As the sun was rising in the east; The moon began its descent in the western sky. The NHA Easter Monday Emmaus Day (Sham El Nessim) was going to be the perfect day for a picnic and "sniffing the breeze".
After preparing the specific ingredients (salted fish, boiled eggs, spring onions) for the picnic lunch
We were ready to make the journey off St. Simeon Skete grounds towards the trappist monastery, the Abbey of Gethsemani.
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| St. Simeon Skete |
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| Taylorsville Lake State Park |
passed the farms and homesteads of the area,
and through the quaint town of Bloomfield.
We took time to stop by the St. Thomas Parish
near Bardstown, Kentucky.
From there we traveled onto the Abbey of Gethsemani.
We arrived in time to browse the Gift Shop before entering the Chapel for the noon office of Sext.
Following Christ under a rule and an abbot, the Trappist monks lead lives of prayer, work, and sacred reading, steeped in the heart and mystery of the Church.
The Noon Prayer Office: Sext.
A glance at the monks and you see them exhausted.
A feeling we know well at St. Simeon Skete. Yawning... a by-product of Many Prayer Offices that start in the middle of the night and last throughout the day blended with hard work maintaining the monastery. Yawning... a good sign that these monks have been keeping the rule of prayer.
Tired or not, the prayers continue, the Offices are without interruption
and have been uninterrupted since the monastery's beginning.
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| Window at Gethemani (seen from Balcony) |
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| Public Graveyard on Monastery grounds |
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| Spring is showing, the buds are sprouting. |
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| Retreatants and their luggage. |
And once again, the tradition of a journey on Emmaus Day - sniffing the breeze - was a meaningful and relaxing experience. We look forward to next years journey.
