Preparing to Depart

Prayers were offered today for the continuation of my travels tomorrow morning.  I leave the monastery here early tomorrow morning for Philadelphia, where I will catch a flight to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The monks of the Monastery of the Archangel Michael will come down from Canones, NM to pick me up and take me back for my 11-day stay with them.  While I am looking forward to the next leg of my pilgrimage, I will miss the brotherhood here.  It has been a joy to spend these last two weeks as a member of their community, worshipping with them, eating with them, working with them, getting to know them. I will especially miss the abbot, Fr. Sergius, who has been so kind and generous to me--he has given me so much.  I asked him for a word to take on my journey; he paused and apologized for not having anything very spiritual, but said, "Pray and follow your heart, trusting that God is guiding you...and come back soon."  Perhaps I will.

Candle-making 101

With the loss of their candle-maker, the monastery is in the process of transition with their candle production--but the orders keep coming in.  Yesterday, they got an 80 lb. order, which promises to keep me busy until my departure.  Not being experienced enough to do the dipping of the candles, I am given the task of stringing the racks and cutting the candles.  The first step in the process involves wrapping a notched metal frame with cotton wicking, here is a picture of a frame ready to be dipped in the vat of melted beeswax:

The frames are dipped successively until desire thickness is reached and the candles are cut away and sent to cutting station, where the bulk of my work has been done.  At the cutting station, the cutter first snips the wicking on top of the candle and then measures the candle length, slicing off any excess candle with a knife, heated on a hot-plate.  Here is a picture of the assembly:

The candles are then ready to be packed, weighed, and shipped.  I have been enjoying my time in the candle factory.  It has been an opportunity to get to know some of the brothers here on a deeper level when a few of us are assigned, as well as an opportunity for some quiet time when I am assigned alone. The other brothers tell me that you eventually get tired of the smell of beeswax, but so far this hasn't been true for me.  I cherish your prayers.