Overdue thanks!

As the summer draws to a close and the garden goes into its final phases there is some overdue thanks to be offered on the blog. 

With all the events of the summer there was one thing that slipped off the radar on The Mary Theotokos  blog. Its also the main reason our garden has been able to provide so much for so many.

That is the work of Bob and Anne Marie Duggan. 

Not only did they put in countless hours weeding, watering, planting and care for the garden in it's earliest stages...

but even more helpful, Bob, through his connection and work with teens at the LEARN SCHOOL in Lyndonville was able to bring some eager young hands to help 

work the garden as well. 

Thanks Bob and Anne Marie for all your work and another big THANKS to the kids from the LEARN SCHOOL and their generous spirit of volunteerism.

Hope you'll all come back for the harvest of all this food, frost is already upon us!!

The Franciscans are coming, the Franciscans are coming!

That was the rally cry as our most recent retreat packed up and left and we did a hasty turn around of linen and deep cleaning!

Mother Superior enjoyed her stay and did a lot of fishing with us, the weather held out nicely. 

Bust almost as soon as she headed south on her lecture tour, the Franciscans came up the driveway.

The Franciscans of the Primitive Order from Roxbury MA., arrived with 14 men, two brothers and two Priests. The group came to discern vocations, explore fellowship, pray and work! And they did it all!

As soon as he got out of the car Fr. Sean was ready to have Mass and we did a quick check in about work details and other weekend plans. It was good to catch up with him as it had almost been a year since we saw each other last. 

Right away the Father and the Brothers headed to the Chapel to set up for Mass.

With the Host replaced and the monstrance set up for Adoration hours around the clock, the men had Mass to celebrate arrival.

After that there was prayer, cooking, walks, discussions, a bonfire and lots of farm work. 

Naturally, being Franciscans, there was an interest in spending time with the animals; goats, chickens, turkeys and especially horses.

Everyone really enjoyed their time on the farm and in the woods!

And of course there was music! Brother Felix stepped away from his endless kitchen duties and grabbed his guitar!

He played to the men, he played to the flowers and gardens he played music for each Mass, music for prayer, and even music for horses;

And then suddenly a Blues duet began and plans to tour the Northeast were made!

The work these guys did around the farm in the garden and the whole roof job on the Poustinia cabin was all incredibly helpful. Also having them here to talk theology, life and even tell some good jokes was the best sort of fellowship we could have. 

But before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. 

So after the Father and the Brothers practiced their own personal ascension, via the Kubota, 

...it was time to do the group shot,

What an inspirational group of men, I can't wait to see them again!

It was sad to to see them go.

But now it's time to get working on the Rosary garden and the many other jobs here. 

Work is prayer, and prayer is joy,

It can be a hard life here, but it is a blessed life.

Stay Tuned for more as we head into fall, new projects, a rotator cuff surgery and the continuation of this radical and blessed life from,

The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center.

tis the season of retreats!

Seems to be the season of retreats, these past few weeks, with more on the way. So let me get started with a quick recap on visitors and projects!

Around the 15th for 24 hours the University of Vermont Catholic Center group, FOCUS arrived with 17 college students who were on retreat to plan projects and Evangelization activities on campus for the upcoming school year.

As soon as they arrived they explored the farm, settled in and headed straight to the lake for some kayaking fellowship, 

Karol Wojtyla style.

Once they were back it was all about cooking and meetings, prayer in the chapel and a lot of laughing before bed. When morning came they were gone, as silent as Ninjas. a quick energetic 

and wonderful group.

Shortly after that, Paul and Paula Harvey from PA arrived.

Paul and I could be twins! We laughed to find out that we had a lot of similar life experiences as well! We both had a history of acting Shakespeare, both in this country and England, we were both lectors and we even had some of the same 

close friends in Philadelphia too. 

Not to mention the same taste in fashion! Small world.

As the Harveys enjoyed their tranquil time praying in the chapel, walking the grounds and chit chatting from time to time another group showed up.

This group was about 25 Lyndon State College students who came as a work detail to harvest and clean the garden! 

They arrived in a school bus,

And Cathy got them right to work.

All of them headed off to the garden to begin 

weeding and harvesting.

As the garden work drew to a close they headed into the apple orchard to harvest there.

Cathy hopped on her tractor and kept things going as these young people kept working away!

After herding goats with me Gurly was looking for shade and the horses even came out to eat and watch in their new play pen or paddock or coral or grassy eating place-thing.

