the silence is broken

Well, I got back Saturday morning from St. Mary Monestary. What an experience.

The monestary is surrounded by complete beauty. It sits on 80 acres on the top of a hill completely surrounded by trees and a lake. It’s a newly built monestary however this group of sisters have been around a while. In the last 5 years they relocated from Nauvoo, Illinois to Rock Island.

It was amazing to me the pace of life they lead. When I arrived it took some time for me to get used to slowing down. The pace and rhythm of life is very slow, yet quite intentional. Everything that is done, is done with purpose. I happen to be their only guest at the time, which made for very lonely nights. Guests normally stay in the Benet House which is their guest house. Wonderful facilities, but very vacant when you’re the only one there. Needless to say I had plenty of time to think things over and just spend time in meditation and contemplation. One of the more beautiful parts about my stay was being able to simply sit and write, to have enough time to write thoughts, think, and complete(or not) the thought. I’m so easily distracted that I’m normally not able to really think.

Anyway, it was a beautiful stay. As challenging as it was, I will definitely be doing it again. If your interested in more, ask; otherwise check out the pictures.