One of my spiritual homes

I recently came across this picture, which shows one of my own spiritual homes. It is the chapel at the General House of the Little Sisters of Jesus at Tre Fontane on the outskirts of Rome. It is probably the place more than anywhere else where I discovered and learned how to be quiet - truly quiet, and especially quiet in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Rome can be a very noisy, busy place, and seminary life also didn't quite fit the bill. Although we had a lovely modern chapel, you knew your room was close by, as was the refectory, the common room - ordinary life for me at that time. I needed somewhere accessible, yet inaccessible in a way.  

The Little Sisters are part of the religious family founded in the first half of the 20th century in the spirit of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, soon to be canonised (left). I had come to know some of the Little Brothers, who impressed me enormously, and then someone told me that the Sisters HQ was just a short bus ride away.  I decided to investigate, and so one afternoon a few of us set out.

The convent is in the grounds of Tre Fontane Abbey, a Cistercian monastery built where tradition says St Paul was beheaded (Tre Fontane = Three springs which appeared at the spot). A simple drive wound up through the eucalyptus and other trees, and brought you to the rustic-looking wooden buildings, built partly by the sisters themselves. Then we entered the chapel, to discover that the Eucharist was exposed there every day from lunch until evening, just as in the picture above. There were some pews, but most people sat or knelt on the wooden floor. Everything was arranged with beautiful simplicity, acccording to the desert spirituality of de Foucauld and his followers. Uncomfortable at first, I was slowly drawn into the absolute silence, the quiet, the beauty for the eye and the soul.

On periodic return visits I realised I was becoming very comfortable with all this - remembering that adoration was not so, if I can use the word, "fashionable" as it is now. Silence, peace, calm do not come easily to many, and especially in front of the Lord who waits for us. Thank you, Lord for the sisters and the place, the time they have created which was for me, exactly the right place and the right time.  

You can find out more about Blessed Charles de Foucauld and the Little Brothers and Sisters and other congregations inspired by him, at  www.charlesdefoucauld.org and also at www.jesuscaritas.info/