the still point of my turning world

There is a very special place near Three Rivers Michigan where I have been going on retreat for 31 years.

I began in 1979, going there for a four day retreat to prepare myself for my ordination as a Presbyterian minister. I kept going all through the years to help me keep my sacred vow to stay Centered in God, and always make time for communion with God, no matter how fast my world was turning, even when it seemed I had not time. Every month, and later, after I discovered another retreat place (MorningStar) I loved, every season, I would go to St. Gregory's abbey on personal retreat. I also introduced many people to the place, and church groups as well. It was there my good friend Lillian Sigal and I were inspired to begin the Interfaith Dialogue Association in Grand Rapids many years ago. Over and over again, while there, I have been renewed, refreshed, and revived. My journals reveal wonderful Divine wisdom revealed to me in hours of solitude and prayer.

This is the only Episcopal Benedictine Abbey in the whole nation, and it is so near to me!

I bless the monks and all whose dedication has made its existence possible. I wonder if they know how much good they have done to how many people!

Today, it is a small community of a half dozen monks. But they have a wonderful library, guest houses, a beautiful chapel that feels like The Ark; and seven times a day the bells ring out calling the faithful to pray the Daily Office. You can join the monks in the chapel to chant the psalms as much or little as you like. When I do, I feel I am flowing in a river of prayer that has gone on and on for centuries, a River of Life bringing blessing to the world.

In the pictures above, there is a path (like others) that leads through peaceful woodlands and meadows, free for the walking when you are there. There is an old fashioned farm house named St. Denys, which I love to stay in best. One of the pictures is of the bedroom I always chose (one of five) for it overlooks the monastic quadrangle and the church. From there I can hear the bells most clearly. It reminds me of being back in my childhood home of Pakistan, and hearing the call to prayer five times a day from the minarets of the mosques which surrounded our compound. I wish there was something like that where I live now.

Come to think of it, the other day when I was walking on the beach, the wind was blowing from the East, and I could hear the chimes from nearby St. Peter's calling the faithful to Mass.

There is something about a rhythm of prayer and life activities that is deeply refreshing, and to hear bells or calls to prayer making the times to stop and remember God and why you are here and how to live is to me a great blessing and aid to the practice of the Presence of God, which is what people of all faith are called to do. For we are all forgetful of the Divine too often, and we need help with staying faithful to our calling.

St. Gregory's has helped me do that. It is, as T. S. Eliot says so eloquently, "The Still Point of the turning world." Yes.