A lay Marist joined for 3 months the La Valla Hermitage Community at Mittagong

One of the dreams for the La Valla Hermitage Community at Mittagong, Australia, is for lay Marists to join the Brothers in residence and engage in the life of the community. A person may choose to join the community for as little as a week or for up to three months. The time spent in the house may be an opportunity for enrichment, a way to use some sabbatical time, some time away for prayer and reflection, a period of discernment or maybe they just want to experience some time living in a Marist community. Over the last three months young Marist, Filipe Gama e Silva, has done this very thing. In the pictures, Filipe is with Brothers of the community: Ian McCombie, Robert O’Connor and Bill Sullivan.

What follows is a reflection from him on his three-month stay with the Brothers of the La Valla community, with questions by Br. Bill Sullivan.

What prompted you to enquire about to stay with the Brothers in the LaValla community?

Filipe: For me there was always a sense of wanting to explore what life was like living in community with the Brothers. For some time Br Bill and I had spoken about this option, but I was not ready to make the leap. Perhaps it was the spirit working, but with the onset of COVID-19 combined with starting to ‘work from home’, I felt the time was right.

What have you enjoyed about your stay with the Brothers?

Filipe: The thing I enjoyed the most was simply sharing community life with Br Bill, Br Ian and Br Bob. At the end of a long work day, sharing dinner and banter with the Brothers was always the highlight of my day. They say to be a Brother means to be ‘brother’ to one another. While I’ve heard this countless times I don’t think I truly understood the meaning of it until my time here. I truly loved the welcoming nature of the community and the fact that they made me feel as though I was a ‘brother’ to them.

The other thing that I honestly valued and enjoyed was the community prayer each day. For me, there was just something different & special about gathering in community for prayer. Whilst I may have always been the last one to arrive, the Brothers never gave me too much grief for it! I suspect they were secretly chuckling as they heard me running towards the chapel hoping to shave a few seconds off my lateness.

What have you found challenging?

Filipe: Whilst I truly enjoyed the brother’s companionship, the remoteness of Mittagong (because of the COVID-19 lockdown) meant that at times I missed being around people closer to my age. At times I found it challenging to find the balance between my work commitments and fully engaging in community, while also utilising the time and space for reflection, discernment and prayer.

What would you have done differently?

Filipe: I’m not sure as I haven’t had the time to reflect on my experience fully. One thing I do know though is that balancing work commitments along with trying to be fully committed to the community, my own spiritual time and the ministry here was challenging. I think if I were to do it again, in an ideal world, I would not be working Monday to Friday.

How did you find the time prayer with the community?

Filipe: The prayer time with the community was one of my highlights. I don’t exactly know what it was but there was something different about joining together in prayer.

What three words would you use to summarise your stay with the La Valla community?

Filipe: Welcoming, awakening and fun.