Photos

Here’s where I’ll share photographs of my retreats at (and day-visits to) Gethsemani.

MeAtGethsemaniIf you have photos you’d like me to post, please e-mail them to me at the address on the Contact page.

Please make sure you took the photo, hold the “ownership” or copyright to it, and are willing to let me post it with a credit to you under it. Describe what’s in the picture, on what date you took the shot, and what you’d like everyone to know about the photo.

NOTE: Me posting any picture you send does not mean I will then own it. It just means you’re lending it to me – and visitors to this page – like someone lends a Rembrandt to a museum to display for awhile. You can ask me to delete it any time you wish.

If you can dig those guidelines, feel free to share.

Okay. I’ll start. These pictures are from our most recent (September 9-12, 2016) retreat at Gethsemani.

This announces you’re “home”:

abbeymarquee

One of my favorite sights: The walkway toward the church (straight ahead) and the entryway for retreatants (on the left). The entryway on the right is for monks. (Next picture below.)

abbeyfront

Quote from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux that welcomes all:

bernard

“God Alone” is carved above the entry to the monks’ area, which is off limits for retreatants. Picture taken at dusk, which I thought gave it a mysterious look.

godalone

Fr. Seamus at the desk welcoming retreatants:

fatherseamus

The schedule for retreatants. My favorites are Vigils at 3:15am and Compline at 7:30pm.

schedule

What it looks like at 3:15am. Picture taken by sleepy retreatant in the balcony:

vigils

For some reason, this picture seemed to sum up what a retreat at the Abbey looks like:

solitudebench

Walking sticks can be found everywhere. I grabbed one and took it on the hike. I returned it to that exact spot when we were done:

waitingsticks

The grounds of the Abbey offer wonderful opportunities for hiking and solitude. They begin with this path:

thepath

Sights along the path through the woods:

haybale

More from our hike:

babystatue

More from our hike:

woodsstatue

More from our hike:

trailstatute

More from hike:

hikepond

My favorite place in the Abbey: The balcony. I don’t know why. I think it’s the vantage point. Or the smell of incense. Or the intense silence. This is a panorama shot from one window to the other. If you look closely, you can see my wife in the far right corner, seated, looking at me (and probably wondering, “What the heck are you doing?):

balcony

Another view of the balcony. At a certain time of day, the late afternoon sun beams through the stained-glass windows and illuminates everything in a beautiful shade of blue:

balconystainedglass

The Abbott addressing the monks after Terce on September 10, 2016. He wanted to make sure they were singing in unison, and clearly. It was interesting to hear him coach these monks about how to sing, since they’ve been doing it for decades upon decades. Sometimes, though, one needs a reminder:

abbotandmonnks

The view from outside the Abbey toward the grave markers:

abbeyandmarkers

The view from farther around to the back side of the Abbey:

abbey

Dusk from the hill beside the statue:

abbeyhillview