Inspiration in Lectio:

The Manquehue Mission

With the resumption of in-person programs for the winter term has come the return of Church Assembly. Like all assemblies, attendance for these has been limited, distanced, and divided. But the opportunity to share in-person these reflections on faith greatly enriches their impact. To start off the term, the student groups are hearing from our visiting Manquehue group about their mission and their hopes for their work at Portsmouth. On Thursday, January 28, Brother Sixtus Roslevich introduced the group at the first Church Assembly, speaking of the impact the Manquehue Movement has had on his own vocation, and of the long term relationship St. Louis has had with the Santiago-based group. He noted that its three K-12 day schools serve as models for the integration of lectio groups and tutoria, a kind of mentoring relationship that has proven transformative in St. Louis.

Bernardita Opazo giving Church Assembly Talk in the Abbey Church

The MAM group will play a large role in the winter’s church assemblies. The community of four will speak, a different member at each the four divided assemblies of the term, thus addressing the entire school in person. Bernardita Opazo offered the first inspiring introduction to the students, capturing much of the sense of mission of the MAM group. Her principal focus was the core practice of lectio divina. “… I have been in a lectio group for six years, since I was in Third Form. This is my bible, and this is where I can find myself deeply with God and my salvation story; what I am, what I have, with my strengths and my weaknesses. So, it is a unique and personal meeting.” Bernardita noted that Portsmouth already has established lectio groups, and she encouraged students to join or to consider starting more. “In my school every day in the morning, before starting classes, we read the gospel of the day. I could start my day with and in God. In all my school years I grew up with the Bible, and also my faith. As I got older, I began to access the Word each day. When I have doubts, a problem, or a situation where I don't know what to do… even sometimes just for wanting to hear what God has to say to me, my favorite place to go is here, where I find words of true life which renew me, calm my heart and sustain me.” Bernardita exhorted the students to be attentive to God’s voice and God’s love: “You just have to be awake, ready for God to be manifest. Open up, let yourself be touched by his grace. The Lord is always looking for you. His love manifests itself through the monastic community, through your teachers, through your friends and family, through His creation - that in this place really screams about the love of God! All you have to do is say yes. That is enough to let the Lord act.”

On February 4, Rosario Achondo offered the second of the MAM church talks, taking inspiration from Saint Teresa of Los Andes, who spoke of Chirst as a “madman of love,” Rosario told the students: “I think my life has been turned upside down in the best sense of these words, because I have known the love of Christ.” Rosario discussed her extended time in Patagonia, and the monastic structure of life for the Manquehue group living there. She spoke of discovering there, “a very different God from the one I had in my mind.” Rosario also called the students attention to her Bible, looking old and worn from use, but through which God ever speaks in new ways to her. Rosario highlighted two lessons she had drawn from lectio: firstly, “it has encouraged me to build community,” and secondly, “there is a spiritual reality working in us.” She invited all listeners to “take part in this mystery”: to grow in the love of God and in community. She pointed to the many opportunities for prayer available in this community, such as the Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and Compline, in addition to the growing number of lectio groups.

The Manquehue group will continue its lectio development for the month of February, also joining the monastic community for the Divine Office, meeting with faculty and students involved in lectio, and supporting the Confirmation group. Bernardito’s talk, which she offered on behalf of her community of Saint Gertrude (the patronage taken by the Manquehue women who have worked with us over the past years), tells us much of the energy, enthusiasm, and faith-filled spirit the Chileans have continued to bring to our monastery and school.