Editor's Note

- Vacations, Vocations
  
  July 25, 2023
  
  The summer has proceeded at its usual pace, reincarnating in its own inimitable way the advice to “festina lente,” making haste slowly towards August and then early Autumn. Many of the monastic community have found some time to be away for brief trips, whether these be for special events or for simple vacations. A core has always remained present to share the Divine Office and carry on with the rest of monastic life. Amidst these moments of reflection, this community, like many religious communities – and so the editorial team for The Current – have had some discussion on the way to address vocations. As ever, this is a work in progress. Brother Sixtus offers us his reflection from Lourdes, a place known to prompt vocations. Abbot Matthew’s homily on the Parable of the Sower reminds us of the hidden workings of the Sower. While this summer seems to have made a quiet journey through July, has the Word been silently planted? Will it take root somewhere in a rich soil, leading some to grow in the gospel as members of this monastery? How to best enable this message to be heard, this seed to be nurtured? The examination of conscience surely, as Abbot Matthew reminds us, helps us to recognize more clearly our sins. And so too we hope it will help us to see more clearly the path to which God calls us. In this light, may the remaining days of summer afford us opportunity to pass through vacation to vocation. Your own prayers gratefully accepted.
  
  Peace,
  Blake Billings
About
- Blake Billings '77, Ph.D. is a graduate and current faculty member of Portsmouth Abbey School. He received his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, then joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps to assist in an inner-city parish in Oakland, California. From Oakland, he went to Leuven, Belgium, receiving degrees in theology and philosophy. He returned to the Abbey in 1987, teaching for three years before getting married and returning to Leuven to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy, which he was awarded in 1995. Having taught in higher education at various schools, including St. John's University, Fairfield University, and Sacred Heart University, he decided his calling was at the secondary level, gratefully returning to Portsmouth in 1996, where he has resided ever since. He became an oblate of the Portsmouth community ten years ago. His four children were all raised on campus and graduated from the school, the youngest in 2020.