I have been wanting to post for the last few weeks, however, I had a family emergency, then I went to Cape May for retreat. When I got back, we had a discernment weekend in community, I had to get my classroom ready, and attend three inservices. I will try to get back to regular posting.
Last month was the gospel reading of the parable of the pearl of great price. I went to retreat hoping to reclaim and deepen that Christ is my pearl of great price. This was a different retreat for me in that I had a different conference time with my director than I have had in the past. I prayed in a different area of the beach. I had to set up my prayer times differently, and I had to learn how just to be. Well, I prayed with the Song of Songs, the Good Shepherd passage from John's Gospel, and a few others. I sat on a rock near the jetty reflecting and letting the ocean waves hit my legs. As the water swirled around me, I was reminded that my relationship with God is like a dance, a movement, or a symphony. It is give and take, back and forth, gentle, and sometimes turbulent. I also imagined that it was God's graces swirling around me.
I made my own footprints in the moist sand, and picked up several seashells. I sat in my beach chair and took long walks in the evening as I continued to pray and reflect. During one of my reflections midway through the retreat I was reflecting on how Jesus, while in the tomb, was waiting for the transformation to become and be what he fully was from the beginning before he came to earth--God. He was coming home to himself.
When I am on retreat, I always have the sense of not only being still, but also coming home to myself. Rabbi Heschel said, "Just to be is a blessing." To be and become who I am fully meant to be as a person and as a Sister of St. Joseph continues to unfold. Not only is God my pearl of great price, but the graces I have received are pearls of great price also.
Last month was the gospel reading of the parable of the pearl of great price. I went to retreat hoping to reclaim and deepen that Christ is my pearl of great price. This was a different retreat for me in that I had a different conference time with my director than I have had in the past. I prayed in a different area of the beach. I had to set up my prayer times differently, and I had to learn how just to be. Well, I prayed with the Song of Songs, the Good Shepherd passage from John's Gospel, and a few others. I sat on a rock near the jetty reflecting and letting the ocean waves hit my legs. As the water swirled around me, I was reminded that my relationship with God is like a dance, a movement, or a symphony. It is give and take, back and forth, gentle, and sometimes turbulent. I also imagined that it was God's graces swirling around me.
I made my own footprints in the moist sand, and picked up several seashells. I sat in my beach chair and took long walks in the evening as I continued to pray and reflect. During one of my reflections midway through the retreat I was reflecting on how Jesus, while in the tomb, was waiting for the transformation to become and be what he fully was from the beginning before he came to earth--God. He was coming home to himself.
When I am on retreat, I always have the sense of not only being still, but also coming home to myself. Rabbi Heschel said, "Just to be is a blessing." To be and become who I am fully meant to be as a person and as a Sister of St. Joseph continues to unfold. Not only is God my pearl of great price, but the graces I have received are pearls of great price also.
