Lenten Clergy Quiet Day
Details
“Stability at the Foot of the Cross: We Shall Not Be Moved” is the theme of this year’s Quiet Day, led by Benedictine Brother James Dowd.
For 2,000 years, some disciples have been standing at the foot of the cross of Jesus, first on Calvary (the Marys, Joanna, Susanna), then throughout the ensuing centuries, in any place in which people suffered through plagues, warfare, poverty, implosion of empires, and authoritarian regimes. In the sixth century, St. Benedict was one of those people standing at the foot of the cross as the Roman Empire fell into its final, total collapse, with chaos the norm, desperate poverty all around, plague and famine rampant, and the church often mired in corruption and unwilling or unable to respond.
Benedict believed that gathering a group of disciples who would commit their lives to God with one another and would stand with the poor and the stranger would begin to rebuild the church and the world. With the vow of stability, Benedict taught us that when we stand with the suffering and the oppressed, the stranger and the sick, the poor and the desperate, we stand with Christ.
In our time, in eerily similar conditions, we are being called to stand at the foot of the cross and to witness to all of God’s people that we choose the poor, the migrant, the immigrant, the LGBTQ person, the detained, the deported, and in the words of the old hymn/protest anthem – we shall not be moved! You are invited to join us for a day of prayer, silence, and conversation to explore the role of stability in an era of chaos. Come stand with us.
Coffee and conversation begins at 8:30 a.m.; program begins at 9 a.m.
Lunch will be provided.
A stipend for childcare is available; details on registration form.
Suggested donation is $10.
About Brother James Dowd
Brother James Dowd has been a Benedictine monk for many years and is the founding Prior of The Benedictine Way and the founding Spiritual Guide for the Contemplative Underground. Before serving as the Monk in Residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, he served at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY and at Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery in Grahamstown, South Africa. Brother James is passionate about exploring the intersection of the quest for Christian social justice and the contemplative life. The Benedictine Way was founded so that an inter-generational community of followers of Jesus might find a way to reinvigorate our little corner of the church with that quest. Before his years in monastic life, he had a career in theater and television.
The Contemplative Underground was founded because in Brother James’ many travels he discovered a kind of “underground” of people who either were contemplative or wanted to be contemplative throughout the United States, South Africa, Germany, Great Britain, and Canada, In all these places, there were always many people who longed for a more peaceful life and to work for a more peaceful world. After having led so many workshops on Centering Prayer and other forms of contemplative prayer, it became obvious that people wanted to do this within the context of a community—but that community was difficult to find. Contemplative Underground brings the desire for a deeper contemplative life and community together online and is led within the framework of Benedictine spirituality.