HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY

Yesterday, what I posted here in that little poem....

well.......it was all a big, fat lie.  Yes it was.

And I'm sorry.  A little.

I knew full well that I would neither watch a movie, nor spend much time petting the cat. 

Instead, hubby and I would put in a long, hard but happy day participating in the Festival of the Arts at Holy Trinity Monastery, which we also did on Saturday.


My most un-favorite part of doing art shows is the painfully, ridiculously, early hour your day begins.

My second most un-favorite part of doing art shows is the potential for unpleasant weather.

View through the windshield on Saturday morning.

See that sky? Will it rain? What happened to the Chamber-of-Commerce, perfect, Arizona weather that was forecast when I checked it last week?

And it’s cold. Being a desert rat, I don’t like ‘cold.’

But, I’ll tell you what I do like. I really like bacon and egg biscuits…extra bacon cooked extra crispy, thank you….at McD’s at Benson, Arizona. And I really like these gorgeous glass tiles in their rest room!

After getting up at 3:30…yes, three cotton’ pickin’ thirty!...seeing those rainbow-colored tiles was a real pick-me-up.

I know. I’m weird.

One of my most favorite things is to be at HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY near St. David, Arizona which is where we’re going so early in the morning.

I totally love this place….everything about it.

The first thing you see as you approach the monastery is this stunningly beautiful, huge, Celtic cross, rising 70 feet into the air.

back view of cross

Turning off the highway, you suddenly find yourself in another world. Peace envelops your very soul.

And because of the enormous grove of pecan trees, you have the same feeling that Dorothy had…… “This isn’t Arizona, Toto.”

There are no cacti -

                       but there are-gasp-ponds!

Actual water!

The entire area is a veritable oasis. The Mormons settled the nearby village of St. David, in 1877, no doubt partially due to the abundance of spring fed ponds.

The Benedictines must have liked it, too and they established Holy Trinity Monastery in 1974.

There is so much to show and tell about this place that it will  take me more than one blog post to get it all shown and told.  So come back for more tomorrow.

We’ll begin here.

This is the lovely San Pedro Chapel at HTM.

When inside, I can ‘hear’ the many years of silence….and 'feel' the many meditations and prayers.

I am not Catholic, but it matters not ‘what’ you are, I don’t think. This is one of those places that ‘remember.’

Besides monks and nuns, the other permanent residents of HTM are a flock of peacocks.

Here they are paying a respectful, (I'm sure) visit to the little cemetery which is adjacent to the chapel.

I find this cemetery to be such a sweet place.   

Sweet and angelic.  Simple and rustic.

There is a nature trail, which leads you by one of the pretty ponds on the grounds, back toward the San Pedro River.  This area boasts of a tremendous amount and variety of birds.  People come from all over the world to go birding here.

One summer, when we visited, an enticing scent greeted us on the trail. When we rounded a bend, we found the source. It was a gigantic, old Mulberry tree, full of ripe fruit! My grandparents had a Mulberry tree in their front yard. So, as I gorged on those juicy, purple berries, I took a little jaunt down memory lane, too.

Sweetness on my tongue.

Sweetness in my heart.

The Japanese inspired meditation garden is so beautiful and peaceful.

Just look at the size of those old cottonwood trees!

I could not decide which of these I like the best, so you get 'em both!

Reflection.

It renders you simply speechless.

Which ,of course, is the whole point.

The fall color was astonishing and so dramatic with the alternating clouds and sun.

I took all these pictures over the past weekend while I was participating in their annual Festival of the Arts.

I will tell you all about that tomorrow, but for today, just let these images melt away all your troubles and turn your soul into a puddle of peacefulness. OK?

Here’s the link to HTM’s website.

http://www.holytrinitymonastery.org/

I am so very GRATEFUL for another opportunity to spend many happy hours in the blessedly, beautiful place.

And I am most GRATEFUL to the Benedictine monks-and the nuns-and the oblates-who share it so lovingly.

Thank you.










http://www.holytrinitymonastery.org