I hadn’t expected it and maybe it was the change from the slate blue lake to the closeness of the green of the island, but once I set foot upon Innisfallen, I knew it was a special place. I wonder if, as I suspect,  it is inherently spiritual or if the centuries of learning, contemplative practice and service make it a place more spiritual than most.

I wonder if that is possible, that any one place can be more alive than others. I doubt it.

I suspect very strongly that Innisfallen is inherently spiritual, but I also suspect very strongly that the years of work that happened there make that spirituality more available to the dull senses of the all-too-common and limited human.

At any rate, as soon as I set foot upon the island, I knew. It was like seeing a lovers face after a long absence, but it was also the thrill of new love; the excitement of seeing new life and knowing that that life is surfacing from somewhere deep within the cosmos, emerging here for whatever reason. I knew it, and I was thankful for knowing it.

There is a place not for from here that I often think is an Innisfallen in the making. A Franciscan monastery that, other than Innisfallen, is still humanly active. There is a meadow behind the buildings of the monastery, with a path circling it. Along the path one finds the stations of the cross sheltered within small shrines. Appreciating the story of the Christ, but not being catholic and thus not bound to any practice, I can appreciate the mythos of the crucifixion and resurrection. I can also appreciate the plaques here and there with quotes from Meister Eckhart and Hildegard of Bingen. I can follow the suggestions there on contemplative practice, and snug within a forested valley, along the path around the meadow behind the monastery, I find peace.

But I am convinced that that peace is not because of the stations of the cross, nor the quotes from my favorite Christian mystics, nor the practices I found there. It is the sheer energy of the Place. I am not the only one who has found solace there I am sure. I am also sure that each time someone walks there in contemplation, something is added to the Place. Sometimes I imagine that in a thousand years, someone from far away will set foot there, and although the monks and the buildings surely will be gone, that person will know right away that it is a spiritual place. It is an Innisfallen.

And why shouldn’t it be? Why should it be any different than any other place on this green earth? We should always remember that if we hold reverence in our steps and in our hearts, everywhere we walk is a Place, an Innisfallen in the making.

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