We are here! Living in our new house. We already feel at home and we love being here. Our large windows open onto the beauty of the nature that surrounds us. Forest covered hills on one side, a view of distant mountains on the other. An adjacent pasture with cows, curiously discovering their strange new neighbors. The design of the house is efficient, with slanted ceilings providing welcome spaciousness. The large bay window behind the altar in our small oratory opens onto greenery. The altar, the lectern, an icon and the tabernacle are already in place. A beautiful 14th century Catalan cross, a gift from Citeaux, has still to find its best placement. We marvel at our beautiful prayer space in place from the very beginning.
Since our arrival Friday evening 11/09, we have been unpacking boxes. Our transporter did his work well: everything arrived intact despite our concerns. The shipment from Citeaux, mostly cheese fabrication materials, was unloaded in Munkeby 10/09 by Alan and our neighbors. The house was sufficiently furnished on our arrival a day later for us to move ourselves in. We experienced intense feelings of separation with the departure celebration held with many friends and our brothers at Citeaux on Thursday Sep 10. Followed by a final farewell from our brothers, young and old, at 5 am on Friday in front of the monastery at Citeaux.
A surprise awaited us at Paris airport. Brother Cyrille, in the rush of last minute preparations, forgot his identity card needed for boarding the plane. He and the Abbot rejoined us in Munkeby Sunday afternoon after its retrieval. A providential transition episode for our senior. Another surprise greeted us upon arrival at Trondheim airport. Mother Rosemary from Tautra was there waving a Norwegian flag and Mother Benedicte from Berkel in Holland, who had just completed giving a retreat for the Tautra Community, offered us a bouquet of flowers. And Alan and Brendan, a husky young American who had offered his week to prepare our installation. From them all we heard the first “velkommen til Norge,” we would hear repeatedly in the following days. A friendship with a common thread manifested itself at our departure with “you leave us, we will see you no more” and “we welcome you here” upon arrival.
The liens of presence and absence that connect human existence as well as our relation with God was felt with intensity at this time of great changes in our lives.
Now we begin days of installation in earnest. Responding to specific needs, improving details, discovering things missing, and putting our new cheese fabrication facility in order to make it operational as soon as possible. Fresh selective garbage bins are in place and a new mailbox is ready to receive your letters.
We prepare our places for the future and for the winter that follows the autumn rain. Your assistance and friendship help us along our path of following Christ in this great Northern desert.
