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(518) 677-8863
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EMMAUS HOUSE
WORK
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Currently, the work of the
community is centered on our ministry of providing accommodations for
retreatants and maintaining our building and grounds for ourselves and our
guests. We have three guest suites available for retreatants year round. In
addition, we have developed
Sanctuary
Gardens
and a Woodland Walk, with many meditation areas and icons to enhance the
meditative experience of our guests.
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Our work is the work of our
hands, in the monastic tradition. Typically, it is the work of many families and
homeowners: housekeeping, laundry, cooking and serving meals, painting,
repairing whatever requires attention, shoveling snow, washing windows, taking
refuse to the recycling center, shopping, picking up the mail, and office work.
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During the spring, summer and
fall, lawn and garden maintenance occupy a good deal of our time. In the spring,
pruning, cleaning up brush and debris from the winter, cutting down and removing
damaged trees, applying compost and mulch to flower beds, and bark chips to
paths is an intensive endeavor to get the gardens ready for visitors, as well as
guests. In the spring and summer, we plant many new perennials and trees. As
soon as the grass emerges, we check and service all of our power and hand tools,
and get ready to maintain the lawn area. Cutting of some kind, on the riding
mower, hand mower and weed whacker are almost daily events.
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In the fall, the workday
consists to a large degree of raking and mulching flower beds, storing outdoor
furniture and equipment, and preparing for winter. During the winter, we repair
and refinish our meditation benches and other outside furniture, and make
additional icon shelters. There is a seasonal rhythm to the outdoor work, which
keeps us in touch with the natural rhythm and beauty of life itself. This rhythm
does a dance together with the rhythm of the liturgical year, which grounds us
in both our monastic life and the beauty of our surroundings. In addition,
winter is the time for interior maintenance and library work.
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Many of our guests assist us in
whatever work we are engaged in at the time, as they see the value and necessity
of providing for ourselves with the work of own hands. Frequently, especially
guests living and working in the city will say how refreshed and renewed they
feel after doing manual work, and they thank us for the opportunity to assist us
our efforts.
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