My community is in retreat this week. During the retreat we are given 10 conferences by the Retreatmaster Dom Michael Casey, who comes to us from Tarawara Abbey in Australia. He is one of the most revered and respected teachers about the monastic life and has written numerous articles and books about the subject. He is in the USA at this time to give retreats to several monasteries in the area.

My reflections will be brief this week. What I hope to do is present at least one of the ideas from the conferences in each reflection.

Today we spoke of conversion and of the things that happen when one is undergoing a conversion experience. One aspect of the conversion experience is that we begin to see things differently and in a different context than we have seen before.

This conversion is an awakening that enables us to see what we could not previously see.

Here is an example:

One of the monks in a monastery, usually a cheerful, helpful and generous young man, slowly began to change and become more surly and uncooperative and unpleasant. The community began to respond to him in a way that one would usually respond to such a toxic person. Then it was learned that his parent were going through a divorce which was bitter and nasty and contested and the process was taking a long time. Once the community realized this, it became possible for them to change the way they were responding to him, and to become patient and kind to him.

Isn’t it true that if we knew the whole story about someone we would naturally react differently to the person? Well, then, the challenge to us is to realize that we never really know what people are going through, what crosses they might be carrying, what burdens are weighing them down. Most of the time we aren’t given to now the whole story. But perhaps it would be a good thing, and help us to grow in compassion and kindness, to act as if we knew . . . What might happen.

God bless you. Please pray for me and for my community during these days of retreat.