The Casa Chapel (from thecasa.org) Yesterday I led the music at a retreat for a local chapter of the World Community of Christian Meditation, an organization whose seeds were planted by two English Benedictines, John Main and Laurence Freeman. The retreat was held at the Franciscan Renewal Center, also known as The Casa. The local chapter leader, Dr. Joanne Rapp, hoped I would bring the meditative character of singing (in this case, Taizé chant) into the community's already established practice of meditative silence.
I taught the group several Taizé chants, and then we moved into a chapel for meditative prayer that began with a chant, continued with twenty minutes of silence, and ended with another chant and the Lord's Prayer. As I sat in the stillness of those central twenty minutes, the words of the Angelus resounded in me.
I think a retreat based on the Angelus may be afoot. And I think retreat leadership may be a far more important gift I bear than I've previously imagined. It's extraordinary what one can learn about oneself simply by saying, "Yes."
What more will I learn about myself as I continue to live into the call I hear?
I taught the group several Taizé chants, and then we moved into a chapel for meditative prayer that began with a chant, continued with twenty minutes of silence, and ended with another chant and the Lord's Prayer. As I sat in the stillness of those central twenty minutes, the words of the Angelus resounded in me.
I think a retreat based on the Angelus may be afoot. And I think retreat leadership may be a far more important gift I bear than I've previously imagined. It's extraordinary what one can learn about oneself simply by saying, "Yes."
What more will I learn about myself as I continue to live into the call I hear?
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