November 28, 2007
Focus: Preparing to Leave for the Monastery
Dear Friend,
It is no secret by now that I will be leaving Our Lady of Grace on January 1, 2008 for three months at the Trappist Monastery of Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina. Because I will be admitted to the cloister, I will follow the life of the monks the entire 90 days. Thus my day, which begins at 3:00am and ends at 8:00pm with lights out, will be comprised of seven times to gather for prayer, several hours of meditation, five hours of work, silence (they take a vow of silence), fasting each day, and living as a vegetarian. I spent a week there on retreat last July and fond it to be the place for me.
During those three months I will be virtually incommunicado, not receiving emails, letters, phone calls or visits.
There are two things I have decided to do and list them below:
➢ Beginning January 1, 2008 I will permanently discontinue these weekly mailings to my 330+ folks, of which you are one. When I return on April 4, 2008, Sunday homilies alone will be posted on both the parish homepage www.olgrace.com) and on my personal blog (http://frnickamato.blogspot.com/) for those of you who would like to continue having access to them.
➢ As a way of simplifying my life, I will also be dropping the monthly newsletter I have been writing the past 18 ½ years, six years at my former parish and 12 ½ years since coming to Our Lady of Grace.
The remaining “installments” of my weekly message, This and That, and homily will be today, December 6, 13, 20, and my last on December 27, 2007.
I am sure I will miss the weekly contact with you and the many comments these writings have elicited over the years.
Fondly,
Father Nick Amato
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