Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

Melrose-Labyrinth-New-York

Full Text:

Labyrinth Offers A Meditative Path To Peace For Modern-Day Pilgrims

(with photos)

BY JAN HOWARD

Because of the busy lives we lead today there is often the need to take a

break from the hectic pace and look for someplace to just be quiet, to commune

with nature, to think, to meditate, and perhaps to pray.

There's a wonderful new place to get away from the noise and confusion of

today's world and to find inner peace, tucked away just over the border from

Danbury in New York state.

A Labyrinth and Meditation Garden was recently created by the Episcopalian

sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit at St Cuthbert's Retreat House at

Melrose on Federal Hill Road in Brewster, N.Y. It is open from 8 am until

dark, seven days a week, for meditation and prayer.

It is a quiet, peaceful place, filled with greenery, statuary, and bird songs,

with a Labyrinth to walk as you meditate or pray.

"A labyrinth is very ancient. It has been used since antiquity as a means of

meditation and prayer," said Sister Penelope Mary of the Community of the Holy

Spirit, one of the four sisters in residence at the convent. "In medieval

times, it was a substitute for going to Jerusalem."

While sitting in the Meditation Garden, listening to the songs of birds and

admiring the trees and plantings, you can feel calm settle around you like a

warm comforter in winter.

A labyrinth is not the same as a maze, the sister explains. A maze has several

dead ends and trick turns which a labyrinth doesn't. Its path doubles back

parallel to itself as it goes directly to the center, which represents the

Holy Spirit or God's love for his people.

The 40-foot square labyrinth and the approximately 40 by 60 foot garden were

built last fall on the site of what was once an Olympic size swimming pool

that had been in existence since the 1920s.

"For years we couldn't figure out what to do with the pool," Sister Penelope

Mary said. "In the mid 1970s, we were told we needed to put in an Olympic size

filter to maintain it. We didn't have the funds to do it or to fix the pool,

which had fallen into disrepair."

Though the pool had been drained, the sisters were concerned about safety

because a small amount of water remained in it. Eventually they had a fence

constructed around it.

But the problem of what to do with the pool remained. "We would hold

brainstorming sessions as to what to do with the swimming pool. Some were

totally impractical or we couldn't manage it financially," Sister Penelope

Mary noted.

"I read lots of gardening books, and one day I was reading a book with mazes,"

she said. "It made me think of a labyrinth and prayer garden."

Sister Penelope Mary discussed her idea with her mother superior, Mother

Madeline Mary, in New York City, who gave her the go ahead for the project.

Sister Penelope Mary then visited local merchants, who willingly donated items

to the project, such as free siding for the existing pool house, which the

sisters hope to rehabilitate into a prayer hermitage for people to use while

on retreat.

"People sent bits and pieces of money that we used for the sod, gravel, and

shrubs," she said.

Saving The Frogs

The pool was completely drained and refilled with soil by August of last year,

following a major effort by the nuns, their caretaker and others to dislodge

and relocate the many frogs that had taken up residence in the pool. "There

were lots and lots of frogs. They loved it," Sister Penelope Mary said.

After the pool was filled in, the slab for the labyrinth was laid at a cost of

$4,000. "We were very lucky in finding a company that could manage the slab

for that price. Others wanted $9,000," Sister Penelope Mary said.

The design on the Labyrinth is not inlaid. "Maybe someday," she said. Instead,

the design was painted on by a friend of the religious order who is a

mathematician.

Painting the design was not as simple as it sounds, the sister explained. It

had to be worked out mathematically first. Then he cut templates so the design

would come out perfectly on the slab. He started painting on a Saturday, and

with help from a tenant at the convent, finished by Wednesday.

A day later, the sod for the garden was delivered and laid by another friend

of the convent.

On Sunday, May 7, The Most Reverend Frank Griswold, the presiding bishop of

the Episcopal Church in New York State, blessed the site.

Seeding of the garden was completed in November, and planting of shrubs, trees

and flowers followed this past spring.

"I made lots of trips from the garden centers with trees on top of the station

wagon or plants inside," Sister Penelope Mary said. "Our caretaker and I put

in the shrubs."

