‘In the ocean, you can see the beauty of God’

This post was originally published on this site.

It’s lunch time on a summer Monday, and yet another group of foreigners is putting on wetsuits at one of the many surfing schools that dot the Praia Grande beach on the coastline of Sintra, Portugal.

A lot of European groups come to ride the waves in Portugal’s surfing hotspot. But there is something different about this group.

Adults, teenagers and children gather on the sand with their boards and listen to the final advice from the Hope Zones Foundation instructors, but before entering the water they stand in a circle and bow their heads for a blessing from one of the members.

The man giving them the blessing is Fr. Andrew Torrey, 36, who has been for the past three years chaplain of Surf & Pray, an annual formation trip that’s part vacation, part retreat.