Next Meeting: November 23 (Zoom)

This month, we will have our monthly NSL meeting, via Zoom, on Tuesday night, 11/24/20, at 7:00 PM, instead of our usual Wednesday evening meeting. This is to accommodate everyone who might be involved in any preparations for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

We will be spending time with the chapter on vigils (“Watching,” Chapter 9) in the Monastic Practices book by Charles Cummings, and if time permits, discuss later chapters, (so read ahead!).

We find it appropriate to be exploring, at this time of year as the days grow shorter, the Christian practice of keeping vigil.

Keeping a prayerful watch in the night is a long honored tradition in the Church and monasticism, and monks and nuns in the present day still practice getting up in the wee hours to pray one of the hours of the Divine Office.

Our Lord has instructed us to: “Keep awake, for you know not the hour!”

The season of Advent is almost upon us–that time in the Church calendar of watchful waiting in prayer for the coming of Christ in the Incarnation.

As we celebrate the feast of Christmas, too, we are reminded, of how the angels and shepherds kept a joyful prayer vigil with Mary and Joseph that first holy night. We have an opportunity here to come to a greater understanding and love for this Christian practice and strive to incorporate it, each in our own way, into our spiritual lives.     

We are looking forward eagerly to our meeting, especially since we had to cancel the October meeting due to technical problems. Fortunately, these have now been resolved. We hope to see you all there.

NOTE: We will also discuss the next books will talk about after we finish Monastic Practices. So if you would like to provide input about what we study next, please attend and suggest books you think would be appropriate for our group.

Bill will send out a Zoom invitation on Tuesday. If you wish to join us, please contact us via e-mail by noon on Tuesday, November 24. He’ll put you on the Zoom invitation list.

God’s Peace and a Happy Thanksgiving!

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