Many persons have asked us, "Why would you go to Nicaragua for your community
retreat?
It is an important question. Why would we leave the quiet of the monastery in
order to experience more deeply the lives of unnoticed people in an
impoverished country?
While we left the monastery buildings, we journeyed together as a monastic
community, bringing with us the values that shape our life. As Benedictine
monks, we are committed to the search for the living God, a search that is
unpredictable, a search that we know will change us.
We desire to be like the woman in the Gospel of Mark, who approached Jesus,
thinking, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment, then I will be healed."
On these journeys to Nicaragua, we, too, have tried to reach out our hands to
directly touch the suffering and hope of our sisters and brothers.
In our encounter with these people, so often brushed aside, we have been
encountered by the living God, and have been offered the challenges we need for
our own conversion.
We were invited to Nicaragua by our Mexican Benedictine sisters, who have two
small communities there, and by the people of San Nicolas, an area devastated by
Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
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Sharing
Our
Experience
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Over the next several months, we will tell the story of our journey to
Nicaragua on this segment of our web site.
When we discussed our experience together, brothers were invited to write
impressions, observations, or reflections on the persons and events that marked
our time in Nicaragua. Periodically, we will share these written versions of
our conversation, together with photos that we have taken along the way.
