This evening after Supper we had a small meeting with Br. Robert, Br. Ron, Br. James and Br. Roy. It was a sort of question and answer session for any questions we had about what we learned so far. I won't go into details but we mostly discussed what life is like for a monk... what do they do during the day... where they see opportunities for ministry and the like.
One very interesting aspect of this retreat was getting to know the brothers enough that they are becoming real people with real personalities to me. They have been kind enough to let down their "host" facade that we typically encounter as guests. Some of that may be the fact that I've been hanging around for 2 weeks and have returned for several years, but I'm sure part of it is the Come and See retreat.
I haven't spoken much about my "companions on the journey" (other guests here at the monastery) this time. We have really been quite busy as part of this retreat, which is part of it, but the other part is the various groups of guests are generally keeping to themselves.
We had a group that was the board of a local charity that had a short retreat earlier in the week. Another group is several ladies that are on a silent retreat (they have not spoken for days... I think until Friday night or Saturday morning... I'll be gone by then so I can't ask them about it). Finally there are a couple of individuals who have come and gone. You can always see a brother taking a bit of time to chat with the various guests and I learned tonight that is a large part of their ministry.
Tonight is my last night. Tomorrow is a flurry of packing, worship, eating, doing dishes, and a last session with Br. Robert. I'm going to hang in the area for a couple of hours doing some photography (so I didn't pack the big camera in vain), and then head back down to real life.
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