"Let the Holy Spirit do its job"

"When you're in a tunnel, you can't see anything, but it is absurd to want the same landscape at tunnel’s exit as the one at its entrance. Let the Holy Spirit do its job." These words from Christian de Chergé take on a special meaning in this Whit Sunday as we hear multiple announcements and instructions relating to exiting lockdown. "Let the Holy Spirit do its job" for these new times ahead, without wanting to return to the landscape we left three months ago.

Olivier is preparing a letter, a newsletter, to be send to all retreat goers. We already know that we will open in July and given the health constraints, that our accommodation facility will be for 50 people in the Roche d'Or and 40 people in the Fontanilles. In addition, we are in the process of completing a total rethink of our calendar for the second half of 2020, to take many new aspects of life into account. Our Prime Minister may say that  "Freedom will become the rule and what is prohibited will be the exception",  the new way of hosting guests will need to include many constraints, but it will be up to us to make it a space offered to the Holy Spirit!

In the park, the cherry trees are bending under the weight of cherries and the redcurrants, not wanting to be outdone, are starting to ripen. In between pickings we move benches and chairs round to create new spaces in the chapel, the conference room, the dining room... We are getting the house ready to welcome you soon!

These past few months have been for many a time for listening within the intimacy of oneself. "Is there a yearning inside us that never dies? Is there a thirst that keeps coming, even though it is sated? Is there a strong enough desire in us to avoid a total meltdown when things happen one day or the other? What strength has driven us and what strength will hold us when we can no longer stand?"  Roger's questioning knocks on the door of this intimate part of ourselves. An excerpt from the celebration of Pentecost on May 27, 2012, the text we bring you today appears as if it had been written for these days, like all the ones we have drawn from our community’s most cherished possessions.

Danièle Valès

French to English translation by Debbie Garrick and Cécile Simon

"We move benches and chairs round to create new spaces! "