c. 2007 Religion News Service

TRAPPIST, Ky. _ Like a pale fortress over the scarlet hills, the Abbey of Gethsemani rises at the end of Monk’s Road.

Founded in 1848 by French Trappist monks, Gethsemani is now home to about 70 monks who spend their days in work and prayer.

It’s also the yearly destination for 4,500 faithful, who stay for short periods in the retreat house, and an equal number of visitors who come to walk the grounds and visit the church and reception center.

“I always look for the first sighting of the steeple and the roofline, then the monastic fence,” said Dianne Aprile, author of the lavishly illustrated history, “The Abbey of Gethsemani: Place of Peace and Paradox.”

“Today, all these years after I made my first trek, arriving there still feels fresh, in the sense that as I drive up to the church and retreat house, down the lane with those beautiful trees lining it, I wonder what insight or special encounter awaits me. I can’t explain it, but something meaningful always seems to happen.”

Visiting Gethsemani, it’s impossible not to think about one-time resident Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk who wrote elegant poetry as well as a spiritual memoir, “The Seven Storey Mountain,” among other books.

Generations have made pilgrimages to the abbey to pay homage to Merton. Notable visitors during his life included folk singer Joan Baez, peace activist Daniel Berrigan, poet Denise Levertov and Kentucky writer Wendell Berry.

Merton died in 1968, electrocuted in a bizarre accident while attending an international monastic conference in Bangkok, Thailand, where he planned to meet the Dalai Lama. Merton is buried on the Gethsemani grounds.

Aprile, a Kentucky journalist and professor, said the famed monk and writer first drew her to visit when she wrote a story for a magazine. “Gethsemani and its monks and history launched me on a journey that literally led me to France, the motherhouse in Melleray, and, spiritually, led me to take up meditation and regular retreats as a routine part of my life,” said Aprile, who is Catholic.

“Spiritually, it’s become the center of everything for me. Personally, it awoke in me a contemplative side that had been buried.”

At the abbey’s entrance, Paul Quenon, better known as Brother Paul, met Aprile and her guests. Having entered Gethsemani in 1958, Brother Paul was a friend and colleague of Merton’s. At 66, lean and hardy, Brother Paul chooses to sleep outdoors every night.

A soft-spoken, reflective man, Brother Paul walked his guests through the complex.

In Gethsemani’s church _ the heart of the abbey _ the sanctuary is spare, adorned by stained-glass windows and a simple, dramatic crucifix. Choir stalls and pews, turned inward, line the sides of the church.

When the monks pray (the first of several daily services starts at 3:15 a.m. and the last at 7:45 p.m.) they face each other, chanting back and forth. During his decades at the monastery, Brother Paul has worked in cheese-making. One of the products of the abbey is the famed Gethsemani Farms cheese, along with fruitcake and bourbon fudge.

“Our life,” Brother Paul said, “is centered on prayer and ministry. We live the enclosed life.”

When he entered Gethsemani, he said, the emphasis was “on solitude and silence.” In the early 1960s, Brother Paul said, the silence was relaxed and monks were allowed to talk about work. Today, in the speaking areas of the monastery, the monks converse as they choose.

There are still some areas of the abbey where talking is not allowed. “Retreatants, This Dining Room Is an Area of Silence,” reads a sign near the salt and pepper on a table in one room. “The Porch Area and Gardens Are Places of Silence” reads another sign on a window overlooking the abbey grounds.

But always, the monks lifted their voices in praise to the Lord by singing and chanting the liturgy of the hours.

After Brother Paul helped prepare lunch _ salmon patties, mashed potatoes and salad _ he retired to the church to join the other monks for the 2:15 p.m. service. His guests watched from the church balcony.

The monks, all of them bearded and clad in black-and-white robes, looked small and humble as they took their places in the vaulting church. They sang boldly, in call and response, Psalms 125, 126 and 127.

After the service, Brother Paul led his guests down a country lane, up a hill and to a small house at the back of a field. In front of the house was a cross. Next to the front door was the Hebrew word for peace, “Shalom.”

Not usually open to visitors, the house is where Merton lived and wrote during part of his time at Gethsemani. Inside, along with a simple table and chair, a fireplace and kitchen, was a homespun chapel where afternoon light filtered through venetian blinds.

On the porch of this hermitage, looking out over the fields and to the abbey on the far rise, it was easy to imagine Merton, all alone, hearing the silences speaking loudly with words of their own.

(Roy Hoffman writes for The Mobile Register in Mobile, Ala.)

KRE/LF END HOFFMAN

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