Going Home

by Brother Bon
(Germany)

There is no sweeter sound really than when a person says: I am going home. It has a certain ring to it. I believe the saying that goes like: Home is where the heart is. This is so very true.

And yet I have no home but my religious community with whom I live for 52 years now. Here at the abbey of Muensterschwarzach is my home. BUT then I have been at home for about 30 years in Nebraska, USA. You might call this my second home except for those years when I lived in Schuyler I thought it was my first home, away from home. And so it is to this day.

I ventured out in January of 1965 to emigrate to the US in order to help work and live and pray in our American foundation in Schuyler, Nebr. It had been established back in 1935 in order to help care for our missionaries during the upcoming war. This was a big change for me. I adjusted to the American way of life as best I could and this felt like a breath of freedom in many ways. I learned English at Mt. Michael Abbey, Elkhorn under Fr. Edward Malone OSB. He helped me in his friendly way to prepare for my future work at the Benedictine Mission House.

Later I went as missionary for the time of six years to Tanzania, East Africa. Now there was another big adjustment needed, they call this culture shock. Next came a brief stay in Germany and it was back, going home for the second time to the US. This time around it was much easier for me. It was known territory.

I feel today when I am able to return once more, for the third time to Schuyler, like a world traveller. Perhaps you have similar experiences in your own life. Life in different parts of the world widens the horizon and gives one a certain feeling of self assuredness.

And yet it is not our final home, our last destiny. St. Augustine says in his writings: "Restless is my heart, until it rests in Thee, O Lord".

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