The building of this monastery, commissioned by King Manuel (who ruled Portugal from 1469 - 1521), began in 1502 and took 50 years to complete. It was built on the site of a chapel that the sailors would pray in before leaving on their voyages of discovery and to commemorate the return of Vasco Da Gama from India. Much of the building was funded by a tax on the spices they would bring back from the trade routes.
The Sunday night that we visited the monastery was a beautiful evening and it was interesting, as we moved around the building, that the faint background noise that we heard was not of people praying, but the cheering from the soccer game going on in the stadium that was a few blocks behind the monastery. Shortly afterwards, across the way from the monastery, we watched a big cruise ship pull out of dock and head down the river to the ocean. Monasteries, soccer games, and cruise ships - the span of history, culture, and present day endeavors - so varied and colorful. Yet none of it counts for much without knowing the meaning and purpose for what we were created for, a relationship with the Creator of all this world around us.
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