From the moment we arrived, we were welcomed with Benedictine hospitality and included in the daily prayer and meals with the resident community of priests, monks, nuns, oblates, staff and volunteers. Each day we had interesting classes to attend by experts in the fields of Lectio Divina, Contemplation, Scripture Scholarship, Journaling, Myers-Briggs personality profiling, Inner Child work, Benedictine Life, Spiritual Direction, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, and more. By turns the classes were funny, informative, revealing, eye-opening,gut-wrenching, and inspiring.
The class was comprised of people of many Christian denominations from all over the world, including Korea, Singapore, Guatamala, Canada, and the US. It was fascinating to talk with others about life and faith experiences and to learn from each others' perspectives. We were constantly mixing at meals, in classes, in small group sessions, and during extra curricular activities too.
Some of the fun extras were taking a driving tour of New Mexico, visiting downtown Santa Fe, hiking the grounds around the Abbey, watching a documentary on Mother Teresa's life in Cacutta, enjoying a communiy picnic down by the river, attending an evening of Taize Prayer, participating in a Baptism in the Spirit, singing Praise & Worship with one of the students who brought his guitar, attending a presentation by a dentist who set up free cliniques in Guatamala for the indigeneous people, seeing a presentation by a Hollywood film director, writer, and artist about his spiritual journey, and listening to an evening concert of classical guitar by a man on his own retreat.
For me the most powerful part of the experience was being immersed in the sacramental life of the monastery. Gathering in the chapel and reciting psalms of thanksgiving "choir to choir" was a beautiful beginning to any and every day. This was followed by periods of meditation, the celebration of the mass, afternoon and evening prayer, and the concluding prayer of the day with an examen, a salutation to the Blessed Virgin, and a sprinking of holy water by the priest who blessed us as each day came to a close.
By the last day I had attended something like 20 daily masses. 3 Sunday masses, 96 daytime prayer sessions, 16 Adoration sessions, 2 sacraments of confession, and 1 mass for healing the family tree. I think I was uncovered and dusted off so much that I was actually levitating :) And now my heart is full of the love of God, and appreciation and thanksgiving to my family for allowing me to go, and gratitude to all of the people I shared my time with at the abbey. Thirty days ago we had arrived from disparate cultures, communities, and walks of life, but now had come together as one loving and caring community. As we said our good byes, passing out hugs and gifts, we realized that through all the experiences we had had of sharing our stories, our pain, our hope, our faith, and our listening presence we had become a family. And in that loving bond, we had also been healed.
Now we've been sent out to return to our lives and our jobs and our families and our ministries as we spend the next year assimilating all that we have learned before reconvening at the monastery next August. One of the things I hope to grow in during this year is the practice contemplative prayer. Through it we immerse ourselves in the love of God and out of that we are able to love each other.
I want say to you, thanks so much for accompanying me on this exciting spiritual adventure. I hope you have enjoyed the "peek inside." Maybe one day you'll get an idea that seems crazy and risky and exciting too. And when you do, I hope you'll go and check it out!
God Bless.
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