“Listen”: Telling the Weston Story

Several brothers, each in his own way and in different contexts, emphasized to me that their music is not composed in a vacuum, that it grows out of their experiences and reflects their lives together. To illustrate this, several of them told me the same story. On Christmas day in 1971, the Priory's founder, brother Leo, suffered a heart attack from which he recovered. Brother Leo had retired from his role as abbot of Dormition, he was living full time as a Weston monk, and he had grown very close to the still-young community. The near loss of their founder and father figure was intensely emotional for the brothers. As a reflection of this moment and as a gesture of honor for brother Leo, the brothers created the song “Listen.”

I first heard “Listen” at Morning Vigil one day in the late spring. Perhaps fitting for my own participation in the Weston narratives of history, memory, and everyday life, it was the day before the burial of brother Philip's ashes. Brother Philip had passed away after living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The brothers’ friends and family members were beginning to gather, the guesthouses were full to capacity, and there was a more pronounced reflective atmosphere around the Priory.

I walked from the guesthouse to the chapel that morning in the bluish darkness just before dawn. I walked up Priory Hill Road from the women's guesthouse, and as I reached the top of the steep hill the chapel gradually came into view through the trees. When I entered the chapel, my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light within. I saw the shadowy outlines of several people scattered around. To my left, a woman sat in the back row. Her eyes were closed; her hands were folded in her lap. Brother Daniel's mother, Lupita, sat toward the front.