“We have now begun to experience the land, to discover… the rich variety of this place we call home.” Fr. Peter
Las Colinas. The purchase of land was in fact the one place where the monks would break their cardinal rule of fundraising: you build only when you have the money. There were to be no long-term loans— except, if need be, for the purchase of land. “The Abbey wanted to safeguard as much as possible the quiet and natural beauty of the land which helped define the character of the Monastery and School,” reflected Fr. Peter. The full 82 acres first sat largely unexplored (except by the occasional botanist, ornithologist, or adventurous miscreant). “We have now begun to experience the land, to discover, within the general urban landscape of the surrounding area, the rich variety of this place we call home,” said Fr. Peter. What Fr. Peter has come to understand more fully is that beneath that practical desire to acquire land was the more profoundly providential bestowal of a gift— “the restorative quality,” Fr. Peter reflects, “of being able to go for a walk in the woods, to pray in a more natural solitude, and to enjoy the surprising variety of wildlife which the campus affords.” Such important activity requires a slowing down and an adjusting to
Out for an evening walk
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Continuum FALL 2024
the rhythms of nature. Place into that revelation the creation of the new cross-country trail, which meanders through the full 82 acres, opening up vistas from a scenic spot now known as “the peninsula” to a peaceful stretch along the Trinity River, as well as an interval along “the pond.” It also explores the wooded areas on all parts of the campus—and manages to conform its use to the rooted traditional and liturgical rhythms fostered by the monastic life. Nature abides, and we run (or walk) through her diverse beauty, bringing our happiness and our misery, our sense of adventure and our sense of loss. God abides, and we feel his Presence, and as Wendell Berry concludes in his poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” “For a time/I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” Henry’s “tunnel to Heaven” beckons all of us, and we need to be ever thankful for that “cloud of witnesses” who, in the company of Steven Reinemund and all the rest who have gone before us, cheer us on as we, with as much perseverance as we can muster, run the race that is set before us. •