In no time the food shelf harvest was looking really good!

Later on today all these veggies and more will be on their way to the interfaith food shelf in town to feed a lot of people.

Once work was done it was time for a few gulps of water and some group shots before the bus pulled out and we all waved good bye!

What a blessing to have them here to do all the work they did!

Now things will slow down for a bit...

the turkeys eat and get fatter for Thanksgiving.

The chickens get bigger and soon will be laying our eggs.

And Aaron the buck dreams of making baby goats!

But within 24 hours the Mother Superior retreat arrives for a week and right on the heels of that is the 50 member Franciscan retreat, so stay tuned for more from,

The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center.

Mary, the Echo of God

From one blog to another, I borrow this excerpt from The Word on Fire blog to celebrate this Marian Feast day.

For more: http://www.wordonfire.org/WoF-Blog/WoF-Blog/August-2014/Mary,-the-Echo-of-God.aspx

"...All this seems to beg for a more fitting conclusion of praise and thanks to God for such a gift, the gift of a Mother whose love is utterly flawless and transparent to God’s own tender and maternal love (Is. 66:13) that humanity seeks out in the love of every human mother. So
I will allow an excerpt from the brilliant homily of St. Gregory Palamas on this feast fill this need:"

"Hence, as it was through the Theotokos alone that the Lord came to us, appeared upon earth and lived among men, being invisible to all before this time, so likewise in the endless age to come, without her mediation, every emanation of illuminating divine light, every revelation of the mysteries of the Godhead, every form of spiritual gift, will exceed the capacity of every created being. She alone has received the all-pervading fullness of Him that filleth all things, and through her all may now contain it, for she dispenses it according to the power of each, in proportion and to the degree of the purity of each. Hence she is the treasury and overseer of the riches of the Godhead. For it is an everlasting ordinance in the heavens that the inferior partake of what lies beyond being, by the mediation of the superior, and the Virgin Mother is incomparably superior to all. It is through her that as many as partake of God do partake, and as many as know God understand her to be the enclosure of the Uncontainable One, and as many as hymn God praise her together with Him. She is the cause of what came before her, the champion of what came after her and the agent of things eternal. She is the substance of the prophets, the principle of the apostles, the firm foundation of the martyrs and the premise of the teachers of the Church . She is the glory of those upon earth, the joy of celestial beings, the adornment of all creation. She is the beginning and the source and root of unutterable good things; she is the summit and consummation of everything holy."

Was that summer?

Well June and July flew by with my work at Vermont Children's Theater and the usual work here. So I am catching up on the blog posts before two massive retreats arrive this month from a College Catholic fellowship group and later a work force of Franciscans from Boston.

The first thing that happened was the repainting of the sign by the end of the driveway. It took a little longer than I thought but the old sign needed some bullet holes repaired and was loosing it's color from the weather. So the sign came down for a few weeks and went back up looking brand new.

Next we embarked more wholeheartedly in our work to help rescue animals in the state. We learned long ago that part of the retreat into silence and prayer in a rural setting needed to involve animals. This was part of Fr. Von Faur's vision of this monastic center. As we are set up for farming naturally some of the animals will be used to feed us as well as retreaters and potential long term community members (if a community is God's plan). But some of the animals are here to simply live and provide that cerebral and spiritual bond with visitors who may participate in their care or just petting them. As Saint Francis demonstrated the moment one interacts with a docile and loving animal the disconnect with the "busy/noisy" world happens thus opening the mind and heart for God to enter.

On that theme of four legged residents we acquired two rescue horses that are eating grass happily in a section of our meadow.

This big girl is a Tennessee Walker named Molly,

And this Arabian eating grass faster than it grows is Abby.

Don't forget our other lawn mowers and walking brush hogs.

This small herd of five will soon increase to twelve as we prepare for another group of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats that are soon to arrive. Brush clearing, milk making-soap, cream, yogurt, cheese and petting zoo; a truly multipurpose animal.

There is also a new brood of turkeys for meat and 

laying hens.

There is also a rumor of Alpacas heading this way.

The garden has been in full swing this summer and many veggies have already headed out to the interfaith food shelves locally. It has been much easier as several youth groups have come to work the gardens this year.

Busy and blessed times, but now I at least feel the blog is almost caught up.

Stay tuned for more updates. But if there are anymore animals arriving I may only have pictures of me on a row boat in the lake pretending to fish but trying to escape!

Pax et Bonum

From 

The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center