Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
How often these words are with me and in particular lately. January 7, 1979 was my first visit to Abbey of the Genesee. I wanted to join the community at that point. I had recently read Thomas Merton’s “Seven Storey Mountain,” and was sure I was ready to be a Trappist. I met with Fr. John Eudes that day and was disappointed when he suggested there were other ways for me to lead a spiritual life. I’ve often reflected on that wise counsel. I wouldn’t have made a good monk, but from that day to this I’ve tried to lead a spiritual life. I’ve been a son, grandson, husband, and father and lead a spiritual life in all of those roles. Monasteries are not places to run away from life as I wanted to in early 1979. They are instead places where life is celebrated and where I’ve often returned for renewal. The stillness of the abbey chapel still refreshes me like a mountain spring. It is there that I once felt the healing presence of the Lamb of God and gradually over a number of years I’ve come to feel that presence in my home and elsewhere.