Day Two Retreat: I Came to Kylemore Abbey: Mist, Mountains, and Unexpected Crowds Became My Prayer

I came to Kylemore Abbey expecting silence.

In my imagination, this part of my pilgrimage would be a quiet retreat—a few peaceful days walking the beautiful grounds of Kylemore, praying with the Benedictine sisters, gazing at the mountains and lake, and listening for the gentle whisper of the Holy One in the stillness.

Well, the Holy One apparently had another plan!

Today, hundreds of visitors are walking the grounds, touring the Abbey, visiting the beautiful Victorian Walled Garden, stopping for photographs, talking with friends and family, and taking in the breathtaking beauty of Connemara.

So much for what I had imagined as a quiet retreat. Yet here at Kylemore, as I walk beside the lake and look toward the cloud-covered mountains rising behind the Abbey, I begin to realize that perhaps this is exactly the retreat I needed in the embrace of such vibrant life.

The presence of hundreds of visitors from around the world, moving through this place on a rainy day, and the haunting beauty of ancient chants sung by the Benedictine nuns in the monastery chapel, all weave together into my prayer. Everything here seems to belong-in the midst of life unfolding all around me, inviting me to recognize God in every step, every breath, and every encounter.

There is something powerful about knowing that women here have created a community of prayer in this place and continue the ancient Benedictine rhythm of prayer, work, hospitality and community.

Their presence reminds me that spirituality is not only about extraordinary mystical experiences. Much of the spiritual journey consists of showing up faithfully each day—praying, working, welcoming, listening and caring. The Benedictine motto is pray and work.

Yesterday, as I listened to the sisters chanting Evening Prayer in Latin I could not understand most of the words. Eventually I stopped trying and simply listened. Today, they prayed and sang at Noon in English.

Perhaps that, too, was a lesson.

We do not always have to understand Mystery.

Sometimes we simply allow Mystery to embrace us.

So today  brought another revelation.

The Holy One was not only present in the mountains, lake and Benedictine sisters.

The Holy One was walking around Kylemore with hundreds of tourists!

As I watched families, groups , and people moving in every direction around me, they were not people interrupting my retreat.

They were part of my retreat.

The Holy One was present in the elderly couple walking slowly together, in parents exploring the grounds with their children, in strangers taking photographs for one another, in visitors standing silently before the beauty of the lake and mountains.

Perhaps they, too, were being touched by something they could not quite name. 

Beauty has a way of opening the soul.

They walk in the gentle Irish mist alone and in small groups.They take into the magnificent landscape.They are on holy ground. And their walk itself -like mine- is a Camino- a sacred journey.

I used to think that pilgrimage meant traveling to sacred places.

 Increasingly, I am discovering that pilgrimage means learning to recognize the sacred wherever I am and with whomever  I meet on the journey. Life itself - everyday- is a pilgrimage where we can awaken to the Holy One present in the unexpected twists and turns we encounter.

I know that I do not have to search very far for the Divine Presence.

I simply have to open my eyes, open my heart, and keep walking, trusting that the Holy One is always speaking - sometimes in the most surprising circumstances and in a gathering of people I don’t know! But the message is always the same: “I love you and I love all of them!”

For more information on history of Kylemore Abbey, check this link: https://www.kylemoreabbey.com/?utm_source=mybusiness&utm_medium=organic

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