OUR LADY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Trappist Abbey
When the moon climbs the cloudless sky and stillness pours into valleys pooling waters of silence, I rise from sleep to dress, shuffling off loose dreams like a sack.
Stepping outside, I inhale brisk air like snuff—suddenly, I am wakeful, a clock about to spring. I toss out bags of sand to rise more quickly.
In the early chill the mountains stand as guardian shadows and night gleams like dragonfly wings.
I am eager for the work of God beckoning at the end of a solitary path just beyond a row of trees bristling at wind snapping like a flag.
Bits of gravel bite at my soles as turning the corner, I lift up my heart at the sight of light spilling gently from the entrance to the church.
Stepping inside, I am greeted by the bright echo of kneelers knocking the stone floor, and softly rustling pages of stapled paper hymnals.
Gradually, ethereal plainchant rises like a river, gathers itself, solidly transforming into one long sonorous brilliant golden bell.
Originally
published in Magis: Official Publication
of the Magis Deo Community (July 2014), page 15
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View of
the cloister, Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist Abbey
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