When I first came to Gethsemani, the Abbot himself read all the mail. Dom James had renounced the quixotic ambition of holding all the offices in the monastery at once, and had handed this one over to Father Macarius, who was now Prior. But the Prior had other things to do, and with grim humor gave me the job of opening and reading my own mail. It was one of the biggest penances I have ever had.
