Meeting with Br. Robert and Tour

So I'm at the "Come and See" retreat at the monastery.  Before we start, I'm not going to share my thinking (especially any thoughts as to monastic discernment) as I'm going though this.  My life is too "upside down" right now and besides, all the brothers tell me that discernment can take years... and even lead in directions I would have never considered.

I will continue to blog "my life at the monastery" and you will get to see some areas that I've not shared before. 

So this afternoon, we met with Br. Robert who is the Superior of the Order.  He shared some of the history of monasticism as well as the history of the Order of the Holy Cross.  He then gave us a tour and more background on the monastery. 

Most interesting was a tour of some of the more "public accessable" spaces in the monastic enclosure.  So we didn't see anyone's rooms, but we did get to see...

The Chapter House, where the monks meet to discuss, confess and pray about their concerns.  This was a square room with an octagonal raised portion in the center.  (Sorry, I used my small camera and for some reason it was stuck on "square" aspect ratio.)

The common room where the monks can hang out as they wish.

The monastic library... this room was huge so I tried to paste two pictures together... the columns are all straight.

A lounge area in the back of the library on the ground floor.

And finally the incense manufacturing operation...

In the evening we met with Br. Andrew and "told our stories" where we came from, our faith history, etc.  I have assigned reading to do, so you'll have to wait for more...