Over spring break, we brought a group of Hope College students to Saint Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana. There, the students entered into the Benedictine rhythm of prayer and work. Afterward, we asked two students to share their reflections from the archabbey. We also have photos from the immersion trip to share.
Ana Wong’s Reflection
“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8). At Saint Meinrad Archabbey over spring break, I encountered the loving, tender, and attentive care of God. Immersed in the quiet and simple life of Benedictine monks, we spent a few hours in silence and prayer each day. We joined the monks for Liturgy of the Hours and prayed the psalms, day and night. Away from the busyness of my senior year at Hope, I was able to quiet my soul and encounter new things in my heart that needed to be brought to the Lord in prayer. Looking ahead in life, everything seems uncertain. It all seems so big, and I feel so small in comparison. On this retreat, I was vulnerable with the Lord and so was he with me. As I shared my heart with him, he shared his heart with me. He made me see just how precious I am in his sight. At the archabbey, I faced the reality of my lowly estate through solitude and silence. Yet, I am not discouraged. Rather, I find solace knowing I am in the constant care of the Most High King.
Zach (left) and Ana (right) working in the archabbey gardens
Zach Pape’s Reflection
Prayer, reading, and a little gardening were almost all that occupied me during my week at Saint Meinrad. Far from producing restlessness, the rhythms of prayer and work I entered into there generated a calm in which I was left alone with God. The space and time to confront myself before God, while terrifying, was a truly beautiful grace. Following the initial days of conviction and abandonment, healing gradually became evident. Through hours of chanting Psalms, heart-rending prayer, and rest before the Blessed Sacrament, my soul found ever-deeper peace. Not unlike the gardens we weeded on the trip, my heart was being painfully cleared of deeply-rooted insecurity, anxiety, and sin to become the far more beautiful and calm creation God intended. God works in silence, and such work is difficult to articulate, but the monastery was a place where such work was joyfully received. Upon returning, those close to me commented repeatedly on the evident increase in peace and joy they saw in me following just one week. Such change is the result not only of God's work but more specifically the ways he filled me with himself at Saint Meinrad, washed out brokenness, and taught me to surrender to his love whether in or out of the monastery.
