Publishing 『Monastery Travels 2』
Introduction

I knew it.
Why I came here.
_ St. Benedict's Waegwan Abbey
He just said he liked it here.
It's better to be quiet.
_ Newton St. Paul's Abbey
What He Allowed Me to Do _ St. Ottilien Abbey
It was quiet, friendly, warm, and simple.
_ Münsterschwarzach Abbey
Maria, it's okay.
Everything is okay.
_ Cardinal Schulte House, Cologne
Just let me walk with you.
_ Basilica of the Miraculous Medal in Paris
You don't have the power to touch a single hair on my head.
_ Abbey of Montecassino
Why this cave, why this wilderness? _ Subiaco Monastery
Come to the desert and stay with me.
_ Camaldolese Convent of San Antonio
The desert, the pinnacle of silence _ Kamaldoli Monastery
A Night in a Strange Inn _ Avila

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Reference book

The truth has always come to me that way.
Beating my chest before I understood.

_ Author Gong Ji-young's spiritual confession

In 2011, Gong Ji-young was contemplating a novel.
The novel tells the story of the miracle ship Meredith Victory, which saved 14,000 lives during the Hungnam Evacuation, and its captain, Leonard LaRue.
The novel was set in a monastery, and the author visited the Benedictine Waegwan Abbey in Korea for research.
As she traveled between monasteries in Korea, the United States, and Europe to write her novels, she became increasingly absorbed in the tranquility of the monasteries.
The silence and serenity of the monasteries brought a whirlwind of revolution to the writer's arduous life, and signs of inner change began to blossom, drenched in the rain of monastic spirit.
The author's visits to European monasteries took place over a long period of time, but the seeds that sprouted from this book, "Gong Ji-young's Monastery Journey 2," were sown at the Benedictine Waegwan Abbey in Korea.

This book is not a simple travelogue or travel guide.
The author, who revealed in her previous work, “Gong Ji-young’s Monastery Journey 1,” that she had returned to the church, faith, and God after 18 years, experienced many things and grew in faith over the following 13 years.
This book is a diary of her spiritual growth, a confession of faith, and a secret conversation with God.
Therefore, the monastery's 'pilgrimage' should be read as a spiritual pilgrimage that records the author's inner journey in addition to the spatial meaning of the monastery itself.
Her religious experience has clearly deepened and broadened since 13 years ago.
But this experience is deeply personal and intimate, and it is also a process of healing and the pain and suffering we all experience.
The only difference is that the healing method is a cry to God.
With the author's uniquely delicate sensibility and ability to perceive pain, he expresses his own experience of God and religious reflections, which are difficult to express in words, with a tangible clarity, sometimes poignantly, and sometimes wittily.
In the preface, the author states:

“First of all, I would like to make it clear that this article is different from everything I have written so far.
This writing I am about to begin is perhaps the most personal, the most subjective, and perhaps even absurd fantasy to those who do not believe, or even to those who believe that reason is the greatest gift God has given to man.

Therefore, if you have chosen this book solely based on expectations about the works I have presented so far, I recommend that you read only this preface and put the book down.
This book may leave you very confused.
Just as I was when I was having the experiences I will write about here.”
With this, Gong Ji-young confidently or 'boldly' declares that she is a 'Gong Ji-young' different from the 'Gong Ji-young' we knew until now.
This book does not feature bestselling authors who have already achieved remarkable literary achievements and social influence at a young age.
There is only a small, frail woman who, after lying helpless and groaning in the face of the harsh pain of life, finally finds the one 'ultimate name' she must call, and clutches the ankle and wets the collar of her clothes with bitter tears.
How cozy is the sweet dream of humility and repentance of one who, drifting in a place not her own, her body frozen by the wind, rain, and frost, finally returns to where she came from, and falls into a deep sleep in the warm attic of her "father's house"! This is the new face of Gong Ji-young revealed in "Gong Ji-young's Monastery Journey 2."

The author visited eleven monasteries and cathedrals over the past two years.
We will visit the Benedictine Waegwan Abbey in Korea, the St. Paul's Abbey in Newton, USA, which traces the footsteps of Captain Leonard LaRue, who became a Mariner, the Benedictine Abbey of St. Ottilien in Germany, which has a deep connection with Korea, and the Münsterschwarzach Abbey, famous for being the home of Father Anselm Grün.
It also includes an interview with Father Anselm Grün, whom the author particularly admired.
At the Cardinal Schultehaus in Cologne, she tells of her religious experiences that brought her both pain and joy.
In Paris, I met my daughter who was on a long trip and had a wonderful time at the Church of the Miraculous Medal.
We follow in the footsteps of Saint Benedict by visiting Subiaco, Italy, where he lived as a hermit, and the Abbey of Montecassino, the first monastery of the Benedictine Order.
The story of Sister Nazarena, who lived a sealed life for 44 years, told at the Camaldolese Convent of San Antonio in Rome, is particularly surprising and moving.
It also conveys the image of a monk from the Camaldoli monastery who lives a life of solitude and silence in a cell rather than a single room.
Finally, the various emotions felt during the lively festival in Avila, which we visited on the feast day of Teresa of Avila, made us reflect on our lives.

Wherever you stay, chance encounters, memories that suddenly surface, and mind-boggling personal confessions all come together in the special space of the monastery, creating a strange resonance in each reader's heart.
If you're looking for objective information and figures about each monastery, it's probably faster to search the Internet. However, if you're more interested in the meaning of the monastery's prayers and labor, the intertwined stories, and the special relationships that changed the author, "Gong Ji-young's Monastery Journey 2" is the right choice.
Just as the author's heart was, how about readers using this book as a navigational aid to embark on their own spiritual journey? The author's "monastery" ultimately resided within her heart, and each of us, too, embraces a "monastery" within our own hearts.