Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last speech, before he was assassinated, is usually known by these few words near the conclusion:
. . . I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain . . .
He was talking about life-changing experiences like Moses’s encounter with the Lord on Mt. Sinai.
I had an experience something like that during college days. One weekend, four of us (two guys, two gals), all actively engaged with the Newman clubs in our respective New England colleges, decided to make a weekend retreat in a Benedictine monastery in Canada, San Benoit du Lac.
Actually, it wasn’t a well-planned trip. We couldn’t leave until early Saturday morning, and it took most of the day to drive there. We arrived just before the evening meal.
As we entered the refectory, we were met by the abbot himself, who welcomed us college kids to the monastery refectory with a ritual washing of our hands.
We attended evening prayers but declined to get up in the middle of the night for the night office—and, because of the distance home, we had to leave the monastery at daybreak.
It was an unforgettable morning. Beautiful clouds were painted with the dawn light that led us to the main road. We were dazzled, almost stunned, by the beauty of the new day and of the welcome, hospitality, and prayer of the monks during our very brief visit.
It was a simple but profoundly moving experience for each of us. As we drove home, we were on the lookout for a mass we could attend—it was Pentecost Sunday!
It’s hard to explain, but that very brief weekend trip to the monastery was an unforgettable spiritual experience for me.
The following week, I spent many hours simply sitting alone in a quite spot in a nearby field, not thinking that much, still stunned, at peace, and filled with a deep joy.
It truly was a unique experience, a spiritual event that I had never known before. For days I was, I don’t know precisely how to call it, caught up in a sensation of peacefulness, thanksgiving, and awareness of the presence and love of God.
I had been wrestling with decisions for the future, discerning the will of God, where to go with my life, what to do after graduation. But all of a sudden, there was no pressure to decide, to do, or to go anywhere—just a profound calm, lack of concern for tomorrow, and gladness in the celebration of the wonders of each day.
I’m no Martin nor Moses, but that short, unforgettable visit to St. Benoit du Lac was a sort of mountaintop experience for me.
For a while all my concerns and worries were gone. I just wanted to do God’s will, and he allowed me to go up the mountain, to have an indelible memory of his presence in my life that I still treasure.
Probably most of us have had wonderful, sometimes baffling experiences, that have become landmarks in our lives. They may be bursts of insight, of peace, of courage, or of joy or they may be fruits of a long, even hard, process of growth and discernment.
. . . he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths . . . I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me . . .
19 January 2022