Keith MacCay – Monastic Guest
Review Monastic Guest Program – January 2026 by Keith MacKay
I arrived at Mepkin Abbey Monastery during the week of Epiphany. It was 70 degrees the first week, but for my final day is was 28 degree and threatened snow. I learned about the Monastic Guest Program from a colleague at work who told me about it. I had said, partially in jest, that I wanted to be a monk. Moments later, I was looking at the Mepkin website, applied, and within five month I had the honor of being accepted as a monastic guest at Mepkin Abbey. After a quick orientation, a gray-smocked-initiation, and a set of St. Benedict Rules, I was nestled into my monastic cell “6” was cozy including a grand view of the Copper River. There was no time to be overwhelmed with the daily schedule: seven times in church from vigils at 4:00 AM to compline at 7:30 PM, mediation in the chapel, a morning and afternoon work shift, and two meals.
My work details the first two weeks I was cleaning the Abbey and Library which was an honor. At the end, God understood that I needed wisdom and patience, so I spent the final weeks in the carpentry shop. Knocking down the foundation of an old shed or dismantling and replacing the visitor’s center deck. While my contributions were negligible to these tasks, I have a new appreciation of Joseph. As a carpenter he would have needed (complicated) math, geometry, and visual problem solving. And as I learned from those I worked with, the patience to instruct someone in the tools of the trade.
After days of being at Mepkin I began to think I had run out of all my prayers. Speaking honestly about this with a monk, I came to believe that God is with us now, as we spoke, and even now as you read this. And understood better that God loves the people I love and had been praying for these days. And, as we pray many times the Lord’s Prayer I understood more clearly that along with prayers our actions are our prayers and that it is a directive to make earth on heaven, and we have a role in making thy kingdom come. Finally, my prayers were no longer vocal, but a sigh in the presence of God especially in during the meditation in the chapel. Likewise, chanting all the psalms twice in a month brought forth the richness and relevance of these ancient prayers to the living God.
On Friday’s (Desert Day) and Sunday’s (Sabbath) we had a break from the daily schedule. On the warmer days I roam a bike through the avenues of the historic property. We had access to the library which I took advantage of by checking out various books. I read Thomas Merton’s Seeds of Contemplation and poems of Robert Hugh Benson and of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and skimmed the four vol. History of Western Christian Mysticism by Bernard McGinn. On days off, (Fridays and Sundays) we had to make a priority to read scripture, journal, and personal prayer in our cell or outside such as walking the labyrinth. I can not become holy by osmosis. While at a monastery, it was up to me to stay consisted in my personal relationship with God.
It was an honor to be a guest at the Mepkin Abbey Monastery. Thank you to the generosity and grace extended to the guests by the brothers of Mepkin!