Sister Penelope Mary, who has a degree in art, designed the layout for the

garden. "I read gardening books all the time," she said.

A trellis arbor, which includes a cherub fountain, will eventually be covered

with clematis, and more benches are needed, she said. The fencing surrounding

the garden is covered with trumpet vine and climbing roses. A bubble pond has

been created in one corner of the garden.

"Eventually we will have a ceramic frog on the side of the bubble pond as a

memorial to the frogs and tadpoles we couldn't find before the pool was filled

in," Sister Penelope Mary said. "We did locate most of them. The frogs had to

give up their happy home for parts unknown."

Maintenance of the garden involves several people, the nuns, their groundsman,

and their tenant. "We weed as we can," Sister Penelope Mary said. "It seems to

be working very well." There wasn't a weed to be found.

Meditating By Moonlight

Sister Penelope Mary said the Labyrinth and Meditation Garden has been in

steady use by local groups and individuals since its completion.

"I come up here sometimes at dark and put on the lights in the parking lot and

have found people walking the labyrinth in the dark," she said. "You could

walk the labyrinth by moonlight if you had enough light.

"There are not great crowds but we have had individuals or groups of three to

20 people come," she said. "We have several individuals who come up and walk

or sit and read."

Walking the labyrinth can take from ten minutes if you walk fast or up to a

half hour if you don't, according to Sister Penelope Mary. "You're supposed to

sit down in the center and meditate on God's presence," she said. "You can say

any prayer you want to say."

Almost $1,000 has been spent on the Hermitage, the former pool house, but work

is currently at a standstill because of lack of funds. Plans call for two

bedrooms, one on each end, with private baths. About $4,000 is still needed to

install electricity, two or three mini-heaters, gutters, and to re-do shower

walls in the small, charming building.

The sisters are hoping some "angels" will come along to help bring the project

to fruition.

Despite the work that still needs to be done, "We don't want people to feel

they have to pay to come in," Sister Penelope Mary said, noting $2,084 in

donations have been received and spent on the project. "We're lucky to have so

many friends."

Once the Hermitage is completed, there will be a charge for staying there on

retreat. "I'd love it to be ready by the time the cold weather gets here, but

I don't think it will unless we get some kind of windfall," she said.

If you grow tired of walking the labyrinth or sitting in the garden, the

grounds at St Cuthbert's Retreat House are lovely, with several flower and

herb gardens and plenty of space for walking and thinking.

The Earliest Labyrinth

The earliest recorded use by the Christian Church of the Labyrinth is the one

at the Basilica of St Reparatus, Orleansville in Algeria about the year AD

460. At the center are the words "Sancia Ecclesia," The Holy Church.

From early Christian times many of the faithful would make a vow to visit the

Holy Land and walk in Jesus' footsteps. However, as time went on this became

more difficult as Christianity spread to increasingly distant countries. Also,

finances, health, or inter-kingdom wars created travel problems.

To solve this pilgrimage problem, the Roman Catholic Church designated several

cathedrals to serve as substitute Jerusalems. In the floors of these

cathedrals, usually in the nave, was a design known as a labyrinth.

In the cathedrals, pilgrims would walk the labyrinth meditating on Christ's

life, reciting psalms or various prayers, or asking for God's guidance. This

was a substitute for walking through Jerusalem.

The best known labyrinth pilgrimage cathedrals are Notre Dame de Chartres,

Rheims, Amiens, and Cologne.

In the United States, there is a labyrinth in Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San

Francisco. Sister Penelope Mary said there is also a traveling labyrinth on a

huge canvas that goes from church to church. "You can get them already painted

on a 30 or so foot square canvas," she said, but they are quite costly.

Labyrinths are often patterned on the one at Chartres Cathedral, but there are

also different designs, she said.

The Melrose Labyrinth is the first permanent one in this area, Sister Penelope

Mary said.

All persons, whether or not they profess the Christian faith, are welcome to

use the Melrose Labyrinth and meditation garden. Users of the Labyrinth are

requested to wear soft-soled shoes.

For information or directions to the Labyrinth and Meditation Garden at

Melrose, call 914/278-4854 or 914/278-2610.