Tradition at Clear Creek Abbey

Father Dwight Longenecker has a great article up today about Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey. I’ve written several times about this growing and vital abbey, and Father Longenecker nails it:

Now under the leadership of Abbot Philip Anderson that group of about a half dozen men have established a new monastery. Already they have fifty monks and the average age is, I’d guess, about 32. I spent a week with them, not only on my own retreat, but also preaching their annual retreat. …

What I found at Clear Creek was (in my opinion) monasticism as it should be. The monks are dedicated to the life of contemplation and enclosure. They do not run parishes and schools. They are not engaged in social justice warfare, and neither do they lead genteel lives of scholarship and tea. Their monastic life is austere and while there is “nothing harsh, nothing burdensome” neither is there anything soft and easy. The diet is predominantly vegetarian. The schedule is rigorous. The work is hard.

What was my day like? I usually joined the monks in the new, half finished abbey church for Low Mass at 7 am. The low masses are celebrated in the crypt church at numerous altars–each priest saying his own mass with a brother serving. The members of the community celebrated Mass according to the extraordinary form, and were happy for me to celebrate using the ordinary form as I am not yet trained to celebrate the extraordinary form. The atmosphere of contemplative, intense worship early in the morning was beautiful, calm and the level of concentration and attention to the mystery was deeply moving.

Father’s ruminations on the life of the monks and their joyful adherence to tradition is eloquent.

In getting to know the monks at Clear Creek I saw real community in action. It was most inspiring to watch the young lay brothers serve the low masses. Robed in their full monastic habit, they walked beside the choir monks, knelt to serve their Mass and did so with calloused hands and dirt under their fingernails. This is the spiritual life in working clothes and it filled me with great joy.

I was not the only one filled with joy. My time leading the conferences was a time of prayer, reflection and theology, but it was also a time to share anecdotes, curiosities and laughter. At Clear Creek I encountered a community of men who seemed well adjusted, hard working, prayerful and remarkably joyful. Cut off from constant screen time, not worried about the traffic, the latest shootings or the controversies in the church, these men were grounded, healthy and happy.

There’s more at the link. Check it out!