MONTSERRAT

I love monasteries. Perhaps it's because whenever I am at a monastery, I feel the pull of the monastic call once again. I would have been a great monk. A life devoted to worship, study, focused work, and prayer seems ideal for one like me, one who loves God and silence and song and spiritual community.

Montserrat is an old monastery; it's been around for 900 years or so as a Christian site, and was a religious site long before then. It's perched way up on the side of some lumpy limestone that incredibly, was once underwater. The view is magnificent and the mountain setting inspiring.

We took the train out of Barcelona, traveled for an hour, then rode the cable car to Montserrat.
The boys choir performed for us in the beautiful, acoustically-incredible basilica. We admired the Moraneta, a statue of the Virgin Mary that is about 900 years old. It is one of the few famous Black Virgins, made so by centuries of sharing space with sooty candles. There are apparently some lovely hikes from the monastery. We hiked the shortest of these, the "Way of the Crosses" since it's not worth the moaning and groaning from certain of our party to attempt anything lengthier.

Despite the hoards of tourists, there is an aura of serenity at Montserrat, a subtle feeling of Something behind and beyond what we see and do every day. I admire monks, Christian and otherwise, for the work they do to bring that kind of spirit to the world. We could all use more of it.