Letters to the Friends

Tears are the deluge falling on sins, the purification of the world. – St. Gregory Nanzianzen

Truly you are blessed, Abba Arsenius, for you wept for yourself in this world! – Abba Poeman

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

One of the secrets of the ancient monks, one that helped them shape the destiny of the Christian world, is found in the tears they shed as an integral part of the spiritual life. These were not tears of self-pity or the “crocodile tears” of sobbing souls who are slaves of their own emotional ups and downs. No, these were liberating tears of compunction that opened again in some way the Paradise lost by our first parents.

Abba Joseph related that Abba Isaac said, “I was sitting with Abba Poemen […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

On January 22nd I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, D.C. in order to par- ticipate in this year’s March for Life. During a solemn High Mass sponsored by The Paulus Institute and Juventutem that was celebrated at St. Mary Mother of God Church in Washington that evening, I gave the following homily, excerpts from which follow:

It has all been said. The case for the protection of the unborn against the evil of elective abortion, sanctioned by laws purporting to justify this social crime, has been clearly, articulately, forcefully, and coherently set forth. Popes, such as Blessed John Paul II; kings, like King Baudouin of Belgium; scientists, for example Professor Jerome Lejeune, who discovered the genetic cause of Down syndrome; poets, artists, men, […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Around our Abbey has grown up a community of Catholic families. This is still a very humble populace, not quite worthy of the designation “town”—or even of “village” (it might take a century to reach that stage)—although it does share some of the characteristics of the latter.

Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheer’d the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summer’s lingering blooms delay’d. (Oliver Goldsmith, “Deserted Village”)

In this nascent village, certain persons have begun to fill the various roles that assure the complementary nature of such a human assemblage. One man has a saw-mill; another raises cows and goats. One lady sells her hens’ eggs to neighbors; several women interest themselves in the healing […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Christmas is a center and a summit: “And the Word was made flesh.” All ancient history runs toward this culmination, as Saint Paul teaches us: “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). Then, from Bethlehem and Calvary—which are intimately joined at this summit—what is left of time runs downhill toward the final consummation that is described in prophetic terms in the Book of the Apocalypse.

The Incarnation thus structures time on a grand scale. We still speak of the centuries B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini, meaning in Latin “the year of the Lord”), despite attempts to change the terminology to B.C.E. (before the common era) and C.E. (the common era). […]

The print version of this letter includes additional images and explanations.

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Many of you have followed with interest the founding of Clear Creek Abbey from the very beginning in 1999. You know that the history of our abbey has been closely linked to the history of our construction projects. From the beginning we stated that we intended to ‘build something beautiful for God’ and that we wanted to construct a monastery ‘to last a thousand years.’ It is a simple fact that the Benedictine monks, whose history scans some fifteen centuries, have been audacious builders. Even a casual glance at the architectural history of Europe will bear this out. Although America is not Europe, although we must, of course, adapt to place and time, nevertheless it […]

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Of the common myths or fables that define the cultural heritage of mankind, there is one in particular that seems especially appropriate to our times. It has to do, really, with two sorts of human beings—two “life-styles,” as we might say in our day. They are the two eternal “types” that can still be encountered in just about any walk of life: the Honey Bee and the House Fly. This is by no means a question of a scientific description of two species of insect, but a matter of poetic truth and justice.

The one is free. He goes where he chooses, lives according his own good pleasure. Often he dines at the splendid tables of kings and with the great of this world. He pays no […]