Fall 2025 • By NM
The Heart Is a Real Place

A Brief Reflection on “Retreating” When the World Is Burning

At our Orein Arts sessions this summer we spoke about how, in a broken world, the act of coming away to a place like Mt. Saviour can feel insufficient or selfish. But we realized the monks are proof that it is just the opposite. The heart is a real place, and bringing one’s heart—and everyone in it—to a place of contemplation, intention, and prayer is a true work and an act of great consequence. To enter into the monastic rhythms with those who have been doing this for thousands of years is, shall we say, no joke. One of the artists said it beautifully on our last evening: “When I go home to my domestic vocation, I know the monks are here holding up the world, unseen.”

We have no idea what blessings we might find for ourselves, let alone bring back to others. What fires we might start in the heart.

For this reason, I love the above image of St. Joseph’s at Mt. Saviour by made by Ingrid Van Slyke (Orein ‘24). The light of the guest house looks like flames of the Holy Spirit flickering out of the windows. When the world is burning (when isn’t it) this painting gives a sense of what might be happening in the heart of many who come to Mt. Saviour.︎ 

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