Last week, as part of my time away, I spent four days on retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York. (You can hear about some of my experience there in my sermon from this past Sunday.)
Holy Cross is a retreat center run by Episcopal Benedictine Monks of the order of The Holy Cross. From Glenside, Holy Cross is a lovely three hour drive north. It’s not far from Poughkeepsie and New York City. The retreat center sits on a gentle slope above the Hudson River. You can see the river from several views inside, or while lounging in an Adirondack chair under a shady tree. You can walk through a meadow down to the shore and sit at the water’s edge.
It is possible to take guided retreats there, but when I go I usually grab a few books to read and a notebook for journaling. Sometimes, I sign up to receive Spiritual Direction from a brother while I’m there. Last week, I mostly read and journaled and sat in the shade (it was really hot for the first few days).
Holy Cross is also the brothers’ residence, and much of the experience of staying there is the chance to pray with the monks four times a day. Matins (similar to Morning Prayer) at 7 a.m.; Holy Eucharist at 9 a.m.; Diurnum, prayer with meditation, at noon; Vespers at 5 p.m. and Compline at 7:30 p.m. At all of these services the brothers chant the psalms and other prayers, sitting across from one another, alternating sides as they sing in clear unison and an occasional startlingly beautiful harmonium. Visitors are invited to sing along quietly – this is not a time for voices to stick out, whether accomplished or confused (the chant tunes used in their breviary can be quite complex). Rather it is an opportunity to experience the practice or many voices becoming one. To me this is a particularly beautiful reminder of the transformative power of worship – many individuals becoming one body that listens with one ear and speaks and sings with one voice.
Such a unison takes practice and commitment. As I sat in these liturgies day after day, I appreciated how the art of chanting shapes this community. It is not just an act of praying together, but a practice of attending to one another, of holy listening and surrender. Unisons do not happen without work.
Another gift of Holy Cross is the Great Silence. While one can attend silent retreats at the monastery, the brothers and their guests keep a daily practice of silence as well, beginning after Compline at night and ending after breakfast the next morning. There is something cleansing about silence, quieting not only one’s voice but one’s heart and mind as well. The sounds of the rest of world can now be heard – night birds, river boats, the lapping of water, a nearby train. I found myself relaxing into myself in this quiet time. It is a comfortable and comforting practice. In the morning, eating with the brothers and their guests in silence also creates a kind of unison – common practice, common cause, a coordination of effort unaccompanied by voices.
Retreats like this aren’t just meant for clergy, though we are required to take some sort of retreat once a year. This kind of experience works for anyone who would like to turn down the noise on a busy life and taste of the gifts of monastic community – daily prayer, life-giving meals, a tending of woods and meadow and gardens, a place where one’s own reflections can find voice. The center’s list of single-day and multi-day events and retreats is enticing. The overnight fees are affordable, given that they include three meals a day, a simple bedroom and close proximity to the city, the Hudson and Hyde Park.
There are closer retreat centers that I love as well. For those who want an easy day away or a cozy overnight, I have also spent retreat time at nearby Cranaleith Spiritual Center, a sponsored ministry of the Catholic Sisters of Mercy. And I’ve also been known to keep retreat in my own home.
But taking intentional time away for spiritual care, not simply vacational but vocational rest, is a worthy practice for all of us. I’m happy to talk more about how to fit retreat and spiritual rest into your own life.
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