Trip to Chil
January 6, 2006, Epiphany


Grace to you and Peace in the Name of our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Email is such a wonderful thing! As Abbot of the Company of Jesus, I get messages from exotic places like: Spain, , Saudi Arabia, Nova Scotia, Uruguay, Columbia,…and Chilé! I’m thankful for “IM Translator”, which allows instant, but somewhat amusing translations such as the following:

“…I am not an ambitious man. I am simple in end and live very austerely. I do not smoke,… have no license to drive, so that I always walk,take the Bus or the bicycle. I fast every day of the week, cheerfully and offer my fastings for... my spiritual children… especially I am a man who loves with passion and madness Christ”

That quote came from Dr. Patricio Robles, a missionary bishop of our denomination who lives in Chilé and is also Abbot of the Orden Benedictina in South America. Patricio and I share a passion for Christ and for making disciples. We also find ourselves living out something that the September 2005 issue of Christianity Today called “The New Monasticism”, in which ancient spiritual practices are being applied to ‘remonk’ the church and minister to the world.

Most people today conceive of monks as living off away from the world, praying and fasting day and night. But historically, monasteries have been evangelistic and retreat centers, hospitals, soup kitchens, and farms in addition to being places of prayer. A famous Benedictine motto is “Ora et Labora”: “Pray and Work”. And over the past 1700 years, while monks and nuns have often lived in remote settings, they have also attracted the world to their doors and thus to Christ. The result has been that our culture has been affected profoundly by monastics, even if we have forgotten how along the way. Now, just as Christianity Today observes, it would appear that the Lord desires to use an old form, monasticism, to reach out to the poor and needy in a new way.

Abbot +Patricio has invited the Company of Jesus, a “Third Order” group of folks not living in community, to help him build a monastic community in Chilé. An invitation has also been extended for me to visit the brothers in Chile and help them build their new house. Here is +Particio’s colorful description of the project:

“It will be… a magnificent abbey to receive crowds of brothers: Romans, Anglican, pentecostales and anyone who looks with sincere heart for God. This seed of dollars, it will germinate in my hands as you himself cannot imagine even and they will be miraculously multiplied by God.”

I believe with all my heart that the Lord is calling me to this work. By His grace, I will travel to Chilé February 10-20 and strap on a tool belt to help “remonk” God’s church for such a time as this in order to raise up for Him continual praise, and to reach out to the poor, the lonely and the captive (Is.61:1ff). One of the things I fully expect God to do is to create a two-way street between us and our South American brothers. Giving and receiving spiritual gifts and help is the basic pattern of Kingdom Life. I think it is possible that they may eventually help us create a house here in the USA. Since God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can think or ask, (Eph. 3:20) anything could happen - indeed it already has! I am convinced that He has something wonderful in mind.

I hope to blog my trip if I have access to a computer there. Stay tuned for more!