QUIETUDE
by bartermn
Over twenty years ago, Father Stephen A. Valenta, a Catholic
chaplain at the Binghamton University took his tent to the woods,
to a plot owned by the Conventional Franciscan Friars of the
Immaculate Conception, saying that in quietude, he would hear God
more clearly. He would absorb a message of love, make it his own,
then share it with people too busy to pray.
Father Stephen's tenting days are over but he left a legacy at
what is now called Mount St. Francis Hermitage in the town of Maine,
New York. Situated on 150 acres, with a paved entrance road,
administrative buildings, and a dozen rustic shelters for people
who come to walk away from the world, not to hide, but to think
about important matters. The tiny cabins can be used by appointment
only, from May through October. They don't have running water but
do have beds, desks, and cooking facilities. Guests are asked to
bring their own food and bedding. If they can afford it,
people are asked to give ten dollars a day to operate the hemitage,
the friars are prohibited from accepting a salary. There
is no routine, except for daily liturgical services, and a
friar is on duty at all times to take confession. Most visiters
are Catholic but anyone of any faith who respects the rules may stay.
Actually, there is only one rule, silence. If you meet someone on
a trail, you don't address them or try to start up a conversation.
A neighbor of mine is in remission from cancer, he has visited
the hermitage monthly for six years. He said that he goes there to,
"read, relax, and speak to the Lord."
Another friend explains his visits..."I'm so pushed all the
time. There, it's quiet. It's a place to get away. It's where I
receive spiritual direction."
In a 1987 interview, Father Stephen summed up what a stay at
the hermitage can mean. "The greatest compensation is seeing
changes in people, the peace, quiet, and calmness they show on
departure, that hopefully, allows them to go back to their
responsibilities in the world with renewed zest."
I thought about Father Stephen and the hermitage while
shoveling compost from one bin to another, watching the new calf
run and jump in the pasture in front of me. A Bluejay shrieked from
above, a wren whistled a song on the wind, Rosi softly mooed at
her calf, telling her to stay away from Jake, the tom turkey who was
strutting at the edge of the fence. The chickens would flock to
the compost heap every time I paused in my throws. They would
grab a worm or two from the pile then turn and run with their
treasures, others giving chase. I paused quite often.
Quietude.
"For one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me,
I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to me."
Bhagavadgita Krsna
"Peace, I leave with you. Let your heart not be troubled,
neither let it be afraid."
Jesus Christ
"We are the people and the way we make a change is only by the
way we live our lives. We are the people of the light."
Bob Carlisle
Quietude