A few extra notes on the Temple Tours experience.

RE: the Monastery and the Benedictine Monks –  their group prayer time with the chanting in the sanctuary occurs 7 times each day, each time with a focused topic of prayer, and they begin at 4:45 every morning.  I don’t often _see_ 4:45 in the morning, much less be up, dressed, and functioning.  Then there’s the vow of silence, which I can do very well when there’s no one to talk to, and I can do well over long periods when I’m communicating in sign language or as a clown – but to not communicate with other people who are right there?  Can’t see that happening, for me.

Muslims pray 5 times daily, on a schedule, with a community call to prayer as available.  Daniel, of the Old Testament, prayed 3 times daily at his window, refusing to alter this practice under threat of death.  We are called to pray without ceasing, being always in communication with God, then our communication with others will improve without effort.  Not that we are to make a spectacle, but, do the people who see you daily know that you are praying regularly?

RE: The surprise of the unlocked doors – Our professor was speaking to another student from another class over the weekend, and that student revealed that their chemistry class stopped for a moment of prayer focused on us the day we went to the Buddhist & Hindu temples.  When he asked what time that was, it was precisely the time when we arrived early and walked to the Monastery & Church.  I know I had been asking God to guard us all as we entered the realms of other faiths, I’m confident the professor and other students had been asking the same.  Several of us were very thankful and blessed to have a bit of time in the houses of our Lord.