On April 7 2023, during our regular silent meeting at 2 pm est, we will have a contemplative reading of the poem The Dream of the Rood as a Good Friday reflection. The meeting is a full hour of silence, but people are welcome to come and go as they please. The poetry reading will … Continue reading Symbolic Martyrdom in the Celtic Tradition →

During Lent this year I have been looking at the Celtic understanding of penance and how it is rooted in desert tradition of Evagrius and Cassian. Today I would like to turn my attention towards something incredibly important in the modern world which no one talked about in the ancient and medieval worlds - environmental … Continue reading Environmental Destruction: A Call to Repentance →

One time, as Jesus had come to the region of Gerasenes, he met a man who was possessed by demons. As Jesus stepped out of his boat this man (who lived alone in the graveyard) came running up to him. This man was prone to self harm, beating himself with stones. He also stayed up … Continue reading Who Are You And Where Do You Come From? →

We will be having an online communion service for the Spring Equinox on March 19 2023. It is open for anyone and everyone to participate. We ask that you bring your own wine/juice and bread/crackers. The Chapel zoom room will be open at 2 pm est for fellowship and the service will begin at 2:15. … Continue reading A Service for the Spring Equinox →

There is an ancient practice which is described most thoroughly by Evagrius, but which permeates the whole desert tradition. This practice is called “talking back” or antirrhetikos in Greek. Evagrius of Pontus wrote a book with that as a title. The structure of that book became the foundation for the later Irish penitential tradition. You … Continue reading The Desert of our Souls →

Lent is the penitential season where Christians imitate Christ’s suffering and temptation in the desert by fasting for forty days leading up to Easter. In the Western tradition, one does not fast on Sundays, in remembrance and celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Fridays, on the other hand, are a time for intensified fasting, in remembrance and … Continue reading Spiritual Practices for Lent →

Lent is about to begin and there will be a short Ash Wednesday service in the Chapel on February 22, 2023. We will gather between 4-4:15 pm est.  The service will be approximately 20 min and then we will have an optional time of fellowship afterwards. You can get onto zoom by clicking HERE. We … Continue reading A Service for Ash Wednesday →

Service to the poor, sick, and oppressed is perhaps the teaching which Jesus emphasised the most in his life here on earth. To be a Christian is to love both our neighbours and our enemies. It is to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. It is to tend to the lepers, … Continue reading Loving Service: Brigit, Butter, and Kindness →

As part of my study of historical Celtic Christianity, I have been doing a deep dive into an essential aspect of that tradition. The Celtic practice of penance is one of the unique contributions of the early Celtic Christians to Christianity as a whole. A book about penance is called a penitential and there are … Continue reading Penance and World Peace →

I have been exploring the Irish penitentials lately and I came across this little gem from the Bigotian penitential, an Irish text which was influential on the continent in Europe. The penitentials were fascinating documents which addressed a wide variety of topics. Deep spiritual insights are intermingled with rules about what to do if your … Continue reading The Art of Stillness →