Coolest Monastic Job Ever

The monastery I am staying at is up on a hill overlooking two lakes, green fields, and small wooded areas. I was sitting on a bench near the front of the monastery chapel looking down into this big field. I saw one of the brothers walking at the very far end of the field.

He was far away and I did not have my glasses, so I could not tell exactly what he was doing. He appeared of have something rather large on his arm. As I watched, he raised his arm up and the large object preceeded to fly up in the air. It was a hawk!

This particular monk, it turns out, was the monastery falconer. He apparently rehabilitated birds of prey that people from the surrounding community bring to him. His current project is apparently a hawk that hurt its wing. The monk was teaching it how to fly again so that it can eventually be released back into the wild.

A monastic falconer...now that's just awesome.

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