Involving Benedictines

Since today is the Memorial of St. Benedict, I think it is appropriate that I relate my adventure that involved some Benedictines here in Senegal.

Abbey of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

While still in Dakar I had seen a flyer on a Church door that listed June 23rd as the date of a jubilee celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Abbey's founding.  Why that was the coming Saturday!  Jubilee!  Celebration!  Monks!  I resolved to try and get there if possible.

After arriving in Thies that week I began to plot a way to get there.  In Thies I am staying on a college campus (not more than a few hundred students) and some of the students speak English to greater and lesser degrees.  With the help of the recently befriended Gary, I was able to figure out how much a cab ride to Keur Moussa would cost (cab drivers here are notorious for demanding unrealistically high fares).  Armed with this knowledge I set out Saturday morning for Keur Moussa.  I paid only a little bit more than Gary had figured (success) and the driver was very conscientiousness of getting me right to the Abbey rather than dropping me off in the nearby town (where I had asked to go) to fend for myself.  

Upon arrival I was first struck by the dearth of people present.  I shrugged it off thinking something like, "Well, they are Benedictines, they're not known for their loud riotous celebrations."

Luckily the porter, Brother John Paul, spoke some English and he informed me that daily Mass would shortly be taking place at 11:15am.  Awesome, my first opportunity to attend Mass in Senegal!  It was wonderful.  It was all in French, though I was able to follow along with the readings in English and make most of the responses.

After Mass I was sitting in the sanctuary when Brother John Paul appeared on my right.  "You come with me." he said.  Well alright, I obediently followed as he led me into the noonday sun.  This description may be helpful in picturing Brother John Paul, he walks with a shuffle and is slightly hunched over.  While he may come across as brusque at times, he's very hospitable and compassionate.  I was very fond of him by the end of my time at Keur Moussa.  Brother JP led me to the building that housed the Abbey's store and porter's station and there left me with two other visitors who were chatting amiably in French.  They directed me to the refectory right down the hall, lunch, sweet!  After some time I wondered back out.  Everyone was gone.  Hmmm.  I noticed that the gates that led out of the building away from the monastery were shut and locked.

Trapped!

I walked back out into the Monastery grounds and began to wonder around searching for Brother JP.  I saw  him walking toward me about when he saw me and he gestured for me to come, "I was looking for you!" he said.  He took me to the Monastery's main refectory where I enjoyed lunch with the other visitors as well as the forty or so monks who live, pray, and work at the Abbey.  The monks take their meals in silence while one of the brothers reads from scripture or another sacred text.  Lunch was fish and rice.  Very good.  After lunch the visitors and Brother JP were standing about outside, one of them, Henri from Monaco spoke English.  He was able to communicate to me that Brother JP wondered if I would like to stay the night.  Certainly!

I spent the remainder of the day wondering about the Abbey grounds and attending the different hours of the day when the monks pray the Divine Office.  I was able to follow along in English, in my Liturgy of the Hours  prayer book.  The monks chant everything to the accompaniment of the Kora, a stringed instrument that to my ear puts me in mind of a harp, or perhaps a lyre.  Though I've never actually seen or heard a lyre.  It is quite beautiful.

Monastery Grounds

Monastery Cloister

Dinner that evening was especially enjoyable with my being seated beside Brother John Paul who provided me with several moments of unintentional comedy.  He was very much acting like a shepherd to me, putting the dishes in front of me and the like.  When I asked him for the hot sauce (made at the Abbey!) He looked at me as if to say, "Do you know what this is??  I don't think you know what this is..."  He then made a couple gestures pantomiming, "It's hot!"  I raised my eyebrows slightly and nodded to say, "I know."  Then he grinned and passed the hot sauce down.  It was delicious.  Later it was time to have a mango for desert.  I was hoping he would help me pick a good one (I don't know mangoes very well), so I gestured as if to say, "Which one?"  He looked at me as if to say, "It's your mango!  Just pick one!"  After dinner there was tea, Senegalese tea is delicious, I've not had it's equal in the States.  He was coaching me up on how much sugar to add, and I hadn't finished when the monks began to dismiss.  He then told me to stay till I was finished.  After I was done, I took my glass to the kitchen.  A group of the monks were washing the dishes, from the seventy-something French priest to Senegalese brothers who must have been in their mid-twenties.  They were all smiles and one young brother who couldn't have been older than I am came and politely took my glass.  Seeing them reminded me of my own home at Ohio State.  I live with nine other men who are striving to live out the call of Christ and His gospel in our lives, as these Benedictines are doing in their own lives here.  After our household dinners we too gather in the kitchen for dishes, always accompanied by joyful conversation and countenances.  You can check that out (not us washing dishes, the group we're a part of) here and here, it's a life changing organization.

After dinner it was time for night prayer then off to bed.  The monks pray the first part of the Divine Office at 5:30am. 

Rising at 5:15 (thanks wristwatch!) I got ready, grabbed my breviary and headed for the chapel as the bells began to toll, calling the monks to prayer.

The monks are able to have breakfast anytime after morning prayer till about 9:00am (with a break at 7:30am for lauds).  For breakfast, I followed the example of a monk who happened to be getting his breakfast at the same time.  French bread with some great cheese (made at the Monastery) and some coffee with milk.  I was unsure what the milk was but he added it to his so I went for it.  You see, the majority of the milk in Senegal, or at least what I've come across, is of the concentrated, powder variety.  It was a great breakfast.  

After lauds I packed up my things and hung out until Mass at 10:30am.  Again Mass was wonderful, the monks sing beautifully.  It was the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.  After Mass I headed out.  I'd been there just over twenty-four hours.  But it had felt like much longer, in a good way.  The brothers who I talked to expressed that they hoped I would come back, I hope so to!  

I almost forgot to mention, upon closer inspection of this flyer I realized why there weren't many people there  for the Jubilee celebration.  See if you can figure it out.

May God bless you!

"Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have stationed sentinels; By day and by night they shall never be silent.  You who are to remind the Lord, take no rest.." Isaiah 62:6