The Journey Begins in Earnest

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We slept late this morning, which is amazing since the sun rises at about 4:30 AM here at this time of the year. Apparently, the monks (or their decorator?) took that into consideration when selecting the shades for the Guest House windows, as no hint of the bright early morning sunshine disturbed us. We enjoyed tea and brown bread for breakfast again, then wandered around the beautiful campus. There were quite a few families here today, and when we asked about it, we were told that these were people who were considering Glenstal Abbey School for their sons, come to check the place out in advance of the next school year. I suspect the young Irish boys don't have the same kind of appreciation for the beauty of this place as Tim and I have, though it would seem that they do grow up to have such an appreciation, as evidenced by one of the things I read on the Glenstal Abbey "Old Boys Society" section of the school's website. In answer to the question "What is Glenstal?" the first answer is "a place of great scenic beauty" followed later by "a sanctuary of monastic peace and prayer." I was also touched to read this:

For most this was a happy time, for some radiantly so; for all it was a profoundly formative experience.

I can imagine that growing up and being educated at Glenstal would be all these things and more.

After a hearty and tasty lunch (again in silence), the Abbott was kind enough to take us to Glenstal’s Icon Chapel, a tiny space in the basement that has been turned into the perfect place to view their collection of historic icons from the Russian Orthodox tradition. The Abbott explained details about the collection that we, as Protestants unfamiliar with the world of Christian icons, would have overlooked otherwise.

The Abbott then guided us through the library, where we tried not to disturb two young men studying for their final graduation exams.

Finally, our tour brought us back to the Glenstal shop, where I was glad to be able to purchase a Glenstal prayer book and a CD of their Gregorian-style chants. The only thing I couldn’t find that I would have liked was a CD with color photos of the place, or at least some color post cards. They offer a book for sale with the history of Glenstal Abbey, but the photos are in black and white, and don’t do much to show off the beauty of the grounds. When I mentioned this to our new friend Father Simon, he agreed that they would be well-served with more color photos, and we discussed the simple process of creating a digital postcard or screensaver CD that they could sell in the Glenstal shop. So maybe I’ll find something like that in their online store some day in the near future.

After an absolutely lovely day, it was time to head down the road to our next stop.

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