My wife and I are back from a Benedictine oblate retreat over the weekend — Friday through Sunday evening.
Like the Mediaeval pilgrims who were told “one’s pilgrimage does not end in Santiago — it begins there”(1) we came home feeling that our spiritual retreat did not end on Sunday evening — now it begins.
We are fortunate that the conferences during the retreat were led by the abbot — the youngest abbot in the American-Cassinese Congregation of Benedictine monasteries.
When the matter is the care of souls, Benedictine abbots are a good choice. He gave much of his weekend to us and we were happy he did.
The abbot’s conferences were packed with insights from his studies on seeking and drawing closer to God, one of my favorites is from Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972):
Awareness of the ineffable is where the search begins.Mediaeval pilgrims and Benedictine oblates learn the same truth.
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Footnotes:
(1) For more information on this great pilgrim way -- even today, see my blog giving an overview: Santiago de Compostela -- The Roads that unified Europe
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