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by Jim Holman.
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Just Visiting
by James McCoy
NOTHING, says the Rule of St. Benedict, should take precedence over the work of God. "That is," the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, "solemn worship. This indicates the right order of human concerns."
"I know that we have been detached from God," says Jorge Cordero, 29, a postulant at Prince of Peace Benedictine Abbey in Oceanside. "In this day and age we have become so isolated that we miss it," that right order. "Worship," says the catechism, "is inscribed in the order of creation." "It's there," says Cordero, "but we don't see it."
Having grown up in Puerto Rico, Cordero entered the navy as a teenager, and San Diego became his home port. "I was in the navy for 10 years," Cordero said. "I was an E5 ... basically a sergeant." Trained as a medic, Cordero felt the first breakers of that sea-change which is a religious vocation in 1991. His cruiser was sent to the Gulf War and "even though my ship wasn't [directly] involved in it ... you don't have all this input from the world ... TV, radio." For the first time Cordero had plenty of time to think about the last things: death, judgment, heaven or hell. As a teenager in Puerto Rico, Cordero had been a hellraiser. But in the service? "Especially in the service," he replied.
But Cordero repressed this first faint stirring with an "I don't-think so, not me." In 1994 Cordero was browsing through catalogs for colleges in the San Diego area when he came across a brochure for the Santa Barbara-based Capuchins. "There was something about their work for the poor that attracted me," Cordero said. He spent some time with the Capuchins who encouraged him to consider other places as well, including Prince of Peace Abbey, which is on top of Benet Hill, near Route 76 in Oceanside. "I started coming here in '96," Cordero said. "I was just visiting." The visits expanded into talks with the abbey's vocation director, Brother Clement. (who currently has three other men in formation). When Cordero was honorably discharged from the navy in December 1998, "by then I had already been approved to enter the monastery."
How did he discern his vocation to become a Benedictine monk? "To tell you the truth," Cordero replied, "I'm still in that discerning process. And that's what I like about it, because there's no pressure ... 'you will be a Benedictine monk.'"
Having lived like a monk for four months now, what's the most surprising lesson he's learned?
"People will expect for the religious people to be holy people," Cordero straightway replied, "they expect you to be perfect. If you believe that, you lose track of who you are.
"We're all human," he went on, "we all make mistakes. A true religious will always have that in front of them."