Größ Gott!

Größ Gott! (groos gott)

It means "Greetings with God" and is how everyone greets each other here in Austria. It's so perfect, because God has been greeting me everywhere since I got here. I can tell He wants to do some powerful things in my heart this semester, and I can't wait to see what they are! I pray that I can keep my heart open to receive them, rooted in silence and prayer.

I can't believe I'm finally here! Austria is absolutely beautiful. The mountain air is so clean and crisp, and there is rich green farmland everywhere (until the snow covers it again!) The Kartause, where we are staying, is much closer to the little town of Gaming than I thought it would be. It's only a five minute walk into the center of town!

The Kartause, and Austria in general, in such a perfect place for me to study and grow in silence, peace, and prayer. The Austrian people are very devoted to maintaining peace. They saw over 20 years of horrible fighting during the World Wars, including the Nazi regime. They are now a neutral country, and focus on trying to live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of destruction and violence. This atmosphere is present all over Austria, but especially at the Kartause.

There is a quiet yet powerful presence at the Kartause. It was built in the 1300s by one of the earliest Hapsburg emperors of Austria. Him and his wife built the complex as their imperial residence, building a Carthusian monastary attached to it. Kartause means Carthusian in German. The Hapsburg family was devoutly Catholic, as well as all of Austria, so it was only fitting that they would invite the strictest and most prayerful order of monks to live with them. The Carthusians live in complete silence except for communal prayer, praying for up to 9 hours a day. The holiness and grace of the monks' prayers still seep out of these walls, even though they have been gone from the Kartause since the late 1700s. The building fell into almost complete disarray, being occupied by Russian soldiers in the 1970s. The immense chapel was used as stable for their horses, and the present day classrooms as their barracks. It was completely renevated and restored in the late 1980s, thanks to God's grace, and is now used by Franciscan for their study abroad program.

It still blows my mind. I'm living in a place built by an emperor, who is buried with his wife under the chapel. I'm living in a monastary that housed some of the holiest monks of the Middle Ages and Englightenment period. I'm living in one of the oldest monastaries still standing in Europe, in what was the biggest Carthusian center in this region of Europe. These walls have seen centuries and centuries of history, and it gives me the chills. I am so beyond blessed to have this opportunity!

We got a chance to climb up a very tall, narrow spiral staircase in the chapel that looks like something right out of the Middle Ages! The original ceiling from the 1300s is very tall and pointy. A few centuries later they built a lower, domed ceiling that is what you see today. However, there is still a space in-between the top of the current ceiling and the original ceiling. We climbed all the way up the staircase (in the dark half of the time) to that space and got to walk across the top of the domes!! It was such an adventure. We got to walk around the main dome over the altar in-between the two walls, looking down into the chapel through the windows. There is graffiti up there from the 1800s up until the Russian occupation. We then climbed even higher and went in-between the top of the original ceiling and the wooden pitch of the roof. It was almost pitch dark, with the exception of a few flashlights and camera flashes. It was exhilirating! I felt like I went back in time the higher I got.

We've also gotten the chance to travel to the Marian shrine of Maria Taferl (dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows) and the huge Benedictine monastary of Melk. Both of these are within an hour's drive of the Kartause. On our way to Maria Taferl in the morning, it was extremely foggy. As we drove higher and higher up the mountain, we climbed out and over the top of the fog. We literally were above the clouds. There was sunshine and bright blue sky waiting for us at the top where the church is. It's like what Our Lady of Sorrows does to our suffering- she is with us in the thick of the cloud and helps to raise us up to see the Light of her Son and give us hope and strength. Melk is at least twice as big as the Kartause, and its chapel looks like a glimpse of heaven. I've had so many prayerful experiences in the last 3 days, and can't wait to see what's next!

Keep praying for me.. I'm praying for all of you everywhere I go!