Just got back from a 45 minute trip to Romainmôtier, an abbey in a monastic village at the base of the Jura mountains. It’s a little below freezing but as clear as can be. Alps are across the lake, though they seem much closer, while the Jura mountains ring our side of the water.
There was a church on the Romainmôtier site sometime in the 5th century. You can still see the foundation outline from the 7th century constructions. It seems the abbey was, at times, deserted for years because of enemies in the area who had come down from Germany in the 8th century. But now it has all been restored. I’ve sung in it before. Weddings are celebrated there (reservations are years in advance).
The style is the fortress like Romanesque from the end of the first millennium. Son 2 told us about the Cluny monks that built the place. Their motto was "No work and all pray makes Jack a Cluny monk". (I’m still working on what that means.) Some say that these places are permeated with prayer. I don’t know. But finding the balance between prayer and work has always been a challenge, one I will try to do better at this next year.
