Abbot Paul visits the community in Peru

Belmont Webmaster • February 10, 2019

Abbot Paul paid a 10 day visit to Peru 9th February.

During his stay the community celebrated the solemnity of the dedication of the church, which was first consecrated in 1584, when a monastery of Cistercian nuns, founded by a widow and her daughter, began monastic life according to the Rule of St Benedict. The last nun of the original monastery died in 2002 and the remains of all the nuns are buried in the cemetery or under the high altar of the present church. They were transferred here when the new monastery was built in the 1990's.

Abbot Paul writes:

This former monastery of Cistercian nuns has become a monastery of Benedictine monks. What God has planned for us is often strange and unexpected. Can you list the unexpected things that have happened in your life, things you had never planned and yet turned out to be part of God's plan for you? "God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform," goes the song by Jeremy Riddle. One verse says, "His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower." Isn't that true?

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