When I set out on my trip to Europe I was really intentional about leaving the door open for random excursions or opportunities. This week, I believe, God opened up one of those random experiences. I went to stay with a community that lives about an hour south or Rome by train in a little area called Vallechiarra. The community is calls themselves the Fraternity of Jesus. I stayed with them for three days. The have been in existence since 1972. Only in the last few years have they started to let the world know in an intentional way that they exist. Yet, still, they are not marketing themselves. They have a website and made a little booklet about their lives. There are two characteristics about this community. They have a life of prayer and a life of work. From what I can tell the whole of their life and the drive of their theological life was born out of the desire to be Christlike. The searched the Gospels and learned what they could about the early days of the church. THe idea that Jesus was from Nazareth is important to them. THe idea that Jesus worked as a carpentor, with his hands, is very important to them. They have choosen to support themselves through the work of their hands. THe have two communities in one. There are about 20 men and 16 women. I am sure my numbers are off as I was only couting during the evening vespers and Mass.
The sisters warmly took me under their wings for my stay with them. They welcomed me and allowed me to participate in the life of the community. That means I prayed and worked with them. Wow, they get up early for me! We met at 6:30am for prayer and then breakfast. Prayer was all in Italian, of course, and it was a liturgy of song and written prayers. It was not all in Italian as some was in Latin too. Then we had a simple breakfast of bread with jam and coffee.
Oh and lest I forget, this community has a strong belief that organic farming is the way to go. It too has its theological roots for them. It has something to do with not killing. (I am butchering ; ) their theology I am sure) So everything we ate was organic. Even the things they do not produce and make themselves, they buy organically.
After breakfast I worked in the kitchen with the sisters to wash ALL the dishes. They have quite the system in the kitchen for the two seperate communities. The sisters and brothers have all their own dishes and silverware. I can not imagine what goes into cooking three meals a day for 40 people. WOW. I did see the dishes and that was amazing.
After dishes I was invited to the worshop where I was compannioned by Sister Anne. She is 23 or 24 and is originally from East Germany. What a wonderful person she is. I was assinged to her and her work because out of all the sisters she spoke the best English. She is fluent in English, Italian and of course German. We had some great conversations and I had a ton of questions about her and her choice of living in the community. Before she came for her first visit to the community as a volunteer she was not even a Christian. It is clear to me that she found in the community the Lord. It was so neat for me to talk to someone from the Eastern part of Germany. SHe was only 6 when the cold war ended and the Berlin wall came down. She knows the hardship of being on the eastern side of Germany and living through some pretty rough national changes.
For work I made envelopes from scratch. I helped make packets of paper they would sell. I folded cards. I pretty much did a lot of mindless work. That they would allow me to do things that they will turn around and put in their store to sell is amazing to me. They trusted me to do and make things that would support the community. That is awesome. Sr. Anne is an artist and makes a whole lot of things with paper and paint.
This community makes icons and they are beautiful. They have a whole workshop devoted to the creation and production of their icons. I had no idea how time comsuming icon making was. It is so much more than painting.
I was given a walking tour of their grounds. They have trees and trees and tress--olive, peach, apple, and...more. They have buffalos that give them milk, cheese and meat.
After lunch we returned to work until about 5:30 or 6pm.
At 7pm we had vespers in the chapel followed by mass. Dinner was normally at about 9:30. Late! After dinner I was so ready for bed.
I was pretty skeptical of the community. It is such a commited way of living and I can tell they have choosen certain aspects of the Bible to build the entirety of their communal life on. They are Catholic yet the role of scripture is greater in this community than I have ever noticed in other catholic places. In fact during the morning prayer the abbot preaches a short sermon. He preaches from the mens dining room and it is "broadcasted° into the sisters dining room. (that is so odd)
On the last day I met with a brother who is from England. He was so incredible and from him I got a better idea of what the community is about and how they came to be. What really hit me was the intensity of the commitment. They are so Christ centered. A theme they seem to live by is °a journey of converstion". For me there is a lot in that theme. I think my own church could learn a lot from that way of living each day. Each day is another opportunity to change and to be changed by God. What strikes me is that their journey is not done alone. The radical commitment of each individual to live like they do, I do not think, could be lived out by solitary individuals. Their is strength in numbers. I am asking, so how can this monastic spirituality and this type of commitment be lived out by people who are not in a proper monastic community. I think a lot could be learned from the monastics. THere is a daily and weekly rhythm that they live out together and it forms them and helps them to continually offer their whole lives to GOd and each other. There are some core commitments they have made to each other and God that they keep not because they are somehow able and not even because God helps themn (although that is so true). They keep the commitments because there is a community that helps them and who is also needed their help. I am attracted to the monastic life yet not so much that I want to find a "proper" monastic community to join. I think the church needs to live in a more monastic way in its nonmonastic life. How does that happen? I know it does not happen with one person...not even a person who has God flowing out from them. However, it can happen with a group of people who have faith the size of a mustard seed and who together have God flowing out of them. More to come.
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