How Beautiful on the Mountain…
Our Monastery sits on the edge of a small plateau looking south over the rolling hills of Hunterdon County. It is a restful view of green hills and greener woods whose colors change with the seasons from delicate spring tints to deep summer greens to browns and gold in the autumn mists.
Our Monastery was built some 50 years ago, not long as history measures time, yet long enough to have given a special meaning of prayer to this corner of New Jersey. History is not measured in years but in significance, and places can have value in people’s memory long before they are listed in history books.
Rhyta Rounds, of the Raritan Township Local Historic Committee apparently thought so, too, for she contacted us to ask if we would collaborate in a special art event that the committee is sponsoring. Raritan Township is celebrating its 185 anniversary and one of its regular events is its collaboration with the Art Venture NJ artists with their Raritan Township Paint Plein Air gatherings.
Raritan Township is celebrating its 185 anniversary, and next year, we are celebrating our 75th Anniversary of our Foundation. They say that God works through coincidences, and He is very obviously at work in this one! We were delighted at the suggestion, with the proviso of course that the artists would not be able to enter the enclosure. Rhyta and the artists very graciously accepted that restriction, and last week, on several beautifully sunny days about a dozen artists arrived at the Monastery and spread out over the area open to the public, including the chapel. They work in a variety of mediums: oil, watercolors, acrylic, photography… But we and they easily understood one another through our mutual love of beauty. My medium is words, and I am delighted to have the chance to put my ability at their service to make their works known. All art work will be on display during the Raritan Township Community Day, September 24th, 12-4PM in Lenape Park and we hope that you will all be able to enjoy the results of their visit. Please check the links contained in this article for more information.
Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.