Please pray for Brothers Percy and Wilmer because, on Sunday, 21st March, at 4.00pm, they will take their solemn Benedictine vows for life. The ancient ceremony will take place in the chapel of the Monastery of the Incarnation. March 21st is normally the feast of the "Passing of St Benedict", in the English Benedictine Congregation a solemnity, but this year it falls on the Saturday because Sunday the 21st is the Day of the Lord. Nevertheless, we shall have the Solemn Profession on Sunday, as it is more convenient for family and friends.
Percy and Wilmer joined the monastery in Tambogrande seven and a half years ago. Percy was a keen member of the Charismatic Renewal, like all his family, and had been sacristan in his parish church in Chiclayo. Wilmer was older and had been a district nurse in Chulucanas, not too far from Tambogrande. As the doctor in the medical centre where he worked often did not turn up, he became quite used to diagnosis as well as nursing; and he has proved very useful in the community. He also tried his vocation with the Marists. Percy is in charge of the sacristy, is master of ceremonies, and looks after the monastic shop. Wilmer is in charge of the kitchen and buying food, is guestmaster - he says he is deputy guestmaster, but no one has ever met his boss - and helps Brother Mario with sick monks. Percy and Wilmer are very different. Percy's white features and facial beard show his origins in the northern highlands of Peru where there was less inter-racial mixture than elsewhere; while Wilmer has the features of a South American Indian, though I don't think he would be out of place in Malaysia.
Percy and Wilmer are, at present, on retreat in preparation for their vows in the monastery of Cistercian nuns in Lurin; and Brother Alex is giving them the talks. It is his first experience or retreat giving, but I am sure it won't be his last.
The photo of the two in light blue, together with Brother Juan from Iquitos in the Peruvian jungle,was taken in their first years. As we lived near Tambogrande, four and a half degrees below the Equator, we wore white, and a light smock with a hood during the heat of the day. Brother Juan is a qualified teacher who left the monastery for a time, which is why he is not taking life vows with the other two. At present he is bursar and has begun studies for the priesthood. The second photo is of Percy and Wilmer in the present day community.
Please pray for them. They have reached a very important stage in their vocation, and their solemn vows are a further indication that this monastic family is successfully taking root on Peruvian soil.
NEXT: THE SOLEMN VOWS OF BROS. PERCY AND WILMER