We arrived on Friday night and wondered for a moment or two if we had the right place. We didn't see other cars and there was no one to be found. We wandered into a building that said "retreat in progress" only to find an empty room with the lights out and complete silence. We saw a doorway with light which we approached as we talked amongst ourselves, ("is this the right place? where is everybody?") and found a room full of people and monks who looked up at us for talking since they were in silence. I thought it was pretty funny.
We have many things to say about this I'm just going to give you the highlights for now:
1) The peace at this place is palpable. Great facility, beautiful grounds, including a pond with a duck we named Leonard. He likes to eat. And you know our love for mid-century modern architecture. Eating in the dining hall and looking out at the mountains through this window was so lovely.
There are turtles on that rock out there.
Leonard!
2) Delicious food. No pictures of this so you'll have to take my word for it. And you don't have to cook or do dishes. Love that.
3) Silence at meal times. Anyone who knows me might think this could be a challenge but it was actually refreshing. Breakfast was entirely in silence and then only part of lunch and dinner. A monk would read something out loud and then you would enjoy your meal in silent meditation.
4) Our little cabin. We dig the windows!
5) We both took a Meyers Briggs test and learned about our personalities. Very insightful! God is pretty creative when he makes people.
6) We watched a RIVETING documentary about called "Messages From Water". Yes this may seem random but it was to illustrate the power of words. Everyone is getting a copy of this documentary for Christmas. You're welcome!
7) My favorite part of the weekend was a talk by Father Francis on Friday night about repentance and confession. Pastor Steve Weed would have dug this guy.
8) What a diverse group of couples! All ages, from all over the place and man were we all different. It was interesting to hear about other people's lives and their thoughts of marriage. Kind of cool that we all left our homes to spend a weekend with total strangers. There were only 7 couples so it was fairly intimate and we got to know each other a bit.
9) Benedictine Mass. We were the only protestants that weekend, but with 6 masses (yes, there were 6!) we learned the drill. Once we figured out how it all worked out- the bowing, the chanting, the silence - we were able to "enter in" and it was a special time of worship for us. Oh and they had a harp, too.
And that wraps up the weekend!
