Best seat in the house
THE PORCH SWING AT THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE
There are many places on the Manresa campus that might be considered the “Best Seat in the House,” and it’s easy to recall some of our familiar favorites. At this time, we ask you to consider a certain porch swing which, until just recently, may have been considered off the beaten path. Before the new paved walkway across the front of the Manresa campus completed a circuitous route around the main buildings (see “A Closer Walk with Thee” in the July 2004 edition of The Lamb), few retreatants ever passed across the front of the “President’s House” along River Road. But now that many retreatants have used that walkway as they exercise their body and spirit, the front porch of that building calls invitingly to our fatigued brothers as they pass. On one end of the porch are two of Manresa’s signature wooden gliders that are found on the porches of most of the buildings across campus. On the other is a Manresa rarity - a traditional wooden porch swing. Large enough to sit two or three, you will never see more than one person occupying this porch swing during a silent retreat at Manresa. To do so would be an invitation to talk, a violation of the spirit of the retreat. With but a gentle nudge, the porch swing moves slowly back and forth, and time also seems to alternate - between the comfortable present and the historic past - with each pendulum motion. Straight across the way from the swing, you admire the oldest oaks you will find anywhere at Manresa. Vehicles passing by on River Road bring back memories or spark imagination of previous days, before the road was so smoothly paved and horsepower was reserved for, well, horses. This the oldest building at Manresa. Completed in 1838, it now stands in pristine condition. When it was built for the president of Jefferson College, which preceded Manresa, it was called the President’s House; since its renovation in 1982, it has been renamed St. Ignatius House of Prayer and has been used for six-to-eight day directed retreats. As you appreciate the comfort and relaxation the swing provides, you realize that it is much like the one you once enjoyed in a place full of fond memories and treasured loved ones. Surely, the porch swing at the President’s House has to be one of the “Best Seats in the House”!