The Augustinian Recollect Randy Josué Campos (Montecillos, Alajuela, Costa Rica, 1996), as part of his initial formation process, has just enjoyed a few weeks of contemplation at the Cistercian Abbey of San Isidro de Dueñas (Palencia, Spain). This has been his experience
What motivated you to undertake this contemplative experience?
As the years have passed within consecrated life, I have become better acquainted with some of the other lifestyles that exist in the Church, and monastic life has always seemed very special to me. I was curious to know it more and better, to discover its daily reality.
I was looking for monasteries where they would allow me to live and share their life for a month, but not in the guest house, something relatively easy, but as part of the community, something more difficult to achieve.
Some religious Recollect I know are devotees of St. Rafael Arnaiz, who died in the Abbey of Dueñas, where his remains are. He died at just 27 years of age after a life of prayer, silence, contemplation and illness. Being allowed to have the experience here and the shared devotion of some of my brothers were an incentive for me to choose Dueñas.
Did you have a clear idea of what you hoped to experience?
I wanted to have a space for contemplation in the midst of everyday life, the noise and hustle and bustle of active life. I hoped to first find myself and, from there, better understand my own life and let myself be led towards an encounter with God.
At the same time, I knew that a few days of external and internal discipline would be very good for me, which never hurts either the body or the heart.
What is the life of a Cistercian like?
It is very different compared to my Augustinian-Recollect life; Although their community life is intense (everything—liturgy, work, meals, spiritual reading—is done in community), silence prevails, unlike the Recollects, who share so many dialogues and activities and get to know each other through them. The Cistercians do not have community recreation, which the Recollects have every day, and they do not have a pastoral life.
They get up at 4 am in the morning to pray and meditate, they sing the entire Divine Office, the seven canonical hours, and lectio divina occupies a prominent place in their schedule. They spend several hours a day reading and meditating on Sacred Scripture and, to a lesser extent, on other spiritual writings. Sometimes they do it in a common place (scriptorium) and other times in different places, but always individually.
Unlike what they asked of me in the novitiate, they avoid spending a lot of time in their room. They eat in silence while reading something, frugal meals without meat. The manual work, several hours a day, is done inside the monastery or in the fields; except for cooking, they do all the household chores. Before nine o’clock at night they are already in bed.
It is a hard and demanding routine that is lived as a matter of vocation; they give meaning to everything they do and how they do it from God.
What mark has this experience left on your life?
There were many different emotions, it is difficult to choose a specific moment. In the spiritual reading of the Holy Scripture or the encyclical Dilexit Nos I could feel that God was speaking to me; in the oratory I felt his presence; in the liturgy of the hours the psalms always told me something…
Two things have left a special mark on my heart: solitude and silence helped me to appreciate my strengths and fears, my temptations and my thoughts, my feelings and my way of approaching my life.
Secondly, I have felt deeply loved, forgiven and welcomed by God, after having discovered all that about myself. And the feelings of hope, trust and gratitude emerged strongly. That self-knowledge and rediscovering the loving gaze of God were the most sublime things I can recall.
As practical things, I take with me the need for constant prayer, for discipline in prayer, work and physical activity in general, and even in eating and sleeping, which will help me a lot in my process
And I was able to know my weaknesses and needs; I also left my cell phone aside much more and that was a challenge and a learning experience about my attachments and how to handle them.
This experience has been possible because of a new formation model that many religious have not known. How would you explain it to them?
I am in my last year at the House of Initial Formation, before beginning the year of community and pastoral integration; I have finished theological studies and I no longer attend classes, and I dedicate my time to other experiences focused on comprehensive training beyond the intellectual, fulfilling objectives set by the training team.
For this reason I have been able to have this longer spiritual experience, or broader pastoral experiences or reinforce the learning of languages, in activities that we ourselves can propose to the Formation Team.
I, for example, have also spent a few days at the Saint Ezequiel Moreno Residence in Valladolid with our elderly or sick brothers; and I am taking courses in English and on consecrated life, Saint Augustine or Accompaniment; and it is typical to do a stage of the Way to Santiago together.
What has it meant to you to get to know another charism and contemplative spirituality?
This experience has enriched my knowledge of the Church, it has given me a greater perspective of universality; it helps me to value my own spirituality more: for example, thanks to this experience I greatly valued our way of forming a community. At the same time I can incorporate what helps me to encounter God and to be more configured to Christ, such as lectio divina or the fact of writing down my experiences of God.
I am leaving with a greater knowledge of myself, I have experienced a true revolution in how I perceive the mercy and love of God, what is related to prayer and discipline that make me more available for the encounter with God.
Would you encourage others to have a similar experience?
Dueñas is a monastic community that is very open to this type of experience, something that is not common among contemplative monasteries. I have been welcomed and treated as one of them and in that sense it is highly recommended.
An experience like this, at least once in a lifetime, allows you to get to know yourself and know what the contemplative life is all about. The first few days are difficult – schedule, meals, work – but little by little you integrate it and you can get a lot out of it. These are moments of Grace and, if possible, you have to take advantage of them.
