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Dear friends,
Like so many people around the country, we have been struggling with the unusually cold and snowy winter. With yet another storm looming on our horizon, we are all quite ready to put snow shovels and blowers away for a (long!) while.
Yet in spite of the extra work, enormous energy cost increases, and walking and driving challenges, we also appreciate the sometimes harsh beauty of extreme weather. And what deep joy when the sun manages to reveal a tiny patch of brown!
The sun moves ever northward, sunsets and sunrises are glorious, and we take these moments to rest in the glory of God.
Life really is good!
The Sisters of CHS
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Sapping again!
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 Each year around mid January we begin to think about tapping the sugar maples for another year. For several seasons Bill Consiglio and Sr. Catherine Grace have been "running the show", so they in particular feel the excitement rise when the first sign of running sap and good sapping weather appear.
This year it was late February, and just a short little run (about 130 gallons of sap), but the excitement at the start of a new season never wanes. The early sap is usually amazingly clear and produces a delicately flavored light amber syrup.
 No disappointment this year, as we finished off three-plus gallons of beautiful syrup! |
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Memorial surprise
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 Last summer I traveled to New Hampshire for my 50th High School reunion, and while there, I drove to Littleton to revisit my Episcopal roots.
Like many of my sisters, I was not a cradle Episcopalian, but I had been exposed to the tradition as a teen. All Saints Episcopal Church in Littleton was my first encounter with the Book of Common Prayer. My mother's older sister and her husband were Episcopalians, and after my mom and I moved to Lancaster in 1958, we celebrated every Christmas with them. This involved Midnight mass on Christmas Eve. My mom poked fun at the smells and bells, but I was enchanted. My aunt was on the altar guild and sometimes let me tag along when she volunteered. I watched with great interest as she polished silver, smoothed the fair linens, and explained the meaning behind the sacraments and symbols of the church. My uncle was a lover of the liturgy and passed that on to me. They were devoted members, and when they died a memorial window was installed.
That memorial window was what I had traveled to see. What I didn't know was that both my mother's name and my name were on the plaque. What a shock to see my name engraved in brass in the church where the original seeds were planted.
It felt like I'd come full circle. In 2003 I joined the Community of the Holy Spirit. Here I continue the life of prayer and outreach that my aunt and uncle nurtured so long ago.
Claire Joy, CHS
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The geometry of sunset
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This winter has been soooo cold that to save money, we've turned off the heat in chapel and used our Great Room for the Daily Office, meditation and our daily Mass. This evening while waiting in the unlit Great Room for our mediation time to start, Sr. Helena Marie and I saw the beautiful light coming from the west and lighting up our "sanctuary" spot (the fireplace -- appropriate, right?). I also took photos of what I found stunning about it -- the geometry of a sunset and how it transforms ordinary shapes, beams, cylinders, corners, window panes, wall hangings.
Spring is coming soon, though (less than a month away until the Equinox. Hooray!), but this was a perfect moment in time.
Emmanuel, CHS
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The book nook
| A dear old friend of mine was of the opinion that nothing worth reading was written after 1900. I dismissed this as lovable curmudgeonry. As I enter my curmudgeon-hood however, I begin to hold the same opinion, slightly altered. I have developed an ever deepening appreciation of mid-twentieth century authors.
Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond are surely two of the finest novels ever written that combine both travelogue and introspection with regard to one's personal relationship with God. While Mr. Greene's novel evokes the dense and tragic beauty of revolutionary Mexico, Ms. Macaulay delivers the ancient charm and mystery of what I am now liking to call Anatolia, with a most delightful, bemused air.
Each book, in its own way, continues day after day to resonate within and call forth my own musings about my travels and journey with God and reminds me why novels are so powerful. I have not read much fiction since entering the Community. I am glad for this most recent dream time (What we on the farm cal the winter, down months of December, January, February) that has re-introduced me to the art form.
Carol Bernice, CHS
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Sustaining the Dream
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There is always more!
We have exciting projects waiting in the financial wings, and if you'd like to support us in our vision, there are many ways to do so. Here are just a few of the projects afoot: - Creating additional overnight accommodations for retreatants (wouldn't the reintroduction of an annual Associates retreat be wonderful?), Farm Companions, Oblates and Resident Companions, Wisdom Schools, etc.
- Creating a dairy kitchen, dedicated to dairy food processing and education.
- Renovating the old caretaker's cottage for living and learning space
- Furnishing classrooms for the Living Arts Center (a learning kitchen, fiber arts facility, etc.)
- A boardwalk through our swamp area for silence and observation.
- And of course there is our annual fund drive, meeting the day-to-day needs of both houses!
Wonderful people are joining us regularly -- for work, learning, worship and long-term companionship.
Your contributions help sustain our dream to live peacefully, share knowledge with each other, find God in every "present moment", and celebrate the beauty, wonder and wisdom of all Life.
You can donate using the PayPal buttons below. If you have any questions, or would like information on planned giving, please let us know.General Gift Annual Appeal Capital Campaign pledge payment
If you prefer mail, please send your gift to:
"Community of the Holy Spirit"
Attn: Sustain the Dream
118 Federal Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509-5307
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 "The Nuns of Bluestone Farm"
Our story in ten minutes!
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