St. Simeon Skete, Taylorsville Kentucky USA

With St. Simeon, the God receiver, as our patron, the skete seeks to practice the ideals found in our Rule, The Thousand Day Nazareth. In simplicity and poverty, the skete embraces the struggle of inner life through the practice of the Prayer Rope.

See our website at www.nazarethhouseap.org

Donations should be addressed to: Nazareth House Apostolate, 185 Captains Cove Drive, Taylorsville, Kentucky 40071.

Important Notice: All writings, posts, graphics & photographs in this blog are the copyrighted property of (unless otherwise indicated) Nazareth House Media, a division of Nazareth House Apostolate and cannot be copied, printed or used without written permission from NHA Media, Taylorsville, KY.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Spring Break at St. Simeon Skete

A gentle rain is falling at the skete, the skies are dark, snow is predicted and the winds are kicking up.  This morning as we walked to the Chapel it was 61℉.   The meteorologists say it will be 18℉ when we walk to the Chapel on Thursday morning.  This Winter's weather has been intense, to say the least.


It is quiet here, very quiet.  Rosary Class has just ended and afterward we had a wonderful time of fellowship as we broke bread together around the table at Anna House.

Just an hour before Rosary Class begun, our Spring Break Guests were leaving.   Anna and Jeff left for the North and Fr. Paul, Grant, Bethany, Carolyn and Vincent returned to the South.

James and Anna last Autumn at the Skete 
Anna and Jeff are part of the skete, coming here as often as their schedule allows.

Discussion of the Kiddush Cup used at Morning Mass at the Skete 

They know the routine and the skete has become "home away from home" to them.


Fr. Sterne also is a familiar figure around here and has been a part of Nazareth House for many years. He is one of the few people who have traveled to Sierra Leone with us.  This Spring break he brought with him (through the CS Lewis Student Center & St. Theodore's Chapel, Columbia, South Carolina) some kind souls who wished to offer themselves in any service they could.  I wasn't sure how to deal with such an offer of generosity or what exactly they had in mind.


  We've had many come through these doors.  We've had those who came out of curiosity to "check things out", we've had those who come to offer their opinion of how things should be done and we've had those who want to learn the ways of the skete to incorporate them back home and/or in the marketplace.   There have been those who have come to deepen their prayer life, and even some that come here we still haven't figured out why.  But here this week, we had people focussed on being of service to NHA and to the skete.

The trimming of the "monkey" grass  by Vincent and Carolyn 

Vincent continually asked for us to give him work "I am full of energy, give me manual labor," he expressed.  And that he did.  With Carolyn, he trimmed down all the unruly dried up "monkey grass" so that its new shoots could resurface green and lush.  They even cleaned out the chicken coop!

Supplies available at very reasonable prices at SOS 

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, they all volunteered to sort medical supplies in the name of Nazareth House Apostolate at Supplies Over Seas (SOS) in Louisville.  This is the Non-Profit Organization that makes it possible for organizations like us to provide the much needed medical provisions in Sierra Leone.  After completing a full days work at SOS, the group from The C.S. Lewis Student Center & St. Theodore's Chapel returned to the skete with a box full of wound care supplies and blood pressure cuffs to be sent to Sierra Leone ASAP.



We did manage to get one night around the campfire



Compline around the fire pit

including launching a trance balloon

Named "trance balloon" because you stand still and watch it fly into the distance 

but other than dinner each night together and Compline we didn't get to see as much of each other as we would have liked - because everyone was working.

While the group from South Carolina were working at SOS, Anna cleaned Anna House


and Jeff got all my printers and gadgets hooked up and synced.


Jesús put up the Lamp Post Posters along the driveway.


Spring Break Week at St. Simeon certainly helped us "Spring Forward" and we are most grateful for the tremendous help from everyone this week.


...and with everything in working order in my office there is much administrative work I must tend to so for now I bid you goodbye.  Look for another post toward the end of this week.


Cheers!
Vicki