bring up my serotonin levels, but that would be gluttony and isn't exactly the healthiest way to cope with the stress of the ecclesiastical nightmare we read about daily. ;)
Back in the day, one factor that "brought me to our Catholic tradition," as I tell people, was frequenting Clear Creek monastery. I still prefer "monastery" to "abbey" for nostalgic reasons, when for many years local Catholics I know would just refer to it as "the monastery" or "Clear Creek."
Talk about a "living tradition," a misused phrase by the modernists. If tradition is meant to be a part of the three-dimensional fabric of the everyday life of the Church, then the dimension of tradition is palpably felt and preserved on Clear Creek's monastic lands. I think even the sheep, and the big, white sheep dogs watching over them, are immersed in the liturgical, spiritual, and theological tradition maintained there.
To me, without denying there is a Crisis in the Church, visiting Clear Creek is a welcome refrain from said Crisis. It means a retreat into the more transcendent. The monks and their constant prayer transcend the practical schisms and heresies that keep tearing apart the human element of the Church today. Their example has always been a reminder to keep the focus on the Faith, even while keeping up with the current state of affairs, in so far as one's duties of state direct.
There is something comforting when each liturgical Office is begun by the monks with the chant "Deus in adjutorium meum intende," as each monk raises folded hands and then bows, a call to prayer and repose of soul.
And on the human level, it is "chicken-soup-for-the-soul" sitting in their refectory at the dinner table, listening to the opening reading before you can begin eating, and gazing at the rising steam from the big bowls of soup they customarily place in the center of the table.
Gotta love Clear Creek.
My Favorite Youtube Channels, as of Late:
The natural environment of Clear Creek reminds me of the youtube channels I've been frequenting on my smart-tv I bought last Black Friday (standing in line at Walmart that evening was purgatorial), which are really great in particular for men to watch. I love the outdoors, but it's just been too cold to go camping, so I've been living vicariously through these men who brave the winter chill to get their weekend, nature-lover fix.
Here is a good intro to a series about a father and son in England, who built a small cabin using free pallets. You can watch the whole series, to see how they did it, which highlights their great father-son relationship, and the son's love for what is called "bushcraft," the art of making shelters and tools in the wilderness using just a hatchet and folding hand saw. It inspired me to buy a camping hand saw, and I'm planning my own "bushcraft" campout as soon as the temps are certainly higher.
And here is a similar, really excellent YT series that has enabled me to feel like I'm in the outdoors on a cold, February, Saturday morning, while sitting at home in my armchair. Very relaxing to have playing in the background while I read a bit and smoke my corncob pipe.
The Saint Blaise Miracle:
I am still feeling really blessed about the story I shared last week of the St. Blaise throat-blessing miracle here in T-town, in the last post. I don't know about you, but if it wasn't for miracles, similar to something St. Augustine once said, I am not sure if I would be a Catholic believer, or at least how strong my faith would be.
Miracles are a blessing for all of us. Evidence of the supernatural reality, God's existence and Mercy, and an assurance of God's Good Providence, no matter how bad this world gets, or the terribleness of the crosses God gives us.
And thanks to the owner of Canon 212, traditional Catholic news website, for featuring this story. It has gotten about 2000 views so far, which is pretty good!
Onward and upward...