Mountains, lakes, vineyards (foreground of the photo below), the Nestle factory… my eyes were glued out the window of the train. We pulled into the station and I hitch-hiked up the mountain to my new home! A few calm days gave me the chance to get to know the three Swiss sisters, a Peruvian and a Romanian sister, a Vietnamese brother, and a Canadian priest. And the mission began!
The rhythm of life and mission is gentle and consistent. Just walking between the brothers' cozy cabin, the chapel with its rock altar, and the big house, a panorama fills the eyes and heart with God's quiet majesty. Amid plenty of mission, yardwork, and housework, I find time to snowshoe around the ski slopes and cheese pastures once-a-week, and to take a quick daily jog or bike ride nearby.
Our Nebraskan missionary Joy arrived just the mission kicked in. We’ve hosted a men’s retreat, our high school prayer group that comes for a weekend once-a-month, a 10-day icon workshop, and a week-long discernment retreat. The 20 or so in each group eat and pray with us, and we team up for cooking and cleaning, as well as leading song, small groups, and so on. We’ve been so integrated into the tasks and teamwork, at the steady and friendly Swiss pace. The iconographers came from so many backgrounds—Hungarian, Polish, Japanese… The teacher and his Carmelite sidekick were Italian. In 10 days, each had completed a Russian-style masterpiece.
We each shoot out into the surrounding towns to help the Church’s outreach. We’ve celebrated Mass for one of the ski villages up the mountain, helped lead a couple of the evenings of prayer and formation for the Swiss and German web of young adult groups that the Community founded, and went to lunch at the home of a Swiss Guard and his family.
The ministry I most enjoy is the hospital. Every Friday, I check in and make a round of hellos, sometimes an anointing, and then celebrate Mass for the 20 or so ailing faithful. A joyful air fills the little chapel, thanks to the cantor and to Kelly, a 3-year-old who comes to visit grandpa. The room visits have led to tears, hugs and to conversations with atheists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the hospital staff.
Adelle is losing her mental capacities. For her and Anna, her daughter, it is a heartbreak to begin discerning her leaving her home and independent living. But such faith! As she received the Eucharist, she murmured, “Come, Lord, take possession of me!” Down the hall, Irmgard has broken hips from the fall. She hasn’t ever felt a need for God. But what is left of life, she asks, now that she can no longer ski, hike, even visit friends? Her childhood nostalgia for mean nuns notwithstanding, she asked me to tell her what time Mass is. She says maybe she’ll come next time.
Below is a little video I made with so much beauty and a little bit of humor! And in case you missed it, here is our blogpost from two months ago: Trail to Assisi.
So many blessings!
Fr. Anthony of the Transfiguration, CB