Page 5 - Priorities #12 2000-April

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I was surprised that three of the survivors who were not very impressive in the book were really wonderful people when we met them. Maybe there is no telling how anyone will react under terrible conditions.
Joe Daly Class of 2000
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1. Students and faculty faced a grueling trek to the memorial site.
2. Priory group, Roberto Canessa and gauchos (cowboys) at the site.
3. An unseasonable snow covered the landscape outside the tents.
4. Father Martin celebrated Mass at the site, which is marked with a cross.
5. In Buenos Aires, students visited a "cemetery street" where graves markers were upright, almost like doors.
6. Roberto Canessa, Andes survivor, led the faculty-student trip.
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“We had studied in our religion classes and in our homes about God,” Canessa said, “but here we discoveredGodofthemountains. AndnowGodwas real.”
I could not but help to reflect on the message of Saint Benedict in his Rule, that the real purpose of life is to seek God in everything and in every circumstancewhichbecomesapartofourlives. Yes, there is God in the beauty of the high Andes who revealed Himself in the suffering of those who crashed that day many years ago, and there is the God Who reveals Himself in the quiet of the monastery, in the spin of Silicon Valley, the workings ofthefamily...everywhere. Mayoureyesbeopento His presence as our own journeys unfold.
Fr. Martin Mager, OSB
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