Letters to the Friends

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Easter is the solemnity of solemnities, the culmination of the liturgical year; it is the celebration of the Risen Lord, of the victory of Life over Death, of the ultimate Light over the deepest of darkness. Easter is not about petty matters, though it encompasses even small things. It is a revelation of the definitive meaning of human life, the great Alleluia of the human story in general; but it is also a story about real human beings, of those who were and are caught up in the drama of the God-Man, the One Who was and is the Son of Mary as well as the true Son of God the […]

It would be the understatement of the millennium to suggest that, perhaps, something is awry in the world at present and that a global health crisis has sadly impacted the way we live as Catholic Christians. Not only are we witnesses to the spectacle of so many people growing ill and even dying, but the very Bread of Life entrusted to us from Heaven has been locked up in such a manner that the great number of the faithful is unable to receive this vital spiritual nourishment. I blame no one in particular.

Pandemic need not become Pandæmonium. After all, the Holy Trinity is still supreme in Heaven; the choirs of Angels still hold together in perfect order; the stars continue to follow their perpetual track; the birds are already busy building nests; and, […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

In the following meditation one of our agricultural monks endeavors to have us see, in all its noble splendor and usefulness—amid the forest that surrounds it— the theological beauty of the tree. — br. Philip Anderson, abbot

“A tree hath hope….” The words of Job (14:7) come to mind as we reflect on our little tree nursery here at Clear Creek Monastery, as the days lengthen through February and plans for spring planting begin to take shape. There are a variety of trees present, each for a different purpose, all lined up in their three-gallon pots, awaiting the shovel which will prepare their new and final home in the earth. There are pear trees, both grafted and ungrafted, pine trees of a native variety, and […]

Look, the storm of the Lord!
   Wrath has gone forth,
   a whirling tempest;
   it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back
   until he has executed and accomplished
   the intents of his mind.

—Jeremiah 23:19-20

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

In a world gone mad, where charity has grown cold and there is nothing less common now than common sense; in a time when religious persecution wears many masks and when all that is truly human is under attack by global strategies of the “culture of death”—targeting with especial virulence the family—we monks move forward in our own way, as boldly as possible, but treading softly. Under this winter landscape new life is real but hidden in the ground. New saints are being formed […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

According to a prominent thinker of the twentieth century, Simone Weil (she was not a Catholic Christian, but moving close the Church at the time of her premature death), “The beautiful is the experimental proof that the incarnation is possible.” If this soul not yet received into the fold of Christ could make such a bold assertion, how much more should the Catholic faithful find in the beauty of creation the traces of God? With the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity the supernatural sense of wonder grows even greater, as the “proof” becomes tangible. Here is what the preface for Christmas in the Roman Missal tells us:

For by […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

It was ten years ago, on November 15, 2009, that our Father Dom François de Feydeau left us for God, after an aggressive brain tumor stole his earthly existence. For this true monk, illness and death were all part of the program of Christian perseverance and monastic life. Toward the end he wrote:

I am preparing myself for any eventuality, without anxiety and in peace. I am in the hand of God, to whom long ago I dedicated my life. All my life He has done nothing but good to me. [In facing death] I am following the straight line of my monastic vocation…What is important for me and helps me greatly is to understand the meaning of what is happening to me: I accepted […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Fugit irreparabile tempus, sang the high Roman poet. As Christians we do not look upon the flight of time as a loss, but as a movement toward something better in the plan of God. So after these 20 years of monastic life at Clear Creek, what remains in the hearts and minds of our monks is—up and beyond the rest—a sense of thanksgiving to God for the past along with hope for what is still to come. Truly, the founding and development of our abbey has been a thing wonderful to contemplate—and you, our many friends, have been a great part of it. As our 20th anniversary approaches, I cannot find more fitting words than the ones I wrote ten years ago, to describe the memorable arrival in […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Every four years it is my duty and joy to return to France in order to participate in the General Chapter of our Benedictine Congregation of Solesmes. The beauty of the Abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, with its nearby sister abbey of the Benedictine Nuns of Sainte-Cecile, never ceases to inspire those who visit this haut lieu of monastic life. During the General Chapter in May many vital topics were discussed, of course, inside and outside of the formal sessions. It is always enriching to be in contact with my brother Benedictine abbots and with the Nuns of Sainte-Cecile.

Given the fact that I am less frequently in Europe now, I try to visit other abbeys of the Congregation after each General Chapter. This year they […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

The clerical sexual abuse crisis that has now reached alarming proportions is like the many-headed Hydra that Hercules had to kill as one of his Twelve Labors—worse still, like the Beast of the Apocalypse with seven heads (chapter 13), something extremely hard to kill. Indeed, the restoration of the virtue of chastity in all its dimensions has become an urgent matter—a matter of spiritual life or death. What is desperately needed is a substantial reaffirmation of the Catholic doctrine concerning chastity and a new commitment to the vow of priestly celibacy, which is its corollary.

Surprisingly enough, our formula of monastic profession does not even mention chastity specifically. For as Dom Delatte points out, chastity—like poverty—is “included in the promise to observe monastic customs and the monastic […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Many in our day seek ways of living closer to the land. At Clear Creek we are fortunate to have abundant natural resources in the rugged woodlands God has provided for us. Here follows a description of some techniques we are learning in an effort to make good use of these gifts of Creation. — br. Philip Anderson, abbot

Cherokee County, Oklahoma, is not known as Big Ag country: tractors in these parts (if folks have them at all) are small, and there are no “amber waves of grain” for as far as the eye can see. The harsh climate combined with the rocky soil require a more flexible approach to agriculture, aided by frequent and fervent prayer. Also helpful is an appreciation that “small is beautiful.” […